“I never thought meeting an elderly person would be so fun until Irene Rubin opened my eyes to see the world in a different way,” writes Aaron Madsen, a fourth-grader at Sycamore Valley School in Danville.
Aaron was teamed up with Rubin, a resident of the Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living in Danville, for “Project Joy