How a Group of Students Became Family at Luther Court

If you want to know who was most excited about the carnival at Passavant Community’s Luther Court, don’t ask the children.

Ask the seniors.

For months, the residents had been planning every detail of the end-of-the-school-year celebration for a group of second- and third-graders from Ehrman Crest Elementary School. They made games. They gathered prizes. They bought treats. They even found silly hats and clown costumes.

Because when you really care about someone, you tend to go a little overboard.

And these residents care deeply about those children.

Every month during the school year, students from Ehrman Crest visit Luther Court. On paper, it sounds like a simple intergenerational program. A school visits a senior living community.

In reality, it’s become something much simpler.

They’re friends.

So when the students arrived for their final visit of the year in May, they walked into what looked like a carnival.

Resident Betty Ann Foss handcrafted carnival games for the day. Each child received a summer hat and a personalized bag for collecting prizes and treats. Around the room, residents greeted them dressed as clowns or sporting funny hats, ready for the children they’d been waiting to see.

The menu wasn’t bad either: pizza, chips, drinks and ice cream sundaes.

Then there was a surprise for teacher Tammy Wylie, whose birthday happened to fall on the same day. One resident presented her with a custom-made cake decorated with children seated in a classroom and their teacher at the front.

It was a sweet gesture, but not an unusual one here.

Around here, that’s just what friends do.

“These children love these ladies so much and show them so much love each and every time they come,” said Cathy Reid, Luther Court’s Life Enrichment and Outreach Coordinator.

Wylie said her students were buzzing with excitement before the visit and already talking about how much they will miss the residents over the summer.

“We are amazed at what the kids bring to the residents,” Reid said. “They bring so much love and joy and build such strong relationships with these children. To witness that brings a tear to my eye.”

Then came a moment no one planned.

At some point during the celebration, the children broke into a cheer: “We Love Passavant!”

No one handed them those words. They just came out.

By the end of the afternoon, there were prizes handed out, ice cream bowls scraped clean and plenty of smiles.

Summer will pause the visits for a few months.

But when the students return in the fall, the residents will be waiting.

And they’ll pick up exactly where they left off.