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The Helena Teen Council hosted its fourth annual Senior Dinner, bringing the teenagers and senior citizens of Helena together to make memories, take part in conversation and have fun on Sunday, May 4. (Reporter photos/Tyler Raley)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

HELENA – With conversations filling the air and laughs being shared, the Helena Teen Council shared valuable time with the senior citizens of the city during the fourth annual Senior Citizens Dinner on Sunday, May 4 at the Helena Sports Complex.

The dinner serves as a monumental chance for Helena’s seniors and the teenagers on the council to join together to share memories and talk about their lives while the council served a three-course meal.

Alice Lobell, president of the Helena City Council, said that this year’s edition of the festivities was a huge success, even discussing how the reconnection of some of the teens and seniors was a high point of the night.

“This is such an awesome opportunity to bring the senior citizens and the teens together,” Lobell said. “I’m not sure who enjoys it the most, but they have just a wonderful bonding time. Several teens that were on Teen Council last year asked if they could possibly get the same seniors they had the year before because they enjoyed them so much.”

Alabama State Rep. Kenneth Paschal organized a legislative event grant that supports and provides the funding for community events. Lobell decided to put it towards the Senior Dinner, which has yielded success as a result. 

More than 100 seniors attended this year’s dinner, eating their meal and conversing with the teens before engaging in numerous rounds of bingo, earning the opportunity to win donated prizes ranging from gift cards to plants to even some candy to take home.

Seeing the teens and seniors interact and have a good time is what Lobell enjoys seeing most at the dinner due to the connection the two groups make, creating core memories that will last for the rest of their lives.

“Probably one of my favorite things is seeing them talking and laughing together and just sharing the moment,” Lobell said. “Several of these seniors have received cards from the Teen Council, and so they almost feel like they know them… Watching the camaraderie between the two groups, it just makes me cry, I love them so much.”

As representatives of both the city of Helena and Helena High School, the Teen Council strives to become active young members of the community while also building civic knowledge and leadership to be able to connect with the city’ adults.

When it comes to the Senior Dinner though, Lobell, who also serves as the liaison to the Teen Council, knows the event could not happen without them or their parents.

“I have some wonderful parents of these teens that volunteer to help in the back that are behind the scenes, putting the food out and everything,” Lobell said. “The teens are going to take care of things. They’re leaders. They will jump in and do what they need to do. They don’t really wait for me to tell them sometimes—they know what needs to be done.”

With next year being the fifth year of the dinner, Lobell is genuinely excited for what is to come in the future of the event, especially with the development of the new Helena City Hall, which will house a senior citizens center.

“We should be in the new City Hall, which a large portion of that is a senior citizens center,” Lobell said. “That’s going to be kind of a neat thing in itself. Every year, our numbers have grown. The first year, I would say we probably had 50 or 60 seniors. This year, it’s over 100. I expect it to keep growing.”

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