Young At Heart? Bingo!
|
LINVILLE -- In a room decked with orange- and brown-colored baskets and bunting, and churning with chatter, more than 50 senior citizens eagerly await Garland Shull's next announcement.
"G 53," barks Shull.
"Bingo!" shouts a voice, rising over others seated at several tables. Another winner in the books, and another prize to be awarded.
The bingo games that highlight the gathering are just part of the fun. Each Tuesday, from 8:30 until 9:30 a.m., at the Linville-Edom Ruritan Hall, residents from Rockingham County and, sometimes outside the county, assemble for the kind of recreation that goes beyond their traditional numbers game. The frivolity and fellowship that mark the weekly meetings are what Recycled Teens is all about.
The program's coordinator, Arletta M. Clutteur, started Recycled Teenagers in 2004 as a way for seniors to get together with old friends and make new ones.
The club's name, said Clutteur, 71, conveys the group's vigorous mindset. The Teens' mantra, "Unity Within the Community," fits what its activities achieve, she added.
Shyness is discouraged. Said Janet Loker, a member who checks rolls: "I try to get everyone involved."
Age cuts a wide swath in this room, with most members ranging from their early 60s to their late 80s. Assembling for fun and fellowship rekindles a kind of energy in those present, said Clutteur.
"We're getting older, but we're young at heart," she said.
Helping Hand
From the start, the local Linville-Edom Ruritans Club has let the Teens use its building for free, said Clutteur.
As a show of thanks, the Teens held an auction last year to buy the Ruritans new tables and chairs.
The group also does some community service, such as packaging hot meals for shut-ins before Thanksgiving.
Each meeting begins with a prayer: for friends, government leaders and the world. Since they formed, Recycled Teens have prayed for sick kin and companions and, at times, buried them.
Said Clutteur: "there's a lot of love in this room."
Clutteur started a group that was a forerunner to her present band in 1997 when she worked at the Valley Mall Wal-Mart as a community-involvement associate.
When she retired from Wal-Mart in 2002, Clutteur left her program. Soon after Wal-Mart moved from the mall to the new Harrisonburg Crossing shopping center in May 2003, the store ended its seniors program.
Members of the group called Clutteur, urging her to find them a new meeting place.
"I called the Ruritans, and asked them if they would help us out, and they agreed," said Clutteur.
Shull, a retired gas-station owner from Harrisonburg, was among the holdovers from Wal-Mart. Shull, 77, first came to play bingo. But for the last three years, he's run the game.
Says Shull: "I just like being here."
Fast Growth
Participation, says Clutteur, has grown swiftly: from 32 people who made the first meeting, to 67 at the Nov. 21 session. Most live in the city or county. An exception is Raymond S. Philips, 67, a newcomer who is visiting his sisters, Verdie Huffman from Keezletown and Barbara Derrow from Mauzy. Philips, who also maintains a home in Broadway, is a retired shift engineer for a power plant on a U.S. Air Force base near Mount McKinley, Alaska. Philips and his wife, Juanita, enjoy the Teens' warmth: Philips says meetings seem "very different" from other gatherings he's attended.
Says Philips simply: "I like it."
Meeting old friends, and making new ones, draws many to the hall. Geraldine L. Messerley, 81, from Harrisonburg. Messerley, a retired cashier, helps Clutteur with various tasks, but delights in the camaraderie.
"Seeing all the people -- that's what a lot of this is about," said Messerley.
Ronnie Gaines, 65, from Bridgewater, echoes Messerley's remarks. Gaines, a retired production worker for ConAgra Foods, calls his friends at Recycled Teens "some of the nicest people I've ever met."
Gaines comes with his wife, Neola, who has known most of the group for years: he quickly bonded with the folks.
Said Gaines: "I wouldn't miss a meeting now."
Written by Tom Mitchell
