TimeOut@UCLA - 2016 Programs of Distinction Designee

TimeOut@UCLA trains and mobilizes undergraduate students to interact and provide companionship to elders with early-stage Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia while providing respite for family caregivers. 

UCLA students, who are trained before the first session on how to appropriately interact with patients living with Alzheimer's and dementia, are recruited to meet with seniors at a senior center for three hours, twice a week. 

All students in the program are trained before the first session on how to appropriately interact with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

During a nine-month period, 50 students provided companionship for 26 seniors, totaling 1,593 hours of respite for caregivers. 

Activities are led by two activities coordinators (students) who are specially trained for this role. 

Some group activities include Bingo, dancing, and stretching. Individual activities include coloring, card games, paintings, scrabble, and conversation.

By pairing seniors and students based on similar interests, careers, and hobbies, TimeOut@UCLA provides a community-based intergenerational companionship and respite service that promotes positive views of working with the elderly among college students.

In addition, the seniors, who have many years of career experience,provide mentorship to the students. 

For example, a student who wants to be a physician can be matched up with a senior who formerly worked as a physician and can provide insight on different career paths in medicine or their experience working as a doctor.

Learn more about our 2016 Programs of Distinction designees!

P&J Beacon Buddies Program - 2016 Programs of Distinction Designee

The P&J Beacon Buddies Program provides supervised intergenerational activities, group discussions and community service.

The program also offers family engagement, and support services involving youth enrolled in Phipps Neighborhoods P&J Beacon (primarily middle school ages) and senior members/ residents in Throggs Neck, NY.

Activities include talent shows, games, mental skills-building exercises, vocational exploration, and service learning projects.

The mission of P&J Beacon Buddies Program is to foster a nurturing connection between youth and senior members of Throggs Neck that promotes awareness, appreciation and respect for all involved in the program.

Learn more about our 2016 Programs of Distinction designees!

Lutheran Home Intergenerational Program

The Lutheran Home has an infant through four-year-old child care center, an Adult Day program, skilled nursing units, short-term rehab and Memory Care Assisted Living.

Residents and participants at the Lutheran Home are lovingly called "grandfriends" by the children in our childcare.

Through the intergenerational program, grandfriends and children work together to take on new and creative roles that emphasize the strengths of the individuals as well as the group.

The programs enhance social skills, problem-solving and fine/gross motor development. With projects tailored for successful outcomes, the children and grandfriends can proudly take ownership of their finished work as well as their roles in the achievements.

Learn more about our 2016 Programs of Distinction designees!

Sages & Seekers - 2016 Programs of Distinction Designee

Sages & Seekers is a one-to-one, Senior-to-Student experiential learning program designed to
diminish ageism, as well as revitalize interpersonal interactions.

Meeting once a week over the course of the 8-week program, the participants are paired off to embark on a journey of social and emotional development through authentic, meaningful conversation.

Both age groups come away from the experience with an improved sense of self-esteem, a greater capacity for empathy, and recognition of the worth of others as well as their own personal value. 

This program deconstructs the barriers separating these two marginalized sections of our society while empowering the participants and building community.

Learn more about our 2016 Programs of Distinction designees!

Easter Seals Intergenerational Program – 2016 Programs of Distinction Designee

Easter Seals Serving DC|MD|VA Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Inter-generational Center has created an intergenerational program, in keeping with community mission, that is impactful, innovative and educational.

When opposite generations engage, people are able to have more enriching experiences of autonomy, tolerance, acceptance, patience, caring and nurturing.

All participants are given the opportunity to improve their cognitive ability. The activities help them work on social and emotional, language, literacy and behavioral skills.

More overtly, the program creates lasting friendship.

Their Center improves the quality of life for participants of all age by providing an opportunity for intergenerational engagement.

Learn more about our 2016 Programs of Distinction designees!

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.

Youth Jumpstart Grantees Celebrated Grandparents Day

We are proud to share that our Youth Jumpstart Grantees did something Grand for Grandparents Day.  Each youth and sponsoring organization planned or attended an event recognizing the importance of older adults in their communities. Our creative teens and young adults developed some grand plans:

Girl Scouts Heart of the Hudson Troop 1986, White Plains, NY

Last month, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Daisies in Westchester celebrated Grandparents Day with their older adult friends at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.  Debbie Stricoff, Director of Adult Day Care Services for Visiting Nurse Service, wrote this blog post about the visit.

