Columnist Susan Snyder: We are hearing more Peeps

Friday, April 20, 2001 | 9:05 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

Ginger Ottewill considered it Peeps penance.

I was a bit unkind about the puffy polyester sweets in Easter Sunday's missive.

But Ottewill, 75, called bright and early Monday with just the method for redemption. It seems her daughter, who owns Vegas Image candy company, procured a prodigious assortment of Peeps for the holiday.

Too many, in fact. There were 360 four-Peep packs left over when the sun set on Easter.

So Ottewill's daughter donated all 1,440 of the pink, purple and yellow chicks to the city of Henderson Senior Center, where Ottewill enjoys taking art classes, joining day excursions and meeting new friends.

And of course, Ottewill needed some help. So we stood in the middle of the center's dining room at lunch time with two huge cartons of pre-packaged, polyester puffs of sugar-coated marshmallow, handing them out to the seniors taking in lunch.

"Here's your passionate purple Peeps," Ottewill said, passing a pair of packs to a man who had just entered the dining room.

He walked away chuckling. In fact, those Easter staples I thought were good only for a few seasonal one-liners and some really cool laboratory tests at MIT turned out to be the day's bright spot for more than 100 people.

"Oh, I love these," one man said as he walked away with a pack of pinks and a pack of purples.

"Can I get a couple of extras for my grandchildren?" a lady asked. (I sneaked her two more.)

It doesn't take a whole heck of a lot of time or money to bring a few smiles -- especially among people who remember candy as one of the Great Depression's great luxuries.

"It was a comfort thing," Ottewill said. "So many people live on fixed incomes. So many have been so poor for so long."

Avis Connolly, director of the Henderson center, said they try to give local seniors something to smile about every day.

They host all kinds of classes, pinochle tournaments, serve a good-looking lunch to 150 people every day and charge little more than $1 a head for it. And they sponsor trips to Mesquite or boat rides on Lake Mead for a bit more.

Still, a large number of seniors can't participate for reasons of health or a lack of transportation.

So Connolly hooked up with Henderson Allied Community Advocates and UNLV and filed for a $24,000 grant to study taking leisure activities to the seniors who can't get out to find their own.

The study will find out what programs and volunteers are already available and then come up with ideas for whatever else could be added. For instance, Connolly's center already shuttles public library books to the homebound every week. But some people might want to take a painting lesson, a walk or play a game of cards.

"They're isolated. They have no interaction with other seniors," Connolly said of this invisible population. "We know it's going to help them. The study will tell us how."

We already know that whatever they come up with won't have to be expensive or complicated.

Bringing a smile to someone's day can take little more than a Peep.