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Hubbard Hill And Granger Community Church Announce 'Intergenerational' Early Learning Program

Gemma DiCarlo / WVPE Public Radio

The COVID-19 pandemic has isolated much of the nation’s elderly population over the last year, especially those in long-term care facilities. As classes have moved online, it’s also isolated much of the nation’s youth at a critical time in their social development. 

A partnership announced Monday between Hubbard Hill Living Wisdom Community and Granger Community Church aims to tackle both issues.

 

Hubbard Hill is currently designing a new facility on its campus to house Granger Community Church’s early learning center. The plan is to provide an intergenerational program where senior citizens and preschoolers can engage and interact.

 

Hubbard Hill CEO Patrick Pingel said that could look like putting on a play together, doing cooking or art classes or even just letting kids play in the residents’ lawns.

 

“They could go out and sit on the deck; they can engage with them," he said. "That’s normal routines that you and I experience every day and we don’t think about it. In this setting, they don’t have access to that.”

 

He said those interactions will hopefully help senior citizens combat some of the mental effects of isolation, especially for those in memory care. He said it could also provide important socialization for kids.

 

“Even at a young age, there can be a stigma [about older adults],” Pingel said. “So this makes it a natural connection, where kids learn from early, early on the value of having seniors in their life.”

 

Ginny Vanderbeek has one child who has already gone through the early learning program at Granger Community Church, two who are currently in it and one who will start at the Hubbard Hill facility when it opens. 

 

She said she hopes the intergenerational program will teach them not only to relate to their peers, but also to other segments of the population they may not regularly interact with.

 

“Just getting the chance to speak with older, wiser adults and just build their relationship… I just think that they’re going to learn compassion,” she said.

 

The early learning center is targeted to open in the fall of 2022.

 

Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.

 

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.