how many of you are 50 years old and
older all right how many of you are
under 50 years old okay good job you got
it all right so those of you who are 50
and older outside of your family how
many of you spend time with people under
50 years old okay look around at each
other that’s important later all right
and how many of you under 50s spend time
with people outside of your family who
are over 50 oh look at you guys we are
isolated and if we continue to live this
way our lives will not be fulfilled or
enriched and we will shorten our lives
it’s a sunny summer day and a
ten-year-old little girl is so excited
she’s just spent the night at her
grandma’s house and they’re going to go
make pierogi all day long with grandma’s
friends at church pierogi are these tiny
little dumplings full of just great
stuff like mashed potatoes and
sauerkraut and all kinds of other
fillings but mashed potatoes is this
little ones really favorite kind they go
on to the church and when the child
arrives at the church she’s overwhelmed
by all of this love of by her grandma’s
friends they’re hugging on her and
they’re kissing her and they’re punching
her cheeks and she feels so loved they
assure her off to the packaging pierogi
packaging station because it’s probably
where she’s not gonna make a lot of
problems and she’s hearing the Polish
and the English languages mingle
together and she’s listening to the
sound of the water boil and she smells
butter and onions frying is there
anything better than that these women
then go through with this young lady all
through her life they are there when
she’s one of the first granddaughters to
grad
from high school in college they are
there at her wedding shower and she even
lets them sing polish songs at her
wedding and they’re really bad singers
it’s how much she loved them I
understand this deeply because I was
that 10 year old little girl and these
women created such a powerful safety net
under me that I went on to be the only
granddaughter to earn a PhD safety nets
are what support us when we’re
struggling they help us to propel us
when we’re succeeding and we all need
safety nuts and they need to be made in
an intergenerational way when we unite
the generations we build incredibly
strong safety nets you may not think you
need a safety net but I’m here to
challenge you that you do and I’m also
going to hear to challenge you that it
needs to be more than just the people
who are your same age because it needs
to be deeper and stronger and wider so
it has like titanium made out of it so
you have the wisdom of your elders and
the joy and the perspective of youth it
used to be we lived that way I’m sure
many of you remember that we used to go
to school all in one schoolhouse we used
to have intergenerational neighborhoods
and houses it was normal and now it’s
kind of like this coal idea that we’re
doing which I’m really excited about and
I’m sure that some of you in this room
had this experience you’re getting into
a little mischief in my neighborhood and
somebody’s grandma says what are you
doing
does your mother know what you’re doing
get back home right well what happened
how is it that we got separated from
each other we created social programs
here’s a few of the reasons we created
social programs where we divided people
by their ages we put little ones
in little programs and little bee
programs and we put elders in their own
programs wouldn’t it be really nice if
there was an elder reading to those
children and would it be fun if the kids
were playing in the pool
okay maybe for just a little while it
might not be totally fun for those
elders but the point is wouldn’t it be
better if they were together and we were
serving two populations with one idea
look how much more economical and
efficient and effective this would be
what else took us away
well planes trains and cars took us away
from our families and our fabrics of our
communities we moved all around the
world we also built 55 and older
communities and assisted living centers
that also divided us and then you just
lay around technology and we are
completely isolated from one another
here’s what we lose when we are not
united as the generations we lose
respect for all ages how many of you
hear these funny things ah they’re not
so funny how do you hear these all those
old people they don’t know how to do
technology oh or you say this I know I
say this where’s my teenager fix my
phone I don’t know what I’m doing also
we lose political solidarity think about
it if the young and the elder were
combined in strength with political
solidarity how amazing would our country
be instead this is what we do we take
our priorities and we start having them
be competitive should we invest in
Social Security or should we invest in
early childhood education it’s an and
conversation everybody it is not or it
is not as though one population is
better than the other they’re both
valuable and treasured in our world and
they both it needs to be an and
conversation we lose the transfer of
nine
Lynch and life experience how nice is it
for somebody in their 30s to hear
somebody in their 80s go oh yeah honey
been there done that don’t make that
mistake I’m here to help you out with
that how nice is it for the children
with their joyfulness about a new
experience inspire us who have might
have got been a little jaded and we lose
our safety and our stability because we
are ripping that social that safety net
apart here’s what living in isolation
does to your health we are more at risk
for cardiac problems it’s a long list so
get comfy huh cardiac problems cognitive
decline we are live excuse me we are at
risk for losing our sense of belonging
when we are living in isolation this is
what some medical folks have said that
it’s like smoking 15 cigarettes a day or
being obese and when children live in
isolation 20 years later they have
terrible health consequences the US
Surgeon General is so concerned about
this he has made it a public epidemic we
have got to stop living isolated let’s
talk about a problem that
intergenerational living could solve how
about foster care 25,000 kids a year
leave foster care without a family that
means they have nothing they’re 18 years
old they have no family
they have no guidance they have no
housing they have nothing now I want you
to think about yourselves at 18 years
old without a safety net
could you do it let’s what talk about
what this costs our country it costs
$300,000 per kid but what’s the bigger
loss the bigger losses they’re gifts
that they could give to us they’re gems
of wisdom their gifts their talents
