LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX News) — What started as an Eagle Scout project grew into a months-long collaboration between local Boy Scouts and seniors at the Lexington Senior Center.
Together, they handmade the tiles that now line the raised beds at Idle Hour Park's dementia-friendly sensory garden.
"Our scouts and the seniors handmade over 160 ceramic tiles," scoutmaster and dad DJ Rose said.
Scouts and seniors worked side-by-side over several months, cutting, glazing and designing each tile by hand.
"What we did over the last about like 5 months or so, we created these tiles in the ceramics class up there," Boy Scout Malachi Rose said.
The experience brought the two generations closer together.
"It was really cool to see the seniors kind of teaching the scouts how to do some of this and then the scouts working with them, so it was really, really cool to see the age, you know, gap shrink there," DJ said.
The garden is designed to engage all five senses for visitors, including those living with dementia.
"The dementia friendly garden is it's to help stimulate all the senses a person has," DJ said.
The point of the garden is to engage all five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell.
Before the tiles were added, the garden had flowers but was missing one key element.
"One thing it was lacking though is the touch so nobody would really want to touch these because you just had, you know, wood out here. You don't wanna get splinters," DJ said.
The new tiles give visitors different textures to interact with as they move through the space. Some tiles even feature braille.
"If anybody had any vision impairment, there's a few tiles that have braille that you could actually read," volunteer James Crisp said.
For Malachi, the transformation is clear.
"Without this, it looks just like dull and gray, but now it brings more life," Malachi said.
For DJ, the project carries a deeper personal meaning.
"Not only seeing my two kids go through this, but also having the additional perspective of watching what I now get to call my extended kids, the other 45 scouts that we have that have participated in things, come out here and, you know, have fun," he said.
Crisp said the project gave him a new outlook on the next generation.
"I'm an old man and I don't associate a lot with the high school students, but it was good to see them and you get a little more optimism for the youth of the country when you see these guys who are outstanding young men," Crisp said.
