"A Night to Remember" will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at Pruis Hall. Tickets cost $3.
Thousands of nursing home residents in Indiana — especially those with Alzheimer's and dementia — are in need of companionship and stimulation.
Logan Vaughn, vice president of Music and Memory Muncie, thinks of them as "forgotten Hoosiers" and is working to help bring them joy through music.
iPods programmed with music can provide comfort to the residents the group serves.
"There is one particular man who can't speak, but when he puts music on, he smiles and cries and sings along," Vaughn said. "It's like he is himself again."
Music and Memory Muncie is hosting a variety show, called "A Night to Remember." The show will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday in John J. Pruis Hall to raise money for the cause. There will also be a raffle with prizes including Ball State apparel, free meal coupons for McAlister's Deli, Jack's Donuts gift cards and passes to the Muncie Children's Museum.
Last year, Music and Memory raised $1,500, and the group hopes to raise even more this year, Vaughn said. The money will go toward buying iPods for nursing home residents.
"To see someone with Alzheimer's go from a vegetative, shut-down state — kind of in the darkness metaphorically — to see them come alive inside, it's like turning on a light switch," said faculty adviser Michael Gerhard.
Gerhard said music can reduce agitation, trigger memories and stimulate exercise as residents clap and move to the music.
"It's a lonely existence in the nursing home and some of them don't have many visitors. Many of them have families that have kind of abandoned them, so it means a lot to them," Gerhard said. "They're just gushing with appreciation and gratitude. That's such a beautiful thing."
Contact Melissa Kraman with comments at mmkraman@bsu.edu.
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