The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Intergenerational events and activities, where people from multiple generations get together, are all the rage nowadays. As the population ages researchers and service providers are realizing the potential benefits when young and old people are linked through shared programs. Now there are intergenerational vacations, specialized adventures (like grandparents doing zip lines with grandkids) and websites devoted to providing intergenerational activities.

Mary Pyette and Marilyn Williamson, both active members of the Chinook Senior Center, recently took an intergenerational idea to the students at Meadowlark Elementary. The two seniors spend a lot of time and energy putting together jigsaw puzzles at the senior center (with some help from others). Most of the puzzles are framed and then sold through silent auctions. The senior center's Relay for Life team, the "Oldies but Goodies," uses proceeds from selling the completed puzzles to help support American Cancer's annual Relay for Life.

Pyette explained how she and Williamson's interest in jigsaw puzzles connected to Meadowlark. She said, "Jim and Jan Nessler brought a 1000-piece puzzle to the senior center. They had put it together, then broke it apart and gave it to the center for us to put together. We spent a month getting it back together." After she and Williamson saw it completed, they decided it was so colorful and fun that it might be of interest to the elementary school students. Meadowlark Principal Jon Martin came to look at the puzzle and agreed it would look good hanging someplace at the school.

The two ladies decided to make the giving of the completed puzzle to Meadowlark into a schoolwide event. The puzzle is a picture of a bubble gum machine, one of those with prizes and bubble gum inside. The completed puzzle hung in the school for a week and any child could fill out a slip noting their favorite item in the bubble gum machine and signing their name to the slip. At the end of the week there would be a drawing and each of the ten students drawn would get a certificate for an ice cream cone at the local Creamery. The bubble gum machine photo will hang permanently in the school.

Steve Edwards

Mary Pyette and Marilyn Williamson, (right side of back row) pose with 10 Meadowlark students by a picture of a bubble gum machine. Mary and Marilyn gave a completed "Bubble gum machine" jigsaw puzzle to the school and let students put their names into a drawing for ice cream cones. The winners are pictured with the donors and the completed jigsaw puzzle, which will hang in the school.

The big day for the drawing happened last week during a regular school assembly. After several awards for various academic achievements and a parade of students in costumes based on vocabulary lists, the drawing was held. The ten winners were Owen Davies, Billy Riding, Tayla Richman, Brennan Roseleip, Madilyn Gruszie, Caden Sullivan, Westen Paulsen, Carmen Katzenberger, Rhett Hofeldt and Kolten DePriest. The winners seemed pretty pleased with their prize and basked in the cheers from their fellow students in the audience.

Mary Pyette and Marilyn Williamson weren't consciously planning an intergenerational event. Mary said, "I liked the bubble gum picture and thought kids would too." Marilyn added, "I wanted to get the kids interested in the project and decided a little incentive would help-like the potential to win an ice cream cone." Whether it was the colorful completed picture or the ice cream, it got the kids interested. Nothing like an intergenerational event to get seniors and kids together. The "Journal" thanks Mary and Marilyn for the effort and reaching out to the next generation.