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WCU students deliver roses, hearts on Valentine’s Day
By Justin Goble
Elderly women in Jackson County received a special Valentine’s Day surprise last week.
Students from Western Carolina University, with help from officials at the county’s Department on Aging, spent the holiday preparing lunch and delivering roses.
According to project organizer Brad Gwinn, a second-semester construction management student at WCU who organized the project, the idea came after some comments he had heard about the general attitudes of college men.
Western Carolina Student Brad Gwinn, right, delivers a rose to Marlow Stephens during a luncheon held at the Golden Age Center on Valentine’s Day. Gwinn, along with seven other WCU students and help from the Jackson County Department on Aging, spent the day delivering roses to elderly women throughout the county. According to DOA’s “Meals on Wheels” coordinator Karen Connor, who helped Gwin organize the project, bringing students and elderly together helps everyone involved. “It’s good that we can take advantage of the young people we have in this area,” Connor said. “Inter-generational interaction is the best thing the elderly can have – they love being able to teach people about their past.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of comments from women that they don’t get a lot of respect from college guys,” Gwinn said. “So when Valentine’s was coming around, I was thinking, ‘Who in this area needs to be appreciated?’ It seemed perfect to concentrate on elderly women. It makes a statement on our role as men, which is to guard the hearts of women.”
To get the project off the ground, Gwinn said he turned to some of his friends and classmates to get volunteers. Everyone he asked was more than willing to help out, he said.
“I asked seven guys, and I got seven guys,” Gwinn said. “It worked out perfectly. The guys had the same desire, and they wanted to do this out of joy and love. I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t an organizational thing.”
Western Carolina University students gather on the Courthouse steps after a day of delivering roses to elderly women on Valentine’s Day. Along with handing flowers out during a lunch at the Golden Age Center, the group delivered roses to homes of women who couldn’t attend. According to project organizer Brad Gwinn, left, this was just the first volunteer project he plans to help elderly people. Gwinn’s helpers are, from left, Wes Cone, Bryan Vaughn, Ryan Dunn, Andrew McDowell, Joe Mullins, and Phil Brigden. Also participating, but not pictured, is Logan Workman.
Though he had a good idea and a group of volunteers, Gwinn said he didn’t have a way to find out who he and the other volunteers should deliver flowers to when he started. That changed after a chance encounter with a DOA employee.
“I met Ben (Friddle, Project CARE coordinator) at campus ministry,” Gwinn said. “He was telling me about his work with the Department on Aging, and when the idea came I thought they would be the perfect people to call.”
DOA’s “Meals on Wheels” Director Karen Connor, who helped Gwinn coordinate the project, said the department’s help was modest. She reserved all of the recognition for Gwinn and the students, who she said took information from DOA and did more than anyone had hoped.
“We helped with directions and things like that,” Connor said. “We were kind of standing there watching the whole time. We already had the delivery routes with ‘Meals on Wheels.’ We just helped them figure out who to approach, and Brad went wild with it.”
From there, the group solicited donations from local businesses. Gwinn said he received $50 from both The Sylva Herald and Wal-Mart, along with a private donation of the same amount. He used the money to buy roses and hearts to deliver on Valentine’s.
“We wanted to give the women something more tangible,” Gwinn said. “Something that would last even after the rose fades away. So I found these little hearts at Wal-Mart. We got those and tied one to each rose. It was perfect symbolism. A woman’s physical beauty may fade, but the source of the beauty won’t change. It helps them remember it’s the heart that God craves.”
When Valentine’s Day arrived, Gwinn said the group delivered flowers in two sets. The first came at a luncheon held at the Golden Age Center, where the guys arrived dressed in more than their “Sunday best.”
“We showed up at the Golden Age Center in our tuxedos with roses,” Gwinn said. “We ate lunch with the ladies, and then briefly spoke to them about what we were trying to do. It was great to go around and hug each one and kiss them on the cheek.”
Though the tuxedos may seem a bit overboard to some, Gwinn said it was another way to help the women feel special.
“Wearing the tuxes was a great gesture,” Gwinn said. “It wasn’t half-hearted measure at all. It helped show the ladies they were appreciated.”
Spending time with the ladies was an emotional experience, Gwinn said. He and the other students were particularly touched when they heard about the relationships the women had through their lives.
“Our eyes would tear up when you heard the romance and love in these women’s lives,” Gwinn said. “We were just doing this out of a joy and love of the lord, and we were rewarded tenfold in return. The reality of their lives is humbling.”
There was a bit of fun involved as well. Gwinn got the chance to have a “cookie swap,” where he and the group brought home-baked cookies to exchange with those in attendance at the GAC. That was something he particularly looked forward to, he said.
“I was going to be swapping cookies with women who have been baking cookies their whole lives,” Gwinn said. “It was a lot of fun. I love to cook.”
Afterwards, the students took the second set of roses to homes of elderly women who weren’t able to make it to the GAC. Gwinn said, more than just delivering the flowers, the volunteers wanted to spend time with the women.
“We delivered 37 roses to homes throughout the county,” Gwinn said. “We spent at least 10 to 15 minutes at each woman’s house talking with her. Some thought they were imposing on us. But once they realized we wanted to talk, they opened up. Sometimes it was tough to leave after an hour.”
Though Valentine’s is still a recent memory, Gwinn is already planning ahead. He said he hopes this is just the first in a long line of events to help the community’s elderly.
“We actually had $7.70 left over,” Gwinn said. “I want to use that to develop the pictures we took and put them in frames to deliver to the women. As long as we can come up with ideas, we’re going to bring joy into people’s lives. You get what you give. If you don’t give what you’ve got inside you, it chokes you up.”
DOA officials have given their support to any continued volunteer work students do with the elderly in the community. Connor said she thought young people volunteering in such a manner would be mutually beneficial.
“Getting students involved in community services is a great way to bring the two together,” Connor said. “It’s good that we can take advantage of the young people we have in this area. Inter-generational interaction is the best thing the elderly can have. They love being able to teach people about their past.”
For his part, Gwinn said he just hopes the effort will get other people to volunteer.
“We’re just trying to express joy and fill a need,” Gwinn said. “Hopefully it will inspire people to fill their own desires to help out.”
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