CAMP GRANDMA.

Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - A retirement home might seem like an odd summer camp destination, but try telling that to 6-year-old Cora Boykin.

"I like to do the crafts," she said one recent afternoon - the fifth Tuesday this summer she and a dozen other local children spent at Magnolia Gardens Assisted Living Center.

She likes working on those crafts alongside the center's grandparent-aged residents.

"They're nice," she said, pausing from the process of gluing feathers onto a mask to glance up at 88-year-old Katie Dunnavin.

Her own grandparents live in Medford, Cora added, so she doesn't get to see them every week.

Across the table, Dunnavin broke into laughter as she realized she'd accidentally squeezed glue the whole length of a Popsicle stick, rather than just where it was to attach to her own mask as a handle.

"I'm not as good at this as the kids are!" she declared.

Dunnavin said she enjoys being around the children, most age 5 or 6, with lives very different from her own childhood in the tiny mill town of Marcola.

"I had to walk to school, 2 1/2 miles one way," she said.

"My mom can drive me," Cora told her.

The inter-generational day camp was devised by center Activity Director Mindy Bench.

"I have a 5-year-old son, and I noticed that there wasn't much for his age group to do in Cottage Grove during the summer," she said. "I love working with elderly and children, and bringing them together is exciting for me. And our residents love it. It brings some fun in and kind of spices their lives up a bit."

Five or six residents arrived every Tuesday to participate in the activities with the children, she said. On this day, another half-dozen sat in a row of chairs at the back of the room and simply watched.

Cameron Weston, 84, was among the observers.

"I like seeing the kids," he said. "I had three boys and three girls myself."

Parent Janie Kivel delivered a carpool of five children, including daughter Lidia, to the 90-minute camp.

She was among more than a dozen parents who enrolled their children in the program after Magnolia Gardens advertised it in a directory of summer activities for Cottage Grove-area kids. Parents pay $20 toward materials and snacks for the eight-week program, which ended last week.

Lidia looked forward to the activities, Kivel said, and she liked the idea of the elder and younger generations spending some time together.

Cleta Shannon, 69, was one Magnolia Gardens resident who regularly participated in the day camp activities.

"The kids are a lot of fun, and they're full of energy," she said. "Tuesdays are a good day."

CAPTION(S):

Volunteer Adelaide Kessler, 82 (left), and resident Arzella Wiley, 75, help 4-year-old Konrad Raum recently at Magnolia Gardens' day camp. Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Bailey May, 6, celebrates winning a stuffed toy as Magnolia Gardens residents applaud at the center's day camp.