their experiences that we could all
learn from they end up unemployed and
uneducated
and in poverty and that’s just
unconscionable everybody so wouldn’t it
be nice if there was a place that had
the open arms of elders to welcome these
children home there is and it’s called
bridge Meadows bridge Meadows
communities our three generation
neighborhoods that help children from
the foster care system find their
forever families in these communities
children have the love of family they
have the beautiful housing and they have
elders who care about them and do that
whole does your mother know what you’re
doing thing that we all benefit from it
is one gigantic safety net let me give
you a story in this intergenerational
community this is how it works
imagine you’re in your 60s and for some
of you you’re 60 so you’ll that’ll be an
easy imagination for you you are you get
a call
hello Ms Teddy I’m so sorry to bother
you but this is the child welfare office
in Portland Oregon and your
grandchildren are in foster care because
something really tragic happened with
their parents and for them could you
please be there forever family there’s
only one answer of course you pack up
everything you leave your life and you
come to a city you’ve never been to and
in that city you don’t know anybody the
kids have problems they’re traumatized
you they have school problems and you
don’t know where to live and somebody
says to you have you heard about bridge
meadows you show up and what happens is
you get beautiful housing but more
importantly you get an entire community
wrapped around you caring about you and
loving on you how nice would that be as
a family to have that incredible safety
net we need to bring the generations
together our culture and society don’t
want us to be together and I’m asking
you to fight and resist that tendency to
be separated and isolated from each
other we can do this I will
even us okay but I just want you to know
I’m not asking you to be the executive
director of a non-profit and I’m
certainly not asking you to go back home
and live with your parents that’s the
look of parents what I’m going to ask
you to do is I’m going to ask you to
spend time in your front yard not your
back yard I’m gonna ask you to smile at
somebody older or younger than you I’m
gonna ask you to start a conversation
with somebody you saw in this auditorium
that was in the other age group than you
see that’s where that came back in I
want you to volunteer as a mentor to a
young person because it only takes one
person to make a difference in a child’s
life there is research that proves that
I want you to throw a party that
includes babies and 80 year olds
I want you to interview your
grandparents and when you do ask them
what was their life like when they were
your age and grandparents I want you to
ask your grandchildren what they think
their life will be when they’re your age
share a meal with a neighbor maybe some
pierogies I’m asking you to come
together to bridge the generations to do
what we are wired to do which is to be
connected we can do this and when we do
this because I believe we will we will
live fulfilled and enriched lives and we
will live longer lives
I’m a pierogi and help and lead bridge
Meadows what are you gonna do
[Applause]
older all right how many of you are
under 50 years old okay good job you got
it all right so those of you who are 50
and older outside of your family how
many of you spend time with people under
50 years old okay look around at each
other that’s important later all right
and how many of you under 50s spend time
with people outside of your family who
are over 50 oh look at you guys we are
isolated and if we continue to live this
way our lives will not be fulfilled or
enriched and we will shorten our lives
it’s a sunny summer day and a
ten-year-old little girl is so excited
she’s just spent the night at her
grandma’s house and they’re going to go
make pierogi all day long with grandma’s
friends at church pierogi are these tiny
little dumplings full of just great
stuff like mashed potatoes and
sauerkraut and all kinds of other
fillings but mashed potatoes is this
little ones really favorite kind they go
on to the church and when the child
arrives at the church she’s overwhelmed
by all of this love of by her grandma’s
friends they’re hugging on her and
they’re kissing her and they’re punching
her cheeks and she feels so loved they
assure her off to the packaging pierogi
packaging station because it’s probably
where she’s not gonna make a lot of
problems and she’s hearing the Polish
and the English languages mingle
together and she’s listening to the
sound of the water boil and she smells
butter and onions frying is there
anything better than that these women
then go through with this young lady all
through her life they are there when
she’s one of the first granddaughters to
grad
from high school in college they are
there at her wedding shower and she even
lets them sing polish songs at her
wedding and they’re really bad singers
it’s how much she loved them I
understand this deeply because I was
that 10 year old little girl and these
women created such a powerful safety net
under me that I went on to be the only
granddaughter to earn a PhD safety nets
are what support us when we’re
struggling they help us to propel us
when we’re succeeding and we all need
safety nuts and they need to be made in
an intergenerational way when we unite
the generations we build incredibly
strong safety nets you may not think you
need a safety net but I’m here to
challenge you that you do and I’m also
going to hear to challenge you that it
needs to be more than just the people
who are your same age because it needs
to be deeper and stronger and wider so
it has like titanium made out of it so
you have the wisdom of your elders and
the joy and the perspective of youth it
used to be we lived that way I’m sure
many of you remember that we used to go
to school all in one schoolhouse we used
to have intergenerational neighborhoods
and houses it was normal and now it’s
kind of like this coal idea that we’re
doing which I’m really excited about and
I’m sure that some of you in this room
had this experience you’re getting into
a little mischief in my neighborhood and
somebody’s grandma says what are you
doing
does your mother know what you’re doing
get back home right well what happened
how is it that we got separated from
each other we created social programs
here’s a few of the reasons we created
social programs where we divided people
by their ages we put little ones
