CANTON, New York (WWNY) – A spring and summer project for students is helping out senior citizens in Canton.
Lynn Warden is enjoying his morning with his friends within a newly created gazebo located at the United Helpers Senior Independent Living Community in Canton.
Before the gazebo, Warden said the area looked pretty empty from the dining room area. Now, the new patch of shade is where he and his friends sit and enjoy the scenery every day.
“Well, the back lawn here was big and bare. It gave a little bit of personality to the lawn,” he said.
The idea for the gazebo came from Jennifer Dean, who is the community manager at United Helpers Independent Living. She wanted residents to be happier with their surroundings at the senior center.
“A lot of the members come outside, do walking and I had the idea of contacting Larry Ashley from BOCES who is the instructor for the building and trades program,” she said.
Dean’s idea for Ashley gave him the inspiration to have his students at St. Lawrence Seaway Tech Career Center in Norwood build the gazebo for the United Helpers community as part of their learning experience.
“Seniors typically go out in the month of May into a job study and several didn’t because of COVID…transportation. So we come up with the idea of building a gazebo at Seaway Tech in Norwood with seven or eight different students from six or seven different school districts,” said Ashley.
Graduating senior Joshua Hall was one of the students who helped build the gazebo.
“There’s a lot of angles and numbers that we had to figure out to get the original layout down on all the materials list. So that took a while,” he said.
Seaway Tech Principal Lori Sheffield is proud of the project that students put their time and effort into constructing the gazebo for a worthy cause in the community.
“They had it laid out right in their shop and watching them open it up and then split it and put it together, you know, the challenges of putting something together,” she said.
With this service towards others, Warden and the other residents of the senior community are grateful for their favorite spot as they look forward to the next morning.
“I personally try to get out here once a day. I try to come out in the morning. I bring a cup of coffee out with me, bring out a newspaper with sudoku games, and sit in the sunlight here. You’ve got both. You’ve got sun, you’ve got shade, you’ve got a little of both,” he said.
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