New Paltz children, seniors carry on tradition
The New Paltz Central School District this week served its 25th annual Thanksgiving dinner to senior citizens at Duzine and Lenape elementary schools.
Supported by New Paltz United Teachers, volunteer second-graders from Duzine and fifth-graders from Lenape performed music for the seniors, while others served food and others helped with clean-up.
“I came here because I wanted to help out the senior citizens and give them a nice lunch,” said a Lenape fifth-grader named Jenna.
“I came here to have the [senior citizens] come here to have a nice time to socialize,” added Ella, another Lenape fifth-grader.
Josh, another Lenape fifth-grader, said, “I think it’s a good thing to do to help seniors.”
And student volunteer Sam said he “came here to help the senior citizens have fun.”
The senior attendees seemed to be getting as much joy, if not more, as the students.
Michael Robinson, the school district’s director of food service, said he gets positive feedback and sees seniors come back year after year for the event.
“They’re always very gracious and complimentary and appreciative of the event in general,” Robinson said. “Basically, the centerpieces are done by the art classes, and the place mats; and the choir and the band entertain them, and [the seniors are] ... very complimentary and appreciative of the interaction and the event overall.”
Carol Kemlage, a senior citizen who has attended the dinner for the last three years, said she looks forward to it every year.
“The food is great. The company is great. The kids sing great. We just like to come, so it’s great,” she said. “Everything about it is wonderful. They do a great job. They ask us what we want. They’re very polite . ... We’re very proud of them because some of them are young, really young, so they do a wonderful job.”