Students Plan Feast for Senior Citizens

A group of students at a North Hollywood elementary school have broken down the meaning of “Turkey Day” into two words--thanks and giving.

And that is exactly what they will do today when the sixth-grade class at Adat Ari Elementary School hosts senior citizens from the local Jewish Home for the Aging for their 14th annual Thanksgiving celebration. The students will thank the seniors for the guidance they have given and will honor the seniors at a feast.

The day is part of the school’s program in which sixth-graders are matched up with one or two senior citizens for a year. They celebrate the holidays together, share experiences and help each other whenever they can.

“It’s important for the kids to extend beyond their families into the community and interact with all kinds of people,” said Lana Marcus, the principal. “It teaches acceptance and compassion.”

And then there’s the food.

Turkey, pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, mashed potatoes, stuffing, oatmeal cookies and more--all prepared by the sixth-graders.

“Makes me hungry just thinking about it,” said Marcus.

During the feast, music will played, songs will be sung and dancing may be done. And the second-graders will perform a play, “Turkeys Go On Strike.”

Although Marcus said she expects everyone to have fun, she said the idea behind the celebration is more important.

“When you see these two generations that are so far apart come together, it’s something special,” she said. “They have so much to offer each other. There is no reason they shouldn’t get to know one another.”

Students throughout the Valley have sponsored a number of Thanksgiving events. On Tuesday, fifth-graders at Chatsworth Hills Academy spent the day with 75 infants and preschool children from Para Los Ninos, a nonprofit family support center in downtown Los Angeles. The groups shared a meal and the students practiced their Spanish at the day-care center.