Local students and seniors celebrated Christmas a week early on Tuesday as the St. Albert 50+ Club hosted its annual turkey lunch.
Club members were the guests at the meal, which was served by a group of junior high students from the leadership class at W.D. Cuts. The students are regulars at the club.
“Actually, they come to our club once a week,” said executive director Val Niblock. “They send a group of anywhere from five to 10 students once a week throughout the entire year.”
The leadership class, comprised of students in grades 8 and 9, makes a point of reaching out to community seniors to help bridge the generational gap, among other civic and charity efforts throughout the school year. They spend time with the club’s members, learning how to cook, playing games, helping with special events and even doing the cleaning.
At this time of year the students help the seniors in several ways, from helping with this meal to decorating the club, wrapping and delivering Christmas gifts through the Seniors in Need program to area seniors who might otherwise be isolated. Those deliveries ended on the 20th.
“They’re very valuable to us,” Niblock said after the meal while the students were doing the dishes.
The 50+ Club and its members appreciate the students’ efforts but Niblock said the arrangement benefits everybody. The seniors share stories and impart wisdom from their years, even if it’s something as simple as teaching the teens how to make perfect pastry crust.
“That’s what we believe in: intergenerational programs should be two-way,” she said. “Our members have a lot of knowledge and experience that they can pass on to the younger generation. The younger generation brings a lot of youthful vitality into our club.”
Leadership student Katie Bornia really loves getting out to the club, meeting the seniors and helping out with whatever she can.
When asked what she gets out of these experiences, she immediately replied, “Lots of good feelings.”
“I appreciate what we’re doing for everybody else. I love watching their faces, for example, when we dropped off the gifts. Seeing the pure appreciation of the people is magnificent,” she said.
She added that it helps her to feel like she’s more a part of the community at large and gives full credit to her class for providing the opportunity where otherwise she wouldn’t have known where to start. From her time in the program, she has felt encouraged to further pursue other positive experiences like this one.
“It helps you figure out who you are,” she said.
The meal featured turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots and turnips, stuffing and cranberries, with mousse for dessert.
Each table was assigned one student server in order to spread them among the crowd of 80.
Tara Burnett, the centre’s outreach program co-ordinator, sees these moments not just as a validation of what the 50+ Club tries to do every day, but also as eye-openers of where new and interesting intergenerational interactions might be explored.
“We’ve been engaging them in more interesting stuff as of late. They’re even going to learn how to play bridge, apparently. What a brave bunch of children,” she said.
