|
|
| |
|
|
| Amazing Stories |
The Amazing Stories Program is an intergenerational initiative designed to bring high school juniors and local seniors together over a four-month period for the purpose of recording the senior's life story. Through weekly meetings, the senior volunteers provide their young writers with their comprehensive life story capturing memories and life experiences of seniors of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
The end result of this effort is not just a beautiful hardbound biography for the senior to pass on to their family, but a new relationship between the senior volunteer and the student. This relationship allows for the sharing of important life lessons and a view of historical events, not read from a book, but as seen through the eyes of someone who actually lived them!
"The memories about times that we only know from history books, like the German soldier on the train before WWII, have become so vivid to us, like only true life encounters could!"
"Students from Germantown Academy and their senior volunteers from Faukeways Retirement Center, both in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, gathered for a celebration at the conclusion of the first Amazing Stories Pilot Program in June, 2007."
This program truly has benefits for both the senior and the student! For the senior partner, the socialization and self-induced memory therapy is proven to be beneficial. For the student, the opportunity to learn important life lessons and see aging from an entirely new perspective is priceless!
This program has been piloted in both Pennsylvania and Florida and funded by The Extendicare Foundation and Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
For additional information on The Amazing Stories Program, please watch this video documentary created by a student at one of the high schools participating in the pilot program in Pennsylvania.
|
|
