If you’re looking for a great volunteer experience or just a fun way to spend a few hours, Marymount Glamour Group can provide you with both. Glamour Group is Marymount Manhattan’s division of the larger non-profit Glamour Gals. The Marymount group visits senior centers around Manhattan a few times a month to give manicures and mini-makeovers to the seniors there. Don’t worry if you’re not the world’s greatest manicurist, most won’t be bothered at all. What you’re really giving them is company and someone to talk to. The impact of just a few hours of time devoted to making seniors feel happy, noticed, and beautiful will brighter both their day and yours.
This is what the Marymount Manhattan Glamour Group President, Sophia Gutchinov, has to say about the group: “I heard about Glamour Gals when I was a junior in high school. I joined right away and became the VP. Glamour Gals touched my heart and I met some beautiful seniors through it and became closer to my friends of my generation through volunteering. When I came as a freshman to MMC there was no GG chapter so I started one and named it Glamour Group to be gender inclusive. We actually won an Outstanding New Organization Award that spring semester in 2014 at the Annual Leadership Awards and I was touched. I would love to get more people involved, especially underclassmen so the club can continue when my fellow upperclassmen and I graduate. GG is not just manicures and makeovers. It is a gateway to start a conversation with a different generation and gain a new friend. Seniors are a forgotten population and through GG, they are remembered and visited. Glamour Group at MMC is open to all and if you can’t come to one of the makeovers at a senior home try to make it to the next. It is not just nice or a hobby to volunteer with the elderly but necessary because everyone should matter, no matter their age”.
Other members also have a few things to add about their experience with Glamour Group.
Nadia Feracho, a recent Marymount graduate says, “Glamour Gals is a humbling experience. Everyone deserves to feel beautiful and have fun!”
Of her time with Glamour Group, Madisen Kegans says, “Glamour group is a very special way to interact with our community and create amazing memories with people I would never get to meet elsewhere and hear unforgettable stories from their past”.
I’ve only been a part of this group for a short time, but it has led me to realize just how important volunteering is. We often take for granted doing something as simple as getting our nails done, but these seniors don’t. They appreciate the time you took to come and talk with them and provide a service so simple in its nature, but so important to them.
Emails are sent out to MMC students with the time and place of each makeover. Marymount Manhattan College Glamour Group also has a facebook page if you are looking to get involved!