(Pictured: Filling gift bags for isolated older adults is one of the ways Annie Wright School students volunteer with Santa for Seniors.)
Middle-school students and seniors are spending time together and getting to know each other through a new program from the Tacoma-based Santa for Seniors.
The new program, called Time to Talk, matches middle-school students from Annie Wright Schools with clients served by Santa for Seniors’ year-round program focused on reducing isolation for seniors. According to the Alzheimer’s Society, social isolation can increase a person’s risk of dementia by 60 percent.
“We want to start in our local communities to help build societal change toward having no seniors who are isolated and alone. “Intergenerational activities are one of the best ways to do that,” said Susan Nocella, director of Santa for Seniors, a program of Lutheran Community Services Northwest (LCSNW), a non-profit social services agency.
Annie Wright Schools, a private campus in Tacoma, was looking for additional service opportunities for students. The partnership with Santa for Seniors blossomed beyond both groups’ expectations.
Time to Talk is developed in conjunction with Santa for Seniors, based on what students are studying in school. For example, students talked with seniors about their belief systems and immigration when they were studying those topics.
Students can stay with Time to Talk as they move through their grade levels. Former sixth-graders are now reconnecting as seventh-graders to build long-term friendships. Eighth-grade students also help out at Santa for Seniors gift bag-assembly work parties throughout the year.
The Time to Talk curriculum can be customized for any grade level. Nocella hopes it can be shared with school districts around the country.
Santa for Seniors is growing nationwide thanks to a $15 million grant from The William A. Looney Family Foundation awarded to LCSNW in 2022. The program has announced new partners in Minnesota and Alaska.
In 2023, the program expanded its gift bag distributions to several new sites in Oregon.
Source: Lutheran Community Services Northwest