in little programs and little bee
programs and we put elders in their own
programs wouldn’t it be really nice if
there was an elder reading to those
children and would it be fun if the kids
were playing in the pool
okay maybe for just a little while it
might not be totally fun for those
elders but the point is wouldn’t it be
better if they were together and we were
serving two populations with one idea
look how much more economical and
efficient and effective this would be
what else took us away
well planes trains and cars took us away
from our families and our fabrics of our
communities we moved all around the
world we also built 55 and older
communities and assisted living centers
that also divided us and then you just
lay around technology and we are
completely isolated from one another
here’s what we lose when we are not
united as the generations we lose
respect for all ages how many of you
hear these funny things ah they’re not
so funny how do you hear these all those
old people they don’t know how to do
technology oh or you say this I know I
say this where’s my teenager fix my
phone I don’t know what I’m doing also
we lose political solidarity think about
it if the young and the elder were
combined in strength with political
solidarity how amazing would our country
be instead this is what we do we take
our priorities and we start having them
be competitive should we invest in
Social Security or should we invest in
early childhood education it’s an and
conversation everybody it is not or it
is not as though one population is
better than the other they’re both
valuable and treasured in our world and
they both it needs to be an and
conversation we lose the transfer of
nine
Lynch and life experience how nice is it
for somebody in their 30s to hear
somebody in their 80s go oh yeah honey
been there done that don’t make that
mistake I’m here to help you out with
that how nice is it for the children
with their joyfulness about a new
experience inspire us who have might
have got been a little jaded and we lose
our safety and our stability because we
are ripping that social that safety net
apart here’s what living in isolation
does to your health we are more at risk
for cardiac problems it’s a long list so
get comfy huh cardiac problems cognitive
decline we are live excuse me we are at
risk for losing our sense of belonging
when we are living in isolation this is
what some medical folks have said that
it’s like smoking 15 cigarettes a day or
being obese and when children live in
isolation 20 years later they have
terrible health consequences the US
Surgeon General is so concerned about
this he has made it a public epidemic we
have got to stop living isolated let’s
talk about a problem that
intergenerational living could solve how
about foster care 25,000 kids a year
leave foster care without a family that
means they have nothing they’re 18 years
old they have no family
they have no guidance they have no
housing they have nothing now I want you
to think about yourselves at 18 years
old without a safety net
could you do it let’s what talk about
what this costs our country it costs
$300,000 per kid but what’s the bigger
loss the bigger losses they’re gifts
that they could give to us they’re gems
of wisdom their gifts their talents
their experiences that we could all
learn from they end up unemployed and
uneducated
and in poverty and that’s just
unconscionable everybody so wouldn’t it
be nice if there was a place that had
the open arms of elders to welcome these
children home there is and it’s called
bridge Meadows bridge Meadows
communities our three generation
neighborhoods that help children from
the foster care system find their
forever families in these communities
children have the love of family they
have the beautiful housing and they have
elders who care about them and do that
whole does your mother know what you’re
doing thing that we all benefit from it
is one gigantic safety net let me give
you a story in this intergenerational
community this is how it works
imagine you’re in your 60s and for some
of you you’re 60 so you’ll that’ll be an
easy imagination for you you are you get
a call
hello Ms Teddy I’m so sorry to bother
you but this is the child welfare office
in Portland Oregon and your
grandchildren are in foster care because
something really tragic happened with
their parents and for them could you
please be there forever family there’s
only one answer of course you pack up
everything you leave your life and you
come to a city you’ve never been to and
in that city you don’t know anybody the
kids have problems they’re traumatized
you they have school problems and you
don’t know where to live and somebody
says to you have you heard about bridge
meadows you show up and what happens is
you get beautiful housing but more
importantly you get an entire community
wrapped around you caring about you and
loving on you how nice would that be as
a family to have that incredible safety
net we need to bring the generations
together our culture and society don’t
want us to be together and I’m asking
you to fight and resist that tendency to
be separated and isolated from each
other we can do this I will
even us okay but I just want you to know
I’m not asking you to be the executive
director of a non-profit and I’m
certainly not asking you to go back home
and live with your parents that’s the
look of parents what I’m going to ask
you to do is I’m going to ask you to
spend time in your front yard not your
back yard I’m gonna ask you to smile at
somebody older or younger than you I’m
gonna ask you to start a conversation
with somebody you saw in this auditorium
that was in the other age group than you
see that’s where that came back in I
want you to volunteer as a mentor to a
young person because it only takes one
person to make a difference in a child’s
life there is research that proves that
I want you to throw a party that
includes babies and 80 year olds
I want you to interview your
grandparents and when you do ask them
what was their life like when they were
your age and grandparents I want you to
ask your grandchildren what they think
their life will be when they’re your age
share a meal with a neighbor maybe some
pierogies I’m asking you to come
together to bridge the generations to do
what we are wired to do which is to be
connected we can do this and when we do
this because I believe we will we will
live fulfilled and enriched lives and we
will live longer lives
I’m a pierogi and help and lead bridge
Meadows what are you gonna do
[Applause]
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