Seniors offer energy and insight
Students working with Utah State University’s Friends of the Elderly program are seeing the benefits of enjoying the company of the senior citizens in the community.
Jan Meacham and Tasha Jones both work as co-directors for the organization located at the Val R. Christensen Service Center in the Taggart Student Center.
Friends of the Elderly is an organization started about seven years ago in an effort to help students get involved in the world around them, Meacham said.
She said the organization is split into two parts, the more popular of which is Adopt a Grandparent.
In this program the center finds an older person for each of the applicants to spend time with once a week Meacham said..
Most of the people who are visited are those who don’t have family or friends nearby to keep them company, Meacham said.
“It’s fun to be their family so they feel like there is somebody out there who cares,” she said.
“I mostly like to hear their stories,” she said. “They are so free to say whatever they are thinking.”
Some of the senior citizens are famous among the volunteers.
Pearl Gardner, for instance, has been visited by many of the students, who each have learned something new from her, said AnnaMay Packham, a student in horticulture and one of the Friends of the Elderly volunteers.
Gardner is 91 and now lives at Logan Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
She said she grew up in Wisconsin and went to Milwaukee Teachers College and University of Madison. After doing some news writing in high school and college, Gardner joined the navy to help in the nation’s efforts during World War II. There she had the opportunity to interview Presidents Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“I love visiting Pearl because she always has something new to share,” Packham said.
Another person most volunteers love to visit is “Stinky,” an older man known for his nickname tattooed on his arm.
“I don’t think anyone has ever learned his real name, but he sure is fun to visit with,” Meacham said.
A few of the other centers involved in the Friends of the Elderly Program are Sunshine Terrace, Williamsburg Retirement Inn and Cache Senior Citizen Center.
On Friday, Nov. 16 about 12 students went to the senior center to help serve the annual Thanksgiving lunch.
Mary Yancey, the business office manager at the center, said she has helped with the development of the Friends of the Elderly program for six years.
“The volunteers have always been extremely pleasant and have bent over backwards to see what they can do,” Yancey said. “Four or five years ago they organized a great St. Patrick’s Day dance for the senior citizens in the valley. They did everything from the cake to the refreshments and music. Everyone had a great time.
“[The senior center] sees the volunteers as a valuable asset because we depend on volunteers for everything we do,” she said. “They are a great help.”
Meacham said her favorite activity is the linedancing held periodically at the Cache Senior Citizen Center.
“We didn’t know exactly what to expect and thought we were just going to take it easy while we were dancing. Honestly, we had a hard time keeping up,” she said. “They have more energy than most college students.
“Really, they have taught me a lot. They are more beneficial for me because of what I learn from them,” Meacham said.