INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

INDIANAPOLIS - During a recent meeting at Lockefield Village Adult Day Center, residents voiced one particular complaint - they wanted more time to spend with their little friends from the IUPUI Center for Young Children.

So two weeks ago about 10 senior citizens from the nursing and rehabilitation center visited the IUPUI Center for Young Children where they read, sang and played parachute, balloon toss and other games with the pre-school and kindergarten students at the child care facility.

For three years, the youngest students on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus have gone to Lockefield Village, 980 Indiana Avenue, for one-hour visits at least once a month. Tuesday's visit was the first time the Lockefield residents' have reciprocated.

"We thought it would be a good idea for us to go and see them," said John Miesel, Lockefield's director of recreational therapy. The center hopes to make the campus visits an on-going program, he said.

In addition to interacting with the children, the seniors can enjoy the new child care building that opened this fall as the largest single site children care center in Indiana.

Returning the students' visits only strengthens the intergenerational bonds that already mean a great deal to children, and adults alike.

"We have so many children whose grandparents live far away, it's nice for them to have an inter-generational connection," said teacher Linda Kaser, whose class of 4- and 5-year-olds visited Lockefield this week. "But we don't call them grandparents. We call the friends."

The students' visits have given some seniors who call Lockefield their permanent home their only opportunity to interact with children.

"Some of them have lost some or all of their families," Miesel said. "This keeps them in contact with the younger generation."

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