At Kindness Creators Intergenerational Preschool, age is nothing but a number.
“We like to say we’re helping fight ageism, one little baby at a time,” Pam Lawrence, who helped create the school in Oak Park, Illinois, told CBS News’ Adriana Diaz.
The idea is simple: At the school, which is located inside of a retirement community called Oak Park Arms, the kids visit seniors down the hall, and the seniors can come to the preschool to help teach.
The goal that Lawrence and her best friend, Jamie Moran, had in mind was to help kids becoming more accepting of older people, and for older people to be more accepting of kids.
“Anytime you sit with kids,” said Oak Park Arms resident Nancy Thornton, “it makes your day.”
So far, Lawrence and Moran’s hard work is paying off.
“Some mornings, I’m not in too great shape,” said Anne Grassley, an Oak Park Arms resident. “And then I come down here and you have to forget all that. You go into a different realm.”
By Adriana Diaz – CBS Saturday Morning
Saturday, November 19, 2022
About the Oak Park Arms
The Oak Park Arms Senior Living is a rental retirement community which provides senior housing in the form of independent living and assisted living apartments. Additional services include respite care and an award-winning adult day care program. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.
For more information about the Oak Park Arms, call 708-386-4040. For more information about Kindness Creators visit: https://kindnesscreators.org/ or call 708-948-7634.
