ROMNEY, W.Va. — The furry friends hopping the halls of the Hampshire Center are called ‘Therapy Bunnies’ and they are what Glenna Alt offers to the residents of the facility in Hampshire County to make them smile and enjoy life.
Alt, a 17-year old Hampshire High School senior, was recently recognized as the West Virginia Health Association’s Youth Volunteer of the Year for her efforts in raising rabbits and taking them to Hampshire Center – Genesis HealthCare in Romney while lifting the spirits of residents.
“I am just doing something that I love to do and makes me happy. I never expected to be recognized for that,” Alt told MetroNews.
Alt said she began going to the Hampshire Center, a nursing home facility, to visit her 84-year old grandmother Sylvia. One day around two years ago, she brought one of her bunnies to the center for her grandmother to play with.
According to Alt, word got around about the bunnies and two years later her mother Jeanne and herself have brought over 100 bunnies to the center.
“She brings them in to visit several of the residents,” Michelle Abruzzino-Smith, Executive Director of Hampshire Center said. “She will take them around the whole building or they will go outside and she will have them on the front porch.”
“They look forward to her visits. She has brought a lot of joy to their lives. She definitely has enhanced the center to say we can offer this to residents.”
Alt said around 16 bunnies go with her to the center when she visits daily. Residents will even get the chance to name the new bunnies she brings in.
Every single room gets a knock according to Alt because it just makes her happy.
“Definitely happier than anything else I do makes me,” Alt said. “This is very fulfilling to me to see them smile and hear them talk about how the bunnies make them feel or the memories it makes them think of, like if they had bunnies when they were young or raised rabbits.”
She said she plans to visit as much as possible still when school begins in a couple of weeks.
Alt added she has heard from students and peers at her school about the possibility of helping out or finding ways to impact the community because they were inspired by her work.
“You don’t see a lot of kids nowadays to wanting to do things like that,” Abruzzino-Smith said. “She takes a lot of pride in what she does and she spends a lot of time here with them.”
Alt wants to stay in the area after high school and has a dream to become the Activities Director at the Hampshire Center or a local nursing home.
As for now, Alt said she will continue with the ‘Therapy Bunnies’ for as long as possible and hopes to expand to other centers.
Abruzzino-Smith said the Hampshire Center is lucky to have her.
“I have been doing this for a long time and I have never met somebody like Glenna. She is pretty amazing.”