Project Description
In November 2007, under the leadership of Founder Nadia Campbell, the Victorian Hands Foundation launched Life Stories, an intergenerational literacy program engaging students (middle through high school) and seniors in order to document the historical and cultural aspects of the seniors’ lives. Through activities that meet state standards for language arts, social studies and art, such as interviews and essaying, youth document the experiences that have shaped the lives of their senior partners and develop oral, written and visual communication skills. Seniors exercise their cognitive and social skills by remembering and telling stories from their past. Participants present their experiences and insights through a variety of creative means including writing, photography, video and music, documenting a deeper understanding of the social, historical and cultural forces that have shaped their partners’ lives.
Life Stories is an innovative and vital program designed to combat the growing distrust and formation of stereotypes between older and younger generations through the provision of meaningful interactions between generations. Seniors benefit from the companionship and socialization, exercising their cognitive and social skills through remembering and telling stories from their past, combating loneliness and depression in knowing that they have not been abandoned by the communities that they served for so many years. Most importantly, in its dual focus on documentation and dialogue, Life Stories’ design builds mutual support and heightens self-esteem, increasing awareness and understanding between youth and elders, so that both youthful and elder partners have the opportunity to give and be needed in an atmosphere of fun, trust and learning.
Program Details
The program builds on the benefits derived from intergenerational oral history programs such as the Center for Intergenerational Learning at Temple University. Youth, typically recruited from schools, are paired with elders from senior centers. After one or two orientation sessions conducted by a trained Life Stories Coordinator in partnership with staff from the school and senior center, seniors and youth meet for one hour per week for up to 10 weeks to share themed, structured conversations and activities focusing on topics such as:
1. Music and Dance, Then and Now
2. What’s Fun to You?
3. What Do (Did) You Want from Life, Exploration of Expectations
4. Getting Paid: Looking at Work
5. What I’m Good At: Skill Swap
6. Overcoming Hardships Then and Now
7. How Do I Look? Frank Talk on Fashion
8. Best and Worst Advice Then and Now —Talk About Peer Pressure
9. Family Life: What’s Different, What’s the Same?
10. Who Am I and Where Do I Come From?: Diaspora and Culture
11. Who’s Cooking? Culture and Food
Life Stories Coordinators work with partner staff to prepare participants for weekly sessions, using the above activity guide to help prepare open-ended questions, record responses according to agreed upon protocol and guide participants towards the culminating project which could be an event, a presentation, an extended essay, a collage, a video or a play (format to be determined in the orientation sessions).
Do Something! Get Involved
The Victorian Hands Foundation (TVHF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn dedicated to enhancing awareness and respect among younger generations for our elderly. TVHF trains and prepares youth and adult volunteers to provide consistent one-on-one visits to homebound seniors and residents of nursing homes, offers technical assistance to health care providers developing quality intergenerational programs and provides presentations to students on positive ways to get more involved and active in the lives of our elderly. For over 10 years TVHF, operating as volunteer-run organization, has brightened and touched the lives of over 2,000 elderly citizens as well as over 200 youth and adult volunteers.
In 1994, Nadia Campbell, then a student at Montessori International Elementary School, viewed a 20/20 segment on elderly abuse. Based upon what she learned, Ms. Campbell felt compelled to address the issue of elder abuse and neglect. By enlisting the help of her classmates, friends and family to coordinate activities and engage the community to interact with nearby senior centers, nursing homes and homebound seniors, Ms. Campbell formed the Helping Hands Club at her elementary school and, later, at Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in Brooklyn, New York. The student-run, mission driven group was named the Helping Hands Club because the student volunteers helped sought to take an active role in enhancing the lives of the elderly in their communities.
As a student leader, and with only non-monetary contributions, Ms. Campbell led 20 student volunteers of the Helping Hands Club to engage over 230 elderly in a variety of activities at Crown Nursing Home and Marcus Garvey Nursing Home in Brooklyn. Many of the volunteers, mostly high school students, have had wonderful experiences through this work and continue to share the lives of many of the elderly they have met through their interactions. In 1998, the Helping Hands Club was renamed the Victorian Hands Foundation in honor of Ms. Campbell’s Aunt Victoria, who was a social worker, nurse and mentor.
Intergenerational relations are the basis of TVHF’s programming with the objective of increasing awareness and respect among younger and older generations on a continuous basis so that both generations will no longer fear and/or alienate each other. Youth participation remains an integral part of the organization’s programming. TVHF strives to include and encourage positive interaction between youth and the elderly with the goal that such interaction will prove to be mutually beneficial and foster long-term relationships. With this goal in mind, TVHF provides the following services to the community:
One-to-One Visits: for residents of nursing homes
Home Visitation: for homebound seniors
Volunteer Training & Placement
Technical Assistance: for health care providers interested in developing quality intergenerational programs
Education: presentations to school age students on positive ways to get more involved and active in the lives of our elderly.
TVHF understands that many adults and youth do not understand or were not taught how to respect and care for their elders. Therefore TVHF approaches this issue by enhancing respect among teens and adults for the elderly population. Through training, volunteers learn the reasons that seniors should be respected and are given everyday tools on how they can show it. TVHF educates youth on how to interact with seniors and about issues affecting seniors. We hope that both seniors and youth leave each visit and/or interaction with a better understanding and mutual respect of each other’s generation. We also strive to give youth the feeling of fulfillment, just knowing the difference that their time makes.
For more info on volunteering or getting involved, please contact Nadia Campbell:
Related Cause: Education
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