Valley seniors puzzle it out — all 52,000 pieces
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
VALLEY — Piecing a community of seniors together, Valley Senior Center members are working to assemble a 52,000-piece puzzle, illustrating landscapes around the world. Each landscape is its own section and when all are joined together, the puzzle will be 28 feet long and six feet tall. It will be mounted on one of the Valley Senior Center walls after completion.
“They just started last week, so progress is coming along,” said Senior Center Manager Kelsey Overby. “They’re about a quarter through the first one. They’re really excited because this is a first for them — they’ve never done anything this big before, so they’re excited to get started and to get it going.”
Overby said the puzzle was given to the Valley Senior Center by a caring citizen who wanted to give the seniors a fun project to work on together.
“[The puzzle] was donated to the Senior Center by Mr. Ray Edwards,” she said. “He found it and brought it to us, and [the seniors] hope to have it completed in about a year — so about 12 months… He wanted us to do something special, and he thought this was special.”
Along with providing local seniors with a colorful puzzle to work on together, Overby said the puzzle is also drawing community members to volunteer.
“Now we have more people showing interest in putting puzzles together with the seniors,” she said. “Sometimes we don’t get as many visitors, so now that we’re getting new people who want to come, it’s making the seniors more excited. To visit the Senior Center and volunteer, locals can email me [at koverby@cityofvalley.com], they can call me [(334) 756-5265] or they can just stop by and visit and see me in person, and then we’ll set up something. [The Senior Center is located at 130 Sportsplex Drive, Valley].
“We love visitors, we love people coming in and hanging out with us,” she said. “We love people coming and playing games, and I would just really like for people to start doing that more, because the seniors love it. So if [community members] will reach out [they can] make these people feel special.”
Through teamwork and collaboration, Overby said the seniors are enjoying spending time together and working to take the huge puzzle one piece at a time.
“It gives them a sense of community, and it gives them companionship,” she said. “That’s the reason they come here, usually, for the companionship and the friends. It really is a delight. It’s exciting for me because they’re so excited for it. I’m like, ‘Y’all got to slow down, take it one, one piece at a time, enjoy it — don’t rush it, enjoy it.’”
