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Church program provides social interaction between students and elderly
Frank Walker, 73, of Visalia gets around with the aid of a walker - but still plays a mean game of horseshoes, and he showed his stuff Saturday during a 12-location invasion of Visalia-area assisted-living centers by students.
“I’m just getting warmed up,” said Walker, who clanked a couple ringers as student competitor Javier Ruiz, 16, of Visalia, looked lost.
“Boy, he’s pretty good,” Ruiz said of Walker. “Man, I didn’t think horseshoes would be this cool.”
Ruiz was one of more than 250 student participants in a two-day youth conference organized by the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or LDS, supervisors reported.
“We do this every year, rotating around the various Tulare County cities,” said Darin Phippen, 37, of Visalia. “This year it’s Visalia’s turn to host the conference, and next year it will be in Tulare.”
Par of the two-day conference, conducted on Friday and Saturday, is an organized visit by the students to a dozen assisted-living facilities, such as Casa Grande in east Visalia where Ruiz and at least a dozen other students shared games or horseshoes, three-legged races and even a pie-eating contest.
Other locations, such as Westgate Gardens, making balloon animals was the major attraction.
“This is a time to serve others,” said Deeana Castaneda, 17, of Tulare Union High School. “This has been a great experience.”
By Gerald Carroll - Visalia Times-Delta Staff Writer
Visalia Times-Delta
Monday, June 8th, 2009
Photo By: Ron Holman
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