Residents of Primrose Retirement Communities across the country fanned out Thursday to spread "random acts of kindness" at local colleges.
In Jefferson City, seven residents of the community located on Freedom Boulevard hopped on a bus and headed for Lincoln University. Once there, they gathered in a conference room of the Scruggs University Center with about 30 students who had been nominated for the event by Lincoln staff.
The nominations were service-oriented, said Heather Robinson, a program coordinator with the university's Women's Resource Center.
"Staff nominated students who they thought would be worthy to receive gifts," Robinson said. "They are student leaders. Some are student workers."
The gifts the Primrose residents brought were "care packages" - bags containing cookies, chips and candy, and $10 gift certificates from both Amazon and McDonald's," said Dawn Collins, a life enrichment coordinator from Primrose.
"The gift says, 'We want to encourage you to continue your educations,'" Collins explained.
The university also provided lunch for participants. As the late morning crossed into afternoon, groups of students sat around Primrose residents in the conference room, chatting and laughing.
Both groups were excited for the interactions.
That's not surprising, Robinson said. A group of women whom she advises on campus spends at least one day a quarter doing service work at Primrose, playing games, doing crafts and interacting with the residents.
It builds relationships.
Primrose resident Evelyn Baur said the connections they build help them understand each other. These days, she said, people find too many reasons to have problems with each other.
A senior studying criminal justice, Curtis Burton, said multiple benefits come from gathering with communities outside your comfort zone.
"It's time for us to have a dialogue," the East St. Louis, Illinois, resident said. "We might receive some wisdom if we're listening."
The most important part of the visit was that it builds bridges, Burton said. Those bridges help tie the university to all parts of Jefferson City, he added.
College is a track all of them have taken, Primrose resident Joycelyn Dowdy said.
"We who have been down that road appreciate what they're doing to complete their educations," Dowdy said.
The visit encourages students to reach their goals, Primrose resident Shirley Davis said. It also lets students know there's "someone out there" thinking about them, Sharon Kleffner said.
True, Dowdy added, but it never hurts to share hugs.