By Eleanor Wilson
Each fortnight on McGregor Road in Pakenham, laughter permeates through the walls of the manager’s office at Evergreen Retirement Village.
Inside, a long, snaking line forms as village residents and Year 9 students from Pakenham Secondary College exchange broad smiles and meaningful hugs.
These are the unlikely, but unbreakable bonds formed out of an intergenerational program directed at targeting loneliness among both groups.
Taking inspiration from hit ABC show ‘Old People’s Home for Teenagers’, since the beginning of the year the students have visited the village for two hours each fortnight, undertaking a range of social activities to foster connection.
Evergreen Retirement Village manager Sharyn Allsopp said the program has been “hugely beneficial” to the residents, who range in age from 70 to 92.
“The residents, a couple of them in particular, have formed very strong bonds with the kids, so much so that a couple of the girls in the school holidays, went down to their house and did crotchet with them,” Ms Allsopp said.
“Every school, every village, I reckon should be doing something like this.”
Resident Mary Walker said the program has given her inspiration to keep her health well.
“I find it amazing, I come here for two hours every fortnight, I wish it were more often,” she said.
“I go home and I feel I’m being needed by them and I need them too…I live on my own and they just lift me.
“They’re just beautiful young people, the interaction with them is just incredible, I can’t recommend it enough.”
Pakenham Secondary College students Abbie and Eliza said their fortnightly visits to the village have helped them grow their confidence.
“I think it’s a major improvement to anyone’s social and communication skills,” Abbie said.
“I’ve done a lot better with socialising and just getting to know everyone and doing what they enjoy, it’s just good to learn new things,” Eliza said.
“You learn a lot of social skills from everybody here, there are a lot of different characters.”
After a trial run by Year 11 VCAL students last year, the social experiment was undertaken by the students as part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award – a youth development program run in schools across Australia and the world.
Pakenham Secondary College Duke of Edinburgh Award coordinator Jamie Gourlay said students were initially going to undertake three sessions at the retirement village, which has now turned into the whole year.
“They started off being quite shy, now we’ve been here every single term, every single fortnight, so it has developed into something really special,” she said.
“They have certain residents they have really bonded with and they give each other hugs when they get here, their confidence has increased so much.
“They learn a lot from the residents about life experiences too.”
Ms Gourlay said the school intends to continue the relationship with the retirement community for future students undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
