Youth and seniors mix on Global Youth Service Day

By LAURA ROBISON

The Progress

A Global Youth Service Day sponsored by the local JustServe took place on Friday, April 26 in at the Moapa Valley Community Cernter. Local teens turned out in great numbers to serve the seniors of the community.

The goal of the event was to have teenagers meet, sit with, and get to know local senior citizens, while having fun at the same time. About 50 youth showed up on a day off from school to enjoy the company of the seniors.

Youth from the MVHS student council, Hope Squad, National Honor Society and the Teen Leadership Corps. were on hand at the Overton Community Center to have lunch, play games, and participate in a talent show, all designed to interact with seniors.
The JustServe committee served up a delicious lunch.

Then a friendly game of Bingo was up next. Seniors were at every table, trying to defeat the youth at this high stakes game with winners receiving a $5 gift card from McDonald’s. There were a lot of laughs as everyone was hoping to get their cards filled before their opponents.

Lunch coordinator Blair Hale said, “I am so happy this community center is full today, everyone seems to be enjoying the food and and there are smiles everywhere.”

JustServe committee member, Irene Hauver was in charge of the talent show. There were individuals and groups who showed off their talents of singing, guitar playing, dancing and more.

Deanna Wiley sang while playing her Autoharp. Jim Bledsoe strummed his guitar while also favoring the crowd with a song. Corinne’s Cloggers wowed the audiene with their toe-tapping performance.

“This was so much fun,” Hauver said. “We had more acts signed up, but since there was no school, a few of the younger groups pulled out as families took advantage of a 3-day weekend.”

The final activity of the day was a Jeopardy challenge game. With general knowledge questions, it seemed as if the youngsters got the better of the old-timers as the music answers seemed geared toward the youth.
“After the teens wiped the floor with us during Jeopardy, I have hope for the future,” said local senior Willie Crosby.

At the end of Jeopardy, each senior was presented with a ‘sunshine’ bag, filled with slippers, a personal note from a youth, snacks, socks and a word puzzle book.
“We made these bags at our MLK event, and we want to distribute all of them,” Hauver said. “We will be delivering the rest of the bags to seniors who were not able to be here.”

“I can’t believe how many wonderful youth are here,” said Deanna Wiley. “The youth have served us, and mingled with us. t’s great to talk with these kids, we are lucky to have great young people here.”

“This was a great turnout and everyone was engaged in all the activities,” said Kevin Willard, High Council representative of the Logandale Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.