A group of youth and elders have bonded in a meaningful way. Seniors at Fairvern Nursing Home have been sharing their stories with a grade 11 English class from Huntsville High School.
The students are taking the seniors’ stories and writing memoirs for the elder they were partnered with as part of a project lead by Legacy Writing Partners – a non-profit organization that matches volunteer writers with individuals who would like help putting together their memoir.
“The concept is one thing and it’s exciting to think about pairing the youth with the elders and restoring dignity and respect. When it’s a theory it’s exciting and it’s great but when you actually see it in action – the expressions, the emotions, the engagement – it’s very moving,” said Kimberly Davies, a partner with Legacy Writing. “For some of the kids, it’s out of their realm of experience. It opens a new perspective of life and relationships.”
“With the stories, especially about the war and that sort of thing, history comes alive when it’s an actual story of somebody’s life,” added Christine Cowley, who spearheaded Legacy Writing Partners. “If we don’t capture their stories they’re gone.”
Staff at Fairvern said the residents were thrilled to see the students. They came to the interviews prepared, excited and engaged.
“It struck the staff the importance it was having on the elders,” said Davies.
“I was surprised how involved and happy they were working with the residents,” said Olivia Crozier, a grade 12 youth liaison with the project and volunteer at Fairvern. “We were walking back to the school and the whole walk back everyone was talking about their partner and how exciting their stories were and how excited they were to write it. They were like, ‘My dude’s so cool’. ‘Mine was square dancing on his porch’, ‘Mine’s a firecracker (because of her humour)’. Just saying all the stories.”
Crozier wants to be an occupational therapist and is on the youth council for the Town of Huntsville.
“When they presented this to youth council I knew I needed to be a part of this,” said Crozier.
“She was squirming in her seat,” added Davies.
“For the past two summers, I spent the summers with my grandparents,” said Crozier. “Before that I hadn’t spent much time with them but I’ve become so close with them, they’re so important to me now. Just having that relationship is so special to me because a lot of my friends don’t have that.”
In the time spent with her grandparents Crozier found her passion. She did her high school co-op at Fairvern.
Having that relationship with the elderly gives you a purpose and them a purpose and it feels so good. There’s so much to learn from them in the stories you both share and the differences in our generations. It’s so important to have that relationship with our elders, to respect our elders and form relationships with them because there’s so much to learn from them.
Grade 12 student Olivia Crozier
In addition to spearheading Legacy Writing Partners, Cowley has helped others write their memoirs. “I love the magic that happens. The stories you hear, you literally can’t make this stuff up, it’s so great. Primarily for me it’s the importance of stories and how I see the role of stories in our lives as humans. I want to do whatever small part I can to preserve storytelling because we’re losing it with technology, with emails rather than letter-writing. As we’re shortening our communications, we’re shortening our depth of stories.”
The stories that have come from the youth elder project will be shared on June 4 from 2-4 p.m. at Fairvern.
“It’s a time to honour everyone,” said Davies.
The hope for these ladies is to have the elders’ memoirs published. However, as a non-profit, Legacy Writing Partners is operating on a shoestring budget and would be grateful for any donations.
“We have no shortage of ideas on how to grow,” said Davies, noting they will be doing some fundraising in the near future.
To contact Legacy Writing Partners phone 705-706-2705 or email [email protected]. You can follow the project on Facebook at facebook.com/LWPORG.
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