IU club brings Christmas entertainment to local children, parents, senior citizens

Children dined with Santa and received a little "Entertainment with Love" from an IU club Saturday at the Sterling House of Bloomington. \nThe Entertainment with Love club, founded by sophomore Sarah Kiperman, works to put on performances for people who need a "Christmas they can't supply themselves," Kiperman said.\nOn Saturday, the group joined the Salvation Army and Sterling House, an assisted living facility, to perform a skit and several musical pieces at the annual Breakfast with Santa event.\nAbout 40 kids and their parents came together with a group of Alzheimer's patients to have breakfast. \nThe group performed several traditional holiday songs like "Sleigh Ride," "The Christmas Song" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."\nThe entertainment provided by the IU club helped to divert the children's attention while they waited for Santa to arrive, said Monica Clemens, social services coordinator for the Bloomington branch of the Salvation Army. However, the kids were still excited during the performance. \n"The kids were a little rowdy during the show," said sophomore Tema Sall, the club's vice president.\nThough the kids enjoyed the performance, they were the most excited when Santa finally arrived, Kiperman said. \n"They were so cute. They started screaming, 'It's Santa! It's really Santa!'" Kiperman said. \nClemens said that there is a lot of need for help like this during this holiday season. \n"We have 750 people that applied for food and toys, and we are just one of about six agencies that do that," she said. \nAnna Bedoy, an associate at Sterling House, said she thought the idea of getting different generations of people together was wonderful.\n"I think it's a great event, to have the interaction of the younger population with the older generation. The inter-generational programs are always wonderful. (The Sterling House residents) always need that interaction, and they always enjoy it. They just want to hold (the children) and hug them and be as close to them as they can when they're here," she said. \nBedoy said entertainment is a big need for the people at Sterling House.\n"Considering the people here are set here and don't really get out into the community, they really enjoy what we bring here," she said. \nClemens agreed that the idea was great. She said that this club was the only one that called wanting to perform for people, though there are several fraternities and sororities putting on toy drives for the Bloomington community. \n"This is the only group … where they're coming and volunteering their time and talent," she said. \nSall said the performance was rewarding after seeing the group come together in rehearsals. Now the club is looking to grow, she said.\nKiperman said the group is putting together Disney and oldies performances for next semester and is interested in continuing to work with the Salvation Army. \nKiperman said she got the idea for Entertainment with Love from an organization in her community at home in West Bloomfield, Mich.\n"In my hometown, we have what we call 'The Optimist Club,' which puts on random acts of kindness, and so I wanted to model something like that but focus it on a performing group so acting students can have more of an opportunity to get involved in the community," she said. \nFor more information, e-mail Sarah Kiperman at skiperma@indiana.edu.