This text is part of the special Intergenerations booklet
The health measures put in place during the pandemic and the fear that remained among many afterwards complicated the relationship between elders and children. But now, the thirst for contacts is very present and several efforts are being made to rebuild ties.
“When are we starting again? “This question, Francine Goyette, director general of the Maison des grandparents de Villeray, has often heard it about different activities since the sanitary measures fell.
This community organization, which forges links between generations, has about forty active volunteers at the moment, but there were about a hundred before. “We haven’t been able to resume all the services yet and our volunteers are eager for us to offer more,” explains Ms.me Goyette. For example, the coffee meetings with young parents where, to give them a little respite, our volunteers rock the babies. Due to the large presence of the pulmonary syncytial virus last fall, which mainly affects babies and the elderly, we waited. But we plan to recruit volunteers and resume this service next fall. »
She also thinks of story time that seniors — trained by the Maison des grandparents de Villeray — were going to animate in daycare centres.
Francine Goyette notes that recruiting volunteers is still more difficult than before the pandemic. With staff shortages, companies are scrambling to attract or retain more experienced staff. Then, it will be necessary to recreate contacts with the various organizations, where there has been a lot of turnover in the staff. Links also need to be rebuilt with young people.
“We have young people who start coming to us around the age of 7, then they stay for other activities and can still be with us at 21, with the same volunteer. There are therefore deep bonds that are created,” explains the general manager, who sees her volunteers as symbolic grandparents for these young people.
The Maison des grand-parents de Villeray, which has existed for 31 years, offers various services to the community. It notably operates a thrift store, where families can dress at a very modest cost, then it offers baskets at Christmas and at the start of the school year.
A homework help service is also offered. “Since there are a lot of immigrant families in the neighborhood, it’s very appreciated because many parents don’t speak French,” explains Francine Goyette. We are also active with adolescents at risk of dropping out. Many of these young people’s grandparents are not in Canada, so we become their family. »
If the services offered by the Maison des grand-parents de Villeray — there are five others across Quebec — help young people and their families, they are also rewarding for volunteers. “Our elders really feel that their involvement brings concrete results in the lives of these young people,” says the Executive Director.
Residences for seniors in connection with children
Seniors in residence, who have been deprived of outings and visits during the pandemic, are also eager to resume activities with young people. For example, this year, the Résidence des Bâtisseurs in Trois-Rivières forged ties with students from Collège Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption.
“A group of residents went to see the fashion show of the graduates’ clothes and dresses, then these young people came to help out during the residence’s open house, and there were really good exchanges between them” , says Kristel Louboutin, vice-president of sales, communications and marketing of the residences of the Builders, present in several regions of Quebec.
The various establishments of the group also try to organize activities with nurseries. “For example, on Halloween, Christmas and Easter, several residences welcome children,” says Ms.me Louboutins. It’s crazy: when children enter the residences, the elders no longer have sores, no more hassles…they only have eyes for the children! »
To make these contacts even easier, some residences try to attract daycare centers to their commercial premises.
For its part, the Montmagny residence is preparing to receive a CEGEP student who will stay with the seniors and offer 10 hours of volunteering per week thanks to the Exchanges between generations – Intergenerational cohabitation project, which stems from the Quebec Youth Policy. 2030.
“It’s an interesting project at a time when Quebec is experiencing a housing crisis and a labor shortage,” observes Kristel Louboutin. In addition, this solution allows beautiful daily exchanges between generations.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.