LAKEWOOD, Colo — No turkeys were harmed in the Great Turkey Shoot, but staff at The Courtyard at Lakewood senior community can't say the same.
"Give me that back side again!," resident Donna Speakman shouted with a Nerf gun.
The Great Turkey Shoot is an annual event at the senior living facility. Speakman said it's one of her favorite events.
"It’s fun," Speakman said. "I wish they had it more than once. I think they usually have it twice a year around the holidays. I wish they had it more just for doing something because it’s boring to be in the house two to three days a week."
Luckily for Speakman, she isn't alone in her love of the event.
General Manager Stephanie Peterson said her staff has adapted the event to different holidays like Easter, Halloween and even Leap Day.
"We buy inflatable costumes about once a quarter now and play this game once a quarter," Peterson said.
Peterson said events at home can bring more people together than doing events outside in the community. She said engagement is what her job is all about.
"Whatever I can do to enrich, make their home more beautiful, make their home more loving, make their home more fun, I’ll do it," Peterson said. "It’s the moments you get with them that you don’t get back."
Speakman said she enjoys events because she likes spending time with staff and her neighbors.
"We got some good ones," Speakman said.
Pleasantries went out the window once Speakman picked up her Nerf gun.
"I was really aiming for Cameron, the guy, he’s new here and he’s always teasing me," Speakman said. "Kind of shot at him a lot."
Peterson wasn't spared either.
"For a bunch of seniors, they have the best aim I have ever, not witnessed, but felt," Peterson said. "They are amazing. Donna comes for blood. She got me good a couple times."
Peterson said around the home, Speakman is known as "trouble."
"Yeah, I have to hide the Nerf guns from her," Peterson said. "I think she knows where I put them. I have these little ones she’d find. I’d put them at the front desk and then we’d be walking down the hallway and she’d get us right in our butt. Every time. That’s why her name tag says 'trouble.'"
But all trouble at The Courtyard Wednesday was good trouble.
"I think I feel like a kid every day," Speakman said. "Been here seven and a half years. August 17, 2017, and I think about it every year. I made a good decision. "