Children Brew Special Cheer for the Elderly

A passel of volunteer elves stirred up something special Tuesday with what might seem a curious recipe for holiday cheer.

Take a chorus of children in red tasseled hats.

Pack them into a roving fleet of vans with a load of gifts and a Simi Valley police dog dressed as a reindeer.

Sprinkle them liberally among elderly residents of convalescent homes, where Christmas usually filters in only through TV shows, phone calls and family visits.

Then--using one guitarist and plenty of kid lung power--stir vigorously with Christmas stockings, holiday hymns and warm handshakes.

And serve.

“I thought it was very nice,” said Myrtle Hayes, an elderly woman in a residential care home who was sporting a pine-and-carnation corsage pinned on her by the troupe.

Hayes said she had not even been aware the holidays were upon her until the kids from Good Shepherd Lutheran School belted out “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” But then, she said with a chuckle, “Gosh, it just kind of hit me hard.”

After meeting Simi Valley Police K9 Officer Sterling Johnson and petting Charly--he of the sharp canines and fuzzy strap-on antlers--87-year-old Irene Russell declared, “That dog is precious.”

The troupe roved from group homes to convalescent hospitals, serenading the residents--many of them physically or mentally disabled--and lavishing them with bulging Christmas stockings and bright red poinsettias.

At Simi Valley Hospital’s convalescent home, they roamed singing through the hallways, coaxing shy smiles from behind some residents’ faraway eyes.

Each visit lasted only a few minutes, but the memory lingered on through the day.

Florence Shuttleworth, 86, said later of the children’s songs, “They were just beautiful . . . It was pretty darn nice being remembered, that somebody will take the trouble to do something like that. We can hear it on radio or television, but it just doesn’t sound the same.”