By Kristie Schiefer & Stephanie Jenkins
News Assignment Editor & Contributing Writer
Recognizing the age gap between younger and older generations, senior Alex Henry hopes to emphasize the link between the two through faith and spirituality with her service project, “Bridges: One Generation to the Next.”
Henry’s project will conclude with an event at 6:30 p.m. on March 14 at Eden Heights of Olean Assisted Living and Memory Care. A panel of residents will discuss the role faith may have played through their lives in an attempt to relate younger generations with the aging population.
“We will have four senior citizens of different faith backgrounds on a panel,” Henry, a gerontology major, said. “Each of them will say a brief synopsis of their faith journey and then it will be open for questions. The group I am working with will have questions prepared beforehand, just in case the audience is too shy to start off the panel discussion. Questions can stem from anything dealing with their relationship with God or about the difficult times they had connecting with their faith.”
The senior citizens will also have the option of asking students questions, according to Henry.
“I want the elderly to take the spotlight,” she said.
Henry expressed that the elderly are often forgotten and perceived as the background of society.
“I want the senior population to be recognized for who they are and what they have done to reach their place in life, in terms of their faith journey,” she said.
Henry said she believes many younger people feel that they can’t relate to senior citizens, but says the panel discussion may reveal similarities in the way each have viewed God in their lives.
“Faith is a delicate topic because it comes straight from the heart,” Henry said. “No reasoning is involved in discussing what you truly feel about God working in your life.”
To tie in with the faith perspective, Henry reached out to Father Francis DiSpigno, O.F.M., executive director of University Ministries, to advise her project.
DiSpigno also explained that although many students have elderly figures in their lives, there is still a communication barrier.
“I don’t know if many people have the option to talk about serious issues with the elderly or about their life,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to build a bridge and break down barriers, prejudices, misconceptions.”
Henry hopes Bonaventure students accept Eden Heights as part of the Bona family.
DiSpigno mentioned that Bona Buddies did in fact at one time have a program called Bona Seniors, but he’s not sure what happened to it. While it’s not an initiative of Henry’s, DiSpigno hopes to bring back the program.
“My hope is that we can move in that direction (having students meet with elderly on a regular basis),” he said.
Henry, interested on how faith and spirituality may bridge the gap between younger and older people, found inspiration for her project based on the idea of lessening social isolation.
“Over the summer, I interned at a social service agency called Dorot in New York City,” Henry said. “The agency’s concentration is the senior population and it offers the opportunity to apply for a grant that can exemplify its message, which is to remove social isolation and promote intergenerational connections.”
Jacob Witter, a senior childhood studies major, is also assisting Henry with her project.
“When Alex told me it would focus around the elderly population I thought it was important to get involved,” he said. “I believe that it would be important to get a first-hand account from the elderly population to discuss their lives to Bonaventure students. I hope this becomes a huge hit with Bona’s students.”
Witter explained what the project means to him.
“To me, a service project has two purposes,” Witter said. “One, serves one’s time, and two, working for a particular cause over a certain period of time and trying to come up with creative and unique ways to start and finish the objective of that project.”
Father Francis also values the importance of the service project.
“One of the things, whether it’s with Bona Buddies, Warming House, or any of the programs here at University Ministries, is that there is an educational piece,” he said. “(The programs) invite us into someone else’s world. We see and meet real people.”
Sophomore engineering major Rachel Losito and sophomore sports studies major Dominique DeGregorio are also tackling the project with Henry, who noted the project is not a class requirement and is completely voluntary.
While Witter hopes Bona’s students will enjoy the project, Henry said she is looking forward to the resident’s reactions.
“I am excited to hear what the Eden Heights residents will say about their faith journey,” Henry said.
Father Francis says he is also very confident in Henry.
“I appreciate her creativity and initiative,” he said. “She’s been working so hard. It’s really great she’s pulling everything together.”
