SA/TO By Month
Program Ideas: November

Programs:

• Host a kosher Thanksgiving lunch and invite the elderly of the congregation. Many elderly people are without their families for Thanksgiving and this program can remind them of the loving community that they are a part of. Decorate and serve the food, restaurant-style. Before dessert, leave ample time to sit and talk with the residents. This can also work at a nursing home.
• Many synagogues have a club for their older members, similar to a USY chapter. Have a joint program that's heavy on the socializing, like a tea party on a Sunday afternoon or, find a simple useful project for your shared community that the old and the young can partake in together, like painting flower pots or sorting kippot.
• Sponsor a joint Shabbat dinner at a nursing home to develop an appreciation for and enjoy the Shabbat experience with Jews from different generations. Prepare together by making the challah and setting up a 'beauty shop,' then have a USYer led service, complete with a dvar, eat a Shabbat dinner together and top the evening off with a study group! For very thorough step by step instructions, check out the USY program bank at http://www.usy.org/yourusy/pbank/results.asp?id=280
• Have USYers pair up with a person from an elderly generation, either from your nursing home or synagogue, and write a story of their youth children's' book style. Compile all of these stories and together present them to the temple nursery or Hebrew school. This gives the older generation a sense of legacy and usefulness, as well as giving the children a little history and perspective with their story time.
• The online USY program bank has a fantastic two-part program dealing with the elderly laid out in thorough step by step instructions. You can find these at http://www.usy.org/yourusy/pbank/usy/new.asp. Do Not Abandon Us in Our Old Age! is the first of this two-part program. This program has USYers examine their feelings and attitudes about the aged and experience some of the difficulties the elderly face in their daily lives through surveys, group discussions and simulations. Living with the Aged is the second part of this two-part program. Through role-play and discussion, USYers look deeper at the everyday life of the elderly.
• Movie Night? Tuesdays with Morrie is a tearjerker, for sure, but worth your time. Hank Azaria of The Simpsons gets serious in this movie reinforces the wisdom of the elderly and their worth to younger generations. Or, rent an old classic and host a movie night with the elderly of your synagogue for an intergenerational night out!