The Heyman Interages®Center is a program
of JCA® - Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington.
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THE INTERAGES CONNECTOR
STAYING CONNECTED
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Staying in Touch
Hello, JCA Interages Volunteers,
We look forward to offering a variety of fall volunteer opportunities, including both virtual and in-person activities.
We are currently negotiating the details of elementary and middle school in-classroom support with MCPS, including:
· In-classroom support
· ESOL classroom support
· Mentoring high school students
· One-on-one tutoring in reading, writing, math, and the sciences
· Reading programs for elementary children
In addition, SHARE from a Distance pen pals will continue to dispel myths about aging and create meaningful connections.
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Weaving Words and Movement into Art
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Through a partnership between JCA Heyman Interages, the JCA Kensington Clubs, and Arts for the Aging, youth spanning 2nd graders through high school seniors and Kensington Club members are participating in an Art, Movement, and Poetry Initiative. Each session builds on the last, for example, the participants create visual representations of the poems created in the last session.
Arts for the Aging's mission is to engage older adults and care partners in health improvement and life enhancement through regular participation in the arts. The JCA Kensington Clubs are comprised of weekly programs providing social, purposeful, and stimulating activities for older adults with early-stage memory loss.
This is a meaningful and joyful intergenerational program. The students expressed their poetry through movement and then created an entirely new poem based on those feelings. Their collaborative poem is below.
The students will combine the portraits they drew of Kensington Club members (and vice versa) as well as the images they drew that reflected phrases in the poem with the words of the poem into one large tapestry.
I Am Alive, I Am Everything
I am a shadow following a kid through the water
I am the light in a light bulb
I am a bluebird spreading my wings
I am a tree swaying in the wind
I am the picking of wildflowers
I am a red hummingbird gliding through the air
I am a home keeping together a family
I am a plane taking people to their family
I am the dancing flowers in the air
I am the flower that blooms
I am alive!
My heart is beating
I am flying…
I am a tree standing tall
I am the warmth of summer
I am a cloud in the sky
I am a snowflake falling to the ground
I am the glasses that help people see the truth
I am alive
Interages Program at Kensington Club
Inspired by N. Scott Momaday, “The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee”
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We would like to send a tremendous thank you to our fabulous Grandreaders for enriching the lives of 138 children at four different library branches this summer. Our hearts were full as we watched you read and listen to the children read books, help families get their first library cards, build students' self-esteem, and open students' eyes to new thoughts and ideas. You shared your enthusiasm, your kindness, your knowledge and your time. We are supremely thankful for your generosity, understanding and flexibility as the libraries welcomed our Grandreaders program as part of their first in-person programming since the pandemic started.
Our Summer MCPL Grandreader program had four sites including Gaithersburg, White Oak, Aspen Hill, and Wheaton Libraries.
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Volunteer Highlight
We are pleased to introduce Roseann Flyte, a dedicated and involved JCA Interages volunteer. Roseann is a retired neo-natal nurse who taught Pediatric Nursing.
Shortly after moving to Montgomery county, she began volunteering at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, MD. She gave tours to children and participated in large group activities there.
Roseann started volunteering with JCA in the middle school reading club through the library, which she enjoyed. She said, "The books were great and the student responses gave me a look at the situations differently. The individual reflection presentation was awesome. The presentations done by the students were impressive. Also, I enjoyed doing my little presentations. Right now I am doing a book club with a librarian and another volunteer We are reading Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty."
JCA has a new in-person reading program at Whetstone Elementary School. Roseann has one student on Tuesday and Thursday. She said, "Today was my first day and I had so much fun with my student. We did finish everything we were supposed to. I enjoy working with young students, hopefully, I’m able to give them valuable insight because they give me insight into a young reader’s thoughts."
She participates in the JCA Interages SHARE from a Distance pen pal program. Rosann reflected on her experience in the program. "I enjoyed my pen pal time with a 6th-grade girl. We liked many things from frogs and foxes to cooking. I shared my cooking class experiences and my love of reading; she collects Victorian tea cups and I collect 1920 accessories for my three dresses of that time period.
When we moved here from Pennsylvania to be close to our daughter I had joined a book club and we read different genres which taught me there was a bigger world of literature. From there I started taking classes for lifelong learning at American University in DC filling my time with a variety of classes. I had to stop due to Covid and started taking Zoom classes with Montgomery College, from art to literature and cooking. I have been enjoying my new life in Maryland."
