"I don't think I could do it -- it's really depressing."

That's what Amy Taylor's friends said when she told them she was volunteering at the Brookline Village, 1930 Cliffside Drive, a health care facility for the elderly.

But Taylor knows that her work is anything but depressing.

"You develop a close relationship with the residents and I think you learn a lot from them," explained Taylor (sophomore-human development and family studies). Her HDFS studies include an aging option.

After volunteering at a nursing home in her hometown of Cherry Hill, N.J., Taylor decided to pursue her work on both an academic and extracurricular level. She has been volunteering at Brookline since the beginning of Spring Semester.

Taylor said she got involved through Lion's Share, 215 HUB, a student volunteer organization.

"I walked in (the Lion's Share office) and told them I wanted to work with the elderly and they said go to Brookline," she said.

Brookline consists of three different living settings. Fairways is the nursing and skilled care facility, the Inn is a personal care residence and Windsong is a group of independent living apartments. The Inn and Windsong house 86 residents.

The village residents enjoy a broad range of amenities accommodating many of their interests including an activities room, a library, a workout room and several lounges where residents often relax.

Brookline resident Elma Rees said life there is not boring.

"There's lots to do and that's what we need," Rees said.

Part of the reason for the village's full itinerary is Cindy France, social director of the Inn and Windsong branches at Brookline.

France coordinates the residents' activities and she and Taylor accompany and assist them on outings and projects.

Some of the activities include Sit-ercise -- an aerobics class from a sitting position, ceramics, watercolor painting, knitting classes and different day trips.

"Last year we went to Raystown Lake, the Madison bake shop and to Bellefonte to feed the ducks," France said adding that some of the female residents even put on a fashion show last year for the other members of the community.

France also schedules special programs like the "Friends of Literature" program where University English professors visit Brookline to read and lecture about books in their specific areas of study.

Taylor works particularly closely with resident Ruth Lipner, and explained how Lipner is a kind of grandmother figure for her.

"One week I got sick and she called every day to check up on me to see how I was doing," Taylor said.

Taylor helps Lipner with typing and writing letters and also assists France in the group functions.

Taylor and France coordinate a weekly baking class for several of the residents. Bread pudding was last week's dish and residents Rees, Nancy Witts and Sarah Brungart helped with crumbling the bread.

All of the women have fond memories of earlier years, before arthritis set in, when they used to cook up a storm.

"I used to love to cook when I could bend my fingers," Brungart said.

Aaron Druckman, a resident and former philosophy professor at the University, said he worked at the school for 30 years and remembers when it was still very small.

The variety of people at Brookline is what France said she enjoys most about her job.

"They are like my second family," she said.

Taylor agreed that it's the people that make her job special. She encourages University students as well as faculty to get involved at the village. She said not many students realize how rewarding volunteering can be.

"Just to see them smile, it's all worth it."