Senior citizen cheerleading club bringing joy all year round

We're in the middle of football season, which means cheerleaders are once again lining the sidelines. In this week's Art of Aging, Tamela Edwards introduces us to a group in Bucks County that's cheering all year long. Give me a Z! Every Thursday, Kathy Lavenga leads a cheer group at the Heritage of Green Hills. We've been doing the cheerleading club for about five years now. It's a really fun, tight-knit group. Dot C-I! Cheerleading is part of Heritage's Well by Design program. We're actually a very active senior living community. And the cheer group is known around campus as... The Heritage Hotties! They don't take themselves terribly serious. Lavenga's daughter, Elizabeth, started the group when she was a junior in college. She wanted to have a community service project, and my mom had seen the movie Palms, which is about a senior cheer group, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Lavenga's mom has been a member since day one. I love the music. I love the movements. I thought it was a wonderful idea. We have about nine active members. Our oldest is turning 96 this year. They were really, really attractive to me with all this. Martha Davis worried she might be too old to cheer. I needed to exercise, and the Hotties made it possible and always encouraged me. Cheerleading is very good for memory. It's a lot of cross-body work, motions that you wouldn't do in your normal daily life. So good! Sherry Machowski says being a cheerleader has brought many benefits. My husband is now married to a Hottie. That's a big one. We have a good time and everybody laughs. It's the friends. The sense of accomplishment that, yeah, this routine has come together. She's fantastic. It has meant so much to me. It just makes me feel welcome and wanted. Even though you're getting older, you can still do something fun, exciting. Tamela Edwards, Channel 6 Action News. That's like the best story ever! I love the Hotties! Yeah, I love the Hotties, too!