Soul Mates : Project SHUE Brings Seniors, Kids Together to Learn From One Another

WESTMINSTER — Lucy Witt is 59 and does not speak a word of Vietnamese. Hiep Duong is 7. He has been in the United States just two years, and hardly speaks English.

But barriers of age, culture and language disappear when the unlikely pair get together five times a week under Project SHUE, a program that brings seniors and children together to share and learn from each other.

Project SHUE pairs seniors with latchkey kids in an after-school program at the Westminster Senior Center. The program was designed to help “at-risk” children as well as provide extra income for retirees. It is funded through private donations and federal community development block grants.

“Isn’t it wonderful that these two groups who really need each other could come together?” said Betty Goyne, who started the program three years ago.

The name Project SHUE (Safety, Health, Understanding and Education) comes from the nursery rhyme about an old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn’t know what to do, said Goyne, supervisor of the senior center.

While some of the 30 seniors are paid a small stipend, many are volunteers, including Orpha Price, 85, who teaches music and plays the piano for the children. The 6- to 9-year-olds live in apartments on Westminster Boulevard across the street from the center. Most speak Vietnamese or Spanish.

“It brings back a lot of memories,” said Price, who volunteers for an hour on Wednesday afternoons. “I taught piano to kids on my street during World War II, and that got them off the streets.”

Price said she teaches music the way she learned it from her mother: imitating the sounds and the words. She says she feels like she is handing down American tradition by teaching popular children’s songs.

She said she wished she could spend more time teaching her own 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Witt, another retiree, said the opportunity to work again and be around children was a blessing. “I feel that finally, I’m doing what I wanted to do,” said Witt, who came to California from Missouri as a bride in 1958. “I had always wanted to be a schoolteacher, but never had the chance.”

Now a grandparent, Witt said she enjoys the company of children, “especially those whose culture I didn’t know before. . . . I have a lot more patience now than when I was raising my two boys.”

The program also includes some younger volunteers like Sara King, 17, who helps the children with their homework and supervises art lessons. King said volunteering at the center has helped eradicate some of her own resentment.

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“Any resentment against other races goes away when you are with small children,” King said. “Sometimes, you only see the negative side--that they don’t speak English. But they’re trying to adapt. They seem to be happy kids.”

King said that she helps the children with their homework, reads stories to them, and supervises them.

Fifty children are currently enrolled in Project SHUE, Goyne said. This year, she said, fourth- and fifth-graders, who were in the program before, are serving as mentors to the younger children. Some parents have started to volunteer as well.

“It makes the kids feel better that their parents are there,” Goyne said. “The parents, too, learn to speak English better.”

At first, Goyne said, some seniors were against the Senior Center opening its doors to children, fearing that the youngsters would disrupt their activities. As it turned out, those fears were unfounded:The after-school program begins at 2:30 p.m., when most of the seniors have already left for the day.

On a recent afternoon, the camaraderie between the senior volunteers and the children was evident as Witt and Hiep worked on an art project.

Using hand gestures, Witt coaxed Hiep into putting together colored cutouts of Winnie the Pooh. The boy grinned broadly.

“She’s my friend,” he said, hugging Witt.