Micah's Backpack for Senior Adults

Shutterstock

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we’ll feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This 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 six of our series, we feature Micah’s Backpack for Senior Adults, a project idea of 14-year-old Olivia Hodge with the assistance of St. Michael Lutheran Church in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Read parts one, two, three, four and five.)

Driven by her care for hungry people, Olivia Hodge’s idea for Micah’s Backpack for Senior Adults was inspired by Micah’s Backpack for Students, a program she participated in for the last four years, providing weekend meals to students in her community.

“Each week 50 to 70 youth and adults, ranging from 4 to 80 years old, gather to pack and distribute backpacks for local schools,” Hodge explained.

The nature of the open source program allows participants to share their opinions and help refine it.

A similar approach would be applied to a backpack-style program for the elders living in a local 144 apartment HUD Housing Project.

“Around the 20^th of each month, teams of youth and adults will go to each of the three apartment buildings and spend about an hour distributing food and socializing with residents,” Hodge noted. “The teams would distribute items like soup, crackers, peanut butter and oatmeal to help the recipients bridge the gap until their next social security check.”

In addition to St. Michael Lutheran Church, this project’s potential partners would include Warm Hearth Village, the local chapter of the AARP, the Agency on Aging, and Retired Senior Volunteers Programs in addition to other local faith groups and Virginia Tech’s student groups.

“Our goal,” as Hodge put it, “is to build a community partnership that will work to alleviate senior hunger.”

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Why not tweet them to #cooligideas, post them to our Facebook Group, Intergenerational Connections? If you're a Youth Jumpstart Grantee, share your ideas in here or text us through Facebook's Messenger app by friending me to join our Cool Intergenerational Ideas group discussion. We want to highlight innovative age-optimized programs and practices through our blog, social media and weekly e-newsletter! Share the inspiration. 

The Speaking Exchange

Esther Barker, a resident of Chicago's Windsor Park Retirement Home,
speaks with her teen partner, a student in Brazil learning English.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we’ll feature intergenerational program ideas that were tried and successful. This 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 five of our series, we feature the Speaking Exchange, a project of the Brazilian school of English CNA and the agency CFB Brazil. (Read parts one, two, three and four.)

“Not all of our students have the chance to travel abroad and to interact with native speakers of English,” Vanessa Valença, a pedagogical coordinator at the CNA English School, said in a promotional video.

So the school, which operates 580 language centers in Brazil, created an educational project that would connect young people with America’s older adults over the Internet.

A Windsor Park Retirement Home resident and a Brazilian teen
exchange virtual hugs. 

The Speaking Exchange, currently in its trial period, conducts twice-weekly video chats between a small group of students and residents of Chicago’s Windsor Park Retirement Community.

The Speaking Exchange’s promotional video shows young and old sharing virtual hugs, an elder claiming her teen partner as her “new granddaughter,” and a young boy inviting his older partner to visit Brazil and stay at his parents’ house.

For both generations, it’s a win-win. It gives students learning English a way of meeting people with stories to tell, while allowing the elderly to feel active and make new friendships.

Got something cool you tried that was successful? Why not tweet them to #cooligideas, post them to our Facebook Group, Intergenerational Connections (if you're a Youth Jumpstart Grantee, share your ideas in that Facebook group) or text us through Facebook's Messenger app (friend me to join our Cool Intergenerational Ideas group discussion)? We want to highlight innovative age-optimized programs and practices through our blog, social media and weekly e-newsletter!