Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/beatitudes-age-link-intergenerational-child-development-center/5015342/
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you will find 83-year-old Florence Butler rocking infants at the Beatitudes Age Link Intergenerational Child Development Center. (Florence is a resident of the Beatitudes Campus of Care.)Florence is one of 75 elders who regularly seek fulfillment by volunteering at Beatitudes. They supplement the work of 40 teachers serving 162 children from infants to preschoolers in 12 classrooms.
Beatitudes was founded by the Church of the Beatitudes which is highly committed to serving community needs. In addition to the child care center, the church also operates Beatitudes Campus of Care (a retirement living and health care center with over 700 residents) and the Beatitudes Center for Developing Older Adult Resources (an interfaith ministry providing services to elderly living in the community). In all these services, the church reaches out to a wide diversity of community residents of all ages, economic groups, and faiths. The curriculum of the center, while faith based in terms of its values, is strictly secular with no religious component.
The close proximity of the center to the adjacent Campus of Care also enables teachers to take children on regular field trips to visit their elder friends. Nurses in the dementia unit observe ...