It all started because I heard my mom and her sister talking after dinner one evening. My aunt works in a nursing home and was telling my mom how sad it is that some senior citizens don’t have much money for snacks and drinks from the vending machine. At the time, we were just finishing up on 9th-grade year in school and we were 14 years old. At that age snacks and soda are a big deal. I just couldn’t imagine not having a snack every once in a while. I decided I could change that but I would need help so I went to my friend, Kendall Joyner, and got him to help me.

We decided to do a Senior Citizen Summer Camp that year where my aunt works. We had activities every day and the prizes were snacks! We had a lot of fun and a lot of support from our community. Over the last couple of years, our project has changed a little but our mission has stayed the same. We now bring old-time candy and visit those who have memory issues. A lot of the elderly we visit may have a hard time remembering things that happened recently, but have no problem remembering things that happened decades ago. They can remember eating the candy we bring them. They can remember walking to the store with their friends. They are almost always happy memories.

One of the best parts of our “job” is listening and watching these people. We get to hear incredible stories. We see their faces light up when they have a piece of candy that they haven’t had in years. We have people all the time ask if they can have some extra candy to give to their grandchildren. The answer is always yes. It feels good to give something away and we like to give them that good feeling.

For the past over forty years , Billy Barr has been living alone in Gothic, Colorado, a US ghost town(遗弃的城镇). He passed the time by recording all kinds of data about snowfalls, such as the temperature and the depth of the snow.

He never imagined that the results of his hobby would one day help scientists better understand global warming and make him get a cool superhero name- the Snow Guardian(守护者).

Barr first came to Gothic in 1972 as a university student doing water chemistry research. He liked the quiet life here so much that he began to live here after finishing university. He grew up in New Jersey, but he never really likes living with so many people, so moving to this ghost town was a chance to get away from the busy and noisy city life.

Barr began the winter of 1974 camping in a tent. It was not exactly perfect in a place where snow reaches 7. 6 metres a year. Luckily, the owner of a small old house was kind enough to let Barr move in, It became his home and he started his records on snow there.

The house was buried in the snow eight years after he moved in, but that didn't drive him away. He just found another place to stay and continued his research.

Though he spends most of his time alone , Barr doesn't consider himself lonely. He says, "I'm okay with the way things are. I mean, if I weren't, I would leave.