Thank you, Roseann, for your dedicated volunteer efforts.
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JOIN SHARE FROM A DISTANCE AND BECOME A PEN PAL
Are you or someone you know interested in being matched with a young person to exchange letters back and forth? Build a relationship with a young person during this difficult time when people of ALL ages are feeling isolated and eager to make connections. Only first names are given and all correspondence is filtered through JCA staff. Even as more and more activities open up and students return to in-person classes in the fall, it is rewarding to make these "old-fashioned" connections with a young person and share perspectives as we move into post-pandemic life.
You can choose to write to a student via email or postal mail. We need more older adults to match with the many interested students. For more info or to sign up, please email sharefromadistance@accessjca.org. Thanks for your help and support!
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Art and Music Appreciation Student Reflection |
JCA Heyman Interages regularly partners with the JCA Kensington Clubs for Art Therapy and Music Therapy sessions for those with early memory loss.
Young volunteers participate, as well as older adult volunteers. They then discuss the experience and the students produce reflection pieces. Here are two reflection pieces produced by young volunteers.
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I have enjoyed Kensington Club. It has been a great experience!! Getting to sing songs and look at art with others. It has also been a lot of fun getting to learn about others. It was great to hear others' opinions especially when we took a look at the artwork. It was cool getting to learn about memory. It was nice how it wasn’t just the same people everything as well every now and then there were some new faces which I really enjoyed This program was a great learning experience and I can’t and I wait to do it again.
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My Daily Brain
There goes those that have the notion
That my heart is old, my brain, in slow motion
But my brain doesn’t just cover a portion
It expands into the pacific ocean.
Sure, I am not who I once was
Sure, I have taken a huge pause
But my mind is full of imagination
My heart is full of endless creation.
My life is full of histories, racked with mysteries
Her-stories. Their- stories. Whatever- stories.
I’m as bright as the lit sun
I feel like the earth, full of tradition.
My face tells the past, the actions bring the future
My life doesn’t show 50%, more like 100%; it’s pure.
Observing underestimation is my daily hobby.
Every day, when I go to my apartment. Every night when I leave the lobby
So, I can’t remember, that won’t stop me.
After all, my mind is an enormous library.
Stories are locked. Safe and Secure
With that fact, I am sure.
So, to virtually reiterate. On a full second take,
My brain is full of opportunities. Adventures to make.
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Interages Volunteers
Here’s An Opportunity to Be A Reading Coach!
A Weekly Intergenerational Reading Club for Grades K to 5 will begin on October 3, 2022 at Whetstone Elementary School. Registration with JCA Interages and MCPS Badging are required.
The club will meet in person on Mondays from 3:45pm to 4:45pm Through November 28th.
This program is designed to sharpen reading skills through fluency development and fun reading activities. In the club, small groups of Whetstone students will be joined by pairs of adult and high school student volunteers from JCA Interages.
Registration Deadline is September 19, 2022 The Adult Volunteer In-Person Orientation is on September 28, 2022, from 10:00a-11:00a
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Thank you to all who made our virtual Bedtime Story Program with Wheaton Woods Elementary such a success!
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Volunteer Coffee in the Community |
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Grab a friend and come have a coffee or tea (on us).
Wednesday, August 24th at 10:00 am - Java Nation - 11120 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852
Please contact Indira Dingledine, Volunteer Manager, by email at idingledine@accessjca.org or by phone at 301.255.4239 to learn more or to rsvp.
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Best Places to Boat in Montgomery County
As summer wanes summer enjoy time on the water with your own boat or a rental. Here are local places including rivers, lakes, creeks, and more.
More details for you here.
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Make a gift to support the good work that we do.
You can designate your gift to intergenerational programs on the donation form.
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Correction does much, but encouragement does more.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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For your convenience, past issues of the JCA Interages Connector are available on the JCA Interages website.
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Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington
"Jewish Council for the Aging," "JCA," "Helping All Seniors Thrive" and "Interages" are registered trademarks of the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington, Inc. Visit us at AccessJCA.org.© 2022 Jewish Council for the Aging® All rights reserved.
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