Lynnwood Senior Center

(PHOTO: Lynnwood Today)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we’ll feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This new series is a tool to highlight various age-optimized programs and practices. The program descriptions are provided by representatives of the programs. Inclusion in this series does not imply Generations United’s endorsement or recommendation, but rather encourages ideas to inspire other programs. 

In part four of our series, we feature Lynnwood Senior Center, of Lynnwood, WA. (Read parts one, two and three)

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 20 volunteers aged 18 and younger worked side-by-side with 17 Lynnwood Senior Center volunteers, building raised beds for a community garden.

Participants, aged 4 to 90 years old, constructed 30 garden boxes intended to offer opportunities for intergenerational pairs of gardeners to grow food together.

Twenty-five garden boxes built four feet square and 36 inches tall are set up in a large rectangle with five one-foot high raised beds in the middle.

The outer boxes are waist-high, allowing access for people with knee problems or personal scooters, while also offering an easy arm's length reach to the middle of the garden box.

The inner boxes’ assignments are currently to a preschool and a Boy Scout troop growing food for the local food bank.

The goal of this project, located adjacent to the Lynnwood Senior Center, is to improve wellness, foster intergenerational interaction, increase access to fresh produce for older adults, and provide a much needed service to the larger community.

It is Lynnwood's first community garden.

An 80 year-old man showed a 16 year-old girl how to use a power tool. Our youth have so much to learn from older adults—and older adults have so much to give.

Many older adults lose their gardens through downsizing or stop working in them due to health issues, so it was important to make the community garden fit the users.

This summer, an abundance of beautiful organic food was grown by senior gardeners, in partnership with people of all ages.

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Then here's your chance to get on our blog and get promoted through our social media and weekly e-newsletter! We want to hear from you.