William Penn Life, 2003 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2003-06-01 / 6. szám
Charitable Ideas Adopt-A-Grandparent Bridging the generation gap one relationship at a time CHILDREN USED TO HAVE constant access to the elderly in their community, and vice versa. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, with the young offering assistance and the old offering comfort and wisdom. But intergenerational relationships are becoming rare. Many young children are actually frightened at the sight of elderly people. They have had so little experience with them that they see their wrinkles and bent fingers as bizarre. Many adults, too, avoid contact with the elderly. They see the elderly as harbingers of their own futures. Despite the fact that many elderly people live fulfilling, productive lives, younger adults are frightened by what may come as they themselves grow old—infirmity, forgetfulness, the inability to care for themselves, a dependence on others to live daily life. It's a vicious cyle. Fear of growing old leads to separating ourselves from the elderly. This separation leads to isolation, not only of the elderly but also of ourselves. Such isolation leads to misunderstanding and ignorance. Ignorance breeds fear. The good news is that the cycle is being broken. With each passing day, more communities are remembering the value of intergenerational contact, establishing programs designed to foster relationships between the generations. One of the most successful of these programs is Adopt-A-Grandparent. The Adopt-A-Grandparent program is the ideal forum to exercise your gifts of loving, listening and caring for others. The main requirement of for Adopt-A-Grandparent volunteers is being able to learn how to receive the gifts the seniors give you. This is an art that takes some doing since most of us are much better givers than receivers. It is a privilege to gain the trust of a senior. The volunteer joins with a senior in his or her life just where the senior is at the moment. Walking with them, accepting in a nonjudgmental fashion the ups and downs of each life, ensures that the senior begins to be empowered to handle the huge changes that are occurring in his or her life. How it all began In August 1978 Linda Langstraat, then 35, moved to the inner city neighborhood of Grant Park in Atlanta, GA, to begin the job of ministering to senior citizens. She had been an elementary schoolteacher in Southern California for 13 years. She was burned out and ready to begin a new chapter of her life. The Mennonite Central Committee sent her to Atlanta for a two year volunteer term. There she was introduced to 35 seniors who had little support and lived alone. Langstraat found that the greatest need among them was to have a friend, someone to visit with them, someone to listen. So she did. Soon after arriving in Atlanta, Langstraat attended a workshop given by Bob Lupton, Executive Director of Family Consultation Service, teaching her more about the folks she had come to serve. She discovered in Lupton someone who understood and encouraged her call to seniors. The two began meeting on a weekly basis to explore ways to work together. Lupton invited Langstraat to join the staff of Family Consultation Service when her twoyear term with MCC was completed. She soon began raising the support needed to carry out her work. As Langstraat visited "her" seniors, she noticed repairs on their homes that needed to be done, she noticed toenails that were too long, she noticed hair that needed to be washed-and she pitched in and helped the seniors accomplish these overdue chores. Local churches quickly became involved, providing a hot water heater when needed, weeding overgrown yards, and painting facilities that had long been neglected due to the aging of the senior or a lack of finances. After seven years Langstraat discovered that befriending 35 seniors was giving her much more than it was giving the seniors. She realized that healing was happening in her life due to her "adopting" 8 William IVnn Life. June 2003
