FLOWERY BRANCH — Young and old met Tuesday at Willowwood Nursing Center to share in the Christmas spirit, singing carols and mingling over hot chocolate and crackers.

The festivities were made possible through a visit by Flowery Branch High School’s Partners Club, a social and service club mixing special education and regular education students, to deliver miniature Christmas trees to the center’s 125 residents.

The visit struck a deep emotional chord for 78-year-old resident Vera Matthews.

"It really touched me. I haven’t gotten over it yet," she said, sitting in her wheelchair with a carton of tissues in her lap. "... I wished they could have stayed longer. The music was beautiful."

Terresa Shubert, a Flowery Branch High special education teacher and a Partners Club adviser, said the visit was the brainchild of club members.

"They decided they wanted to do something for the community and we had different clubs doing different things for kids and families at school," she said. "But no one was ... reaching out to the elderly population."

The club bought the trees and decorated them.

"They wanted to deliver them themselves. They didn’t just want to drop them off," Shubert added.

She said she felt it was important to bridge the generations separated by 60 years or more.

"It shows that our youth have an understanding for a need for that connection," Shubert said. "... They did everything for this, except for getting the buses — I had to do that."

The students arrived Tuesday morning in yellow school buses and proceeded to a large room where the residents were gathered and waiting for the students.

They sang carols, handed out the trees and then fanned out through the nursing home, which is off Cantrell Road between Atlanta Highway and Thurmon Tanner Parkway, to greet residents in their rooms.

The students returned to the activities room, where they snacked and talked with residents. Many students kneeled down, coming face to face with residents and clasping hands in conversation.

Some students, as well as residents, were moved to tears by the encounters.

"Some of these older people don’t have families and it’s a lot that they get to see these kids," said Bradley Schipper, a Flowery Branch High School 11th-grader and Partners Club president. "It makes them all happy."

Ashley Jarrett, 15, a 10th-grader, said she didn’t realize how "incredibly touching" the trip would be.

"Some people aren’t as fortunate to get a Christmas and get a tree and get presents and stuff, like we’re all are getting used to, and it’s a really great opportunity to make a difference in some people’s lives," she said.

Brenda Adams, activities director for Willowwood, said she was grateful for the students’ visit.

Such an encounter is "important because (the residents) get a chance to see kids," she said, adding that some residents don’t get many visitors of any age.