Victoria, from Troop 1986, has been coming to the center and coordinating activities for the seniors for the past 6 years. Here are some of her thoughts about the day…

“Sharing Grandparents Day with the VNSNY CHOICE Adult Day Center and some of my scouts was a great opportunity to celebrate grandparents. By using cooking, I was able to bring my great grandmother’s memory to life. I shared her favorite recipes and cookbooks, which she kept dear to her heart. I also shared some of her cooking devices, which helped to spark the seniors’ memories about cooking with their families.

“I wanted to share with the seniors that their legacy can continue through sharing their recipes in our intergenerational multicultural cookbook. I never got to meet any of my great grandparents, but through food and stories around the dinner table, I have a very good idea of what they were like. I know so many different cultures through my family. From my mother’s side I know Dominican food. Through my grandfather’s side, I have a taste for his favorite Polish foods, even though I never met him.

“Our memories stay alive and are passed down through food and our relationship with it. I’m so excited to create this intergenerational cookbook to inspire families to connect and share around cooking. I was able to make this project possible in part by an award from Generations United with grant funding from MetLife Foundation.”

Thanks to Victoria, the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Daisies – you have added so much to the lives of our members! We can’t wait for your next event!

Cross Cultural Community Center, Chicago, IL

At a Grandparent's Day event at Millenium Park in Chicago, Jumpstart grantees shared information with older adults about upcoming cooking and nutrition classes led by youth for seniors at the Cultural Community Center.

Boys and Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes, New Town, ND

On September 10, the White Shield youth held a Family PLUS dinner. The young males made sage bundles and the female youth made traditional cornballs for the families and elders that attended. Some of the youth that participate in the Arikara class at school presented their parents/grandparents with a "memorabilia item" as well. The dinner was held in collaboration with the ladies auxiliary and the local post.

Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, Omaha, NE

On the 9/11 day of service, two days following Grandparents Day, grantees held a tribute to senior adults and talked with them upcoming nutritional classes that will be made available for older adults. The adults were urged to take what they learn from the classes and apply that knowledge when preparing meals for their families and grandchildren.

Boys and Girls Club of Fresno, Fresno, CA

During Grandparents week, young people and older adults visited a nearby senior housing complex and delivered healthy snacks to those living there. Later that week, the youth and volunteer seniors revisited the complex, playing checkers, card games, bingo and spending time with the residents.  All enjoyed a healthy fruit cup during the festivities.

Our AIM Foundation, Dunedin, FL

Our mayor issued a proclamation honoring Our Elders in recognition of Grandparents Day. During Grandparents week, officers of the GrandKids Club from each local high school visited classrooms, encouraging students from all grades to join the club.  During the educational session, the club officers encouraged their fellow students to “adopt” older adults from assisted living facilities, nursing homes and independent living facilities.  Additionally, on September 8, a group of youth visited a 96-year-old man who had been an adopted grandparent of one of the GrandsKids Club founders.

Mt. Vernon Awesome Adventurers 4H Club, Fairfax, VA

The Mount Vernon Awesome Adventurers 4H Club held a Grandparent's Day Event:  Let's Grow Together! The youth invited grandparents and their grandchildren to celebrate Grandparent's Week 2012 at the Hollin Hall Senior Center for intergenerational gardening fun! Activities included painting a rain barrel and mixing soil and plant seeds to start a fall garden.

Belton Service-Learning, Belton, MO

Belton Service-Learning celebrated Grandparents Week with retired teachers and other older citizens in the community. The teachers taught the students how to can food—a lost art among younger generations. The canned food was sold during the students’ homecoming game and the profits were used to help fill the local food pantry. 

Lucille W. Gorham Intergenerational Community Center

Youth grantees took part in the Intergenerational Community Center Fit kick-off during Grandparents week. The young people talked with older adults about Project F.R.E.S.H. (Food and Relationships for Equitable and Sustainable Health), in which youth will harvest, package and organize the delivery of fresh produce and healthy recipe cards to homebound older adults.  The young people also offered several other Grandparents Day activities, including two art projects that encouraged children to make a footprint in sand and a special picture frame for their grandparents to keep. 

What did you do for Grandparents Day? Tell us about it and we may feature it on the Together Blog!