Project provides many lessons to youth

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

Palmer student Joe Foxley was giving a good-natured ribbing to Palmer Pioneers' Home resident Bob Dobson Wednesday.

"I'm watching you man, you stole my chair. I've got to keep an eye on you," Foxley told Dobson with a chuckle.

Foxley and his fellow Palmer High School VICA club classmates were at the Pioneers' Home to help residents with a shadowbox project. But the event was about much more than residents' shadowboxes. It was about bridging a gap, and bringing generations together.

Everyone knows where the Pioneers' Home is, but few know about it.

That's why Richard Meneghelli, who works in the recreation department there, worked with the VICA students to come into the home and visit with the residents.

"The residents love meeting with young people and doing projects with them," he said.

Projects like last week's help bridge the generational gap. And you only had to look at Foxley's face to see it was working. He was laughing and having a good time with Dobson, who was laughing right back.

While they were sanding and finishing the shadowboxes -- the whole reason the students were there in the first place -- they were talking about other things that had nothing to do with shadowboxes.

That's the whole point of the project, and of other projects held at the home.

"It's neat to match up the students and the residents and sit back and watch them," Meneghelli, a retired teacher of 27 years, said. "Sometimes, it doesn't work. But a lot of times, it does, and we'll see students come back to visit again. It's a win-win situation for our residents and the students."

Resident Jessie DeVries talked to the students about her late husband, who was the first shop teacher at Palmer High School.

The students, along with teacher Tom Lord, sat interested as she talked about the early days at Palmer High School. It was a lesson in life the students never would have gotten sitting in the classroom back at school, but it was every bit as valuable. It helped them connect with their community -- and not only meet an interesting women in DeVries, but also learn about the history of their school and their town.

The kids were there because they had to do community service as part of their club. But judging by the way the students were interacting with the residents and having a good time, it hardly felt like an obligation.

Thirty shadowboxes got sanded and finished during the two hours the students were at the home Wednesday, but maybe, some friendships were born that otherwise wouldn't have been. If those two hours of sanding turn into two hours of visiting down the road, both the students and the residents will be better off.

"Aging can be scary to kids, but after they come and visit the residents themselves, they have a different impression," Meneghelli said. "It's not what they've been told or have seen on television."

The PHS students learned a lesson many of us should learn. Take that first step and visit the home.

You'll find a cast of characters no different than in your everyday life, and who knows, you may find a new friend or two.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor.