Players on a Des Moines-area college baseball team spend their Friday evenings in a most unexpected way.
Instead of studying or partying, AIB College of Business baseball players spend their Friday evenings with seniors – as in, older people.
Manager Chad Harris says the team as looking for a way to reach out to their community when they ended up connecting with the Scottish Rite Park Retirement Center in Des Moines according to our sister station WHO-TV.
Players have spent every Friday evening at the center since November, sharing stories and spending quality time with the residents.
“Some people don’t get any visitors. Some, maybe a few times a year, but we were the most consistent faces they saw,” said junior TJ Pruneda.
“We older people value it a lot, because a lot of the younger people don’t want anything to do with us,” said Frances, a center resident.
Fridays with the boys became so anticipated, that ladies filled the center’s beauty salon to get their hair done on Wednedays and Thursdays.
Manager Chad Harris says he’s sure the center visits will be lasting memories for his players, too.
“They may not remember everything about the conference tournament, but they’ll remember this the rest of their lives,” Harris said.
