Intergenerational programming

Imagine a suitcase...

In 18 years of working at public libraries, I think that my greatest joy and sense of accomplishment came from starting a wonderful program with my friend and work wife Kate, called Then and Now.

In 2015, Kate and I (librarians at the Mill Woods branch, at that time) applied for a grant through Age Friendly Edmonton to set up an intergenerational program called Then and Now. With a group of teen and senior volunteers, we brainstormed ideas for kit themes, then took item donations, visited vintage shops, found old and new stuff to put in suitcases that we took took to schools, assisted living homes or other program locations in the community. The items in the kits were intended to appeal to seniors who’d been teens anytime between 1930-60 and people who were currently teens (so items from the 2000s). We’d initially been inspired by reminiscent kits made by the Royal Alberta Museum many years ago, but wanted them to appeal to both age groups, hence Then and Now.

We then paired some groups of teens (at schools, with a Pathfinders group, and other youth groups) and groups of seniors and held a program where teens and seniors would sit at a table together and discuss the old and new items and photos. It helped build relationships between the two but also helped with language learning, combatting isolation, understanding about ageism between the two generations and promoting memory function for seniors with dementia.

At one Then and Now program, a high school student nervously approached me when he noticed the senior at his table was sleeping in her wheelchair, because he wasn’t sure what to do. A worker at the assisted living facility encouraged him to tap her shoulder to wake her up, and when he did, they had a shared conversation in Tagalog for almost an hour about their favourite foods. The worker said this was the first time the resident had been engaged for a long time, and the teacher said the student was new to Canada and isolated as no one else in the classroom spoke Tagalog.

Early in the project while still seeking item donations, I met with a 96 year old Scottish woman at her assisted living facility, where she gave me some treasured items that had belonged to her and then her daughter, but as they had both recently moved to smaller places she wanted the items to have a new home. About 6 months later, I was able to plan a program at her facility and was delighted to see her again but a bit sad as she no longer remembered me. But the most amazing thing happened during the program which really helped confirm my passion and commitment to this program: I brought the leather case of sewing supplies and doll clothes (that she had given me 6 months prior) over to the table she was sharing with a few junior high boys, and she became more animated while doing a show and tell and telling stories to the boys. After the program was over, she came up to me and said “thank you so much for coming to see me again and bringing my doll clothes to show those boys”, and I tried not to melt into a puddle of tears. Her memory was distinctly sparked by seeing those treasured objects again.

In the years since, I’ve had staff at other libraries across Canada email me to ask for tips on setting up their own kits. In 2020, I was motivated to take a dementia care certificate online through Mount Royal University because I wanted to learn more about the science behind dementia and also the best practices for healthcare and recreational activities that assisted living facilities, caregivers and other people in the lives of those with dementia can provide. Because of the pandemic and other factors, I hadn’t led any of these programs since 2018-ish and so when I moved temporarily to a librarian position at the Highlands branch this past June, I seized the opportunity to try it again as the community has some seniors residences and schools situated very close to each other. One attempt went nowhere and the other ended in a program that I led a few days ago.

After 3 months of planning, I led a program in Highlands with a couple seniors at an apartment complex and 8 kids from the junior high leadership class at the school across the street. The seniors setting wasn’t ideal because visiting an independent versus assisted living place means there is no recreation coordinator to set up the program and recruit seniors, so I just made a poster and hoped a few would show up. When I arrived, there were two seniors that I invited and declined (one who laughed at me when I suggested he hang out with teens for 40 minutes, gotta love that honesty) and then one woman (in her 70s) who went and tried to recruit a few other seniors and came back with one man (also 70s). The man had two artificial legs and proceeded to make feet jokes for the first few minutes before we started talking about toys. At one point he left the room for a bit and I thought he’d lost interested but he came back with his own Viewmaster (because the one in our suitcase was a bit broken) and a couple other items to show the kids. It was just a 40 minute program but we talked about party lines and group chats, photos and virtual reality, slinkies, and determined that Lego spans the generations for favourite toys. It was quite delightful and the man wants us to come back so he can teach the teens how to make model trains and railways, and unfortunately I’m only at this branch for a couple more weeks so will have to pass it along to my colleague and hope the relationship can continue.

I’ve known since 2015 that I love intergenerational programming and its ability to connect isolated people together in community, provide activity options for already existing intergenerational groups or help support those already doing this great work in our city. Ultimately I would love this to be my whole work one day, but as I have yet to find any intergenerational librarian job postings (if you know of any, call me) I have considered creating my own job in the form of a non profit that would provide intergenerational programming opportunities. A friend and former colleague and I tried to start this work in 2019 … then 2020 happened, so it didn’t go anywhere. Now I’m faced with both the ethical dilemma of bringing seniors and kids together during an ongoing pandemic and the practical lack of funding to quit my job and start such an endeavour in a province that’s not super into funding non profit organizations trying to make a difference and shit. So here I am at the end of long Substack post, just putting my intention into the universe in case any wealthy local people want to help kickstart this lil passion project of mine. Alternatively, if anyone knows of Bloomberg style orgs in Edmonton or Alberta or Canada that might want to fund me to do some amazing stuff and things, let me know. I’ll keep doing the library thing until then but am open to conversations about a more intergenerational future.