While watching her children interact with not only her mother but other, lonelier seniors at Versa-Care Retirement Community, Liz Martorano saw a spark between the youngest and oldest members of her community and realized that intergenerational bond needed to be nurtured.

“In other parts of the world, elders are highly respected and the younger generations are eager to sit at their feet and learn from them,” said Martorano, who organized a seniors and kids intergenerational program in September 2005 by having elementary school classes visit seniors’ facilities.

“We have not re-invented the wheel, we are just re-introducing something that has been lost.”

In the last school year, 21 classes in 15 schools across Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk were participating in the program by having a senior friend visit their class for half an hour once a month to share their life story. The SKIP relationship of the year is Tina Delgiallo and Todd Stevens’ Grade 6 class at Banbury Heights School, according to Martorano.

“Tina is 80 years young, just passed her driving test, and wanted to ‘bless’ others as she put it.”

Understanding a senior's vantage point

Students tend to have preconceived stereotypes about seniors being slow, feeble-minded nuisances like grandpa Abe on the adult cartoon hit series The Simpsons, according to Stevens.

“Tina told our class about how the quality of life was very different in Italy when she was young, how the war hit when she was their age, and what life was like as an immigrant in Canada,” said Stevens, who adds that Banbury’s Grade 5 and kindergarten classes also participated - they had a couple from Peru who shared their artifacts, masks and traditional costumes with students.

“When she talked about her husband who passed away last year, the students were listening intently, some with tears in their eyes. They would all give Tina a hug whenever they were near her - they loved her to death, and in fact some of our most difficult kids made the strongest connection with our adopted senior.”

Delgiallo had promised the class that she would make them all some real Italian food - spaghetti with meatballs, but between that promise and the time she was scheduled to come in with the feast, L’Aquila, Italy, was destroyed by an earthquake.

The class worked with Tina to raise $600 for earthquake relief efforts by turning their spaghetti dinner into a fundraiser.

“Some of life’s most valuable lessons can’t be taught in a textbook,” said Stevens. “SKIP brings global awareness, introducing kids to the world through a senior’s eyes, one that is a lot bigger than our own schoolyard. It’s so important to show kids that a small thing like a spaghetti dinner can make a difference in the world, and it’s a lesson they won’t be able to forget.”

Notable facts

• The only similar program is the United States-based GrandPals offered to children at daycare centres.
• SKIP is funded entirely by donations, but government agencies have been in contact about making it a more formal program.
• There are 11 retirement homes involved in the program from Brantford, Paris, Simcoe, and Mount Pleasant.
• Older students in grades seven and eight participate in a mentoring hearts program where they interview a senior, research their career, and present what they learned at a ‘mentoring tea’ event that unites everyone involved.
• SKIP has a music enrichment program run in the summer for high school students to share their talents including singing, playing instruments and reciting poetry at nursing facilities.

For further information visit www.goskip.org .