Any ideas for recruiting volunteers for nursing homes?

Part of my VAD is increasing volunteers at some of the local nursing homes. Since I have been relegated to working with student organizations, rather than individual students, it has been difficult finding groups who want to volunteer there. There is one sorority that already has an established relationship with one of the local homes, but they were doing this without me and have yet to respond to any of my e-mails. A few representatives of other organizations expressed interest in doing activities for the elderly, but were shot down by the majority of their group members. Getting groups to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club, on the other hand, has been fairly easy. The Rural Ministry which runs a soup kitchen, a food pantry and a thrift store has equally been getting a lot students signing up to volunteer. Habitat for Humanity is another organization that gains a lot interest, almost with no promotion. But getting students to volunteer with the elderly is an uphill battle, and is made even more challenging, given the fact that I have to give an increasing portion of my time coordinating volunteers for all the more popular activities. (there are other difficulties such as the renovation of student union and the resultant cancellation of the community service fair.)

Because student groups seek more "episodic" volunteer activities, the standard types of needs at homes, like going in to play board games or cards with residents doesn't get much response. One of the reasons it's easier to get student orgs. to volunteer at the other locations is that they have such episodic events already scheduled and just need people to fill them. Nursing homes, on the other hand, are just looking for any activities that student groups can provide, and don't have specific programs where larger groups of volunteers are needed. This means student groups really have to be creative and put a lot of work in. Since Fredonia is a big music school, there are very large number of music groups around, but I still haven't been able to get them in the nursing homes.

Well now that my rant is over, does anyone have any advice? Has anyone successfully increased volunteerism at nursing homes?

Well, I have not actually dealt with nursing homes but my advice would be to target individuals that would have a major closely related to the volunteer activity first.
Start there then market it all over campus because you never know who will want to do it, I've found that the most unlikely people want to volunteer for things that have nothing to do with their major, they are just interested.
Make sure you stress the importance of volunteering for this type of thing. If you can somehow reach them either visually or maybe through their hearts they'll feel more compelled to want to help.
Nursing homes are very difficult for college students to want to get involved in because they dislike having to deal with old age/dying/death that sort of thing.
Kudos to you my friend, this is a difficult task.
Also, try setting up an info table somewhere that students will see you and ask questions and possibly sign up.

Sorry if I wasn't very helpful but I hope you can recruit some volunteers! If you need any advice, I can try and help.

The ever-elusive WIFM factor; what's in it for your volunteers? What are the good reasons to volunteer at a nursing home? What experiences will it give your volunteers that they can't get from working in a day care?
I don't know about your nursing home in particular, but some examples might be: career guidance (from the elderly), learning a new skill, interesting topics to write books/papers about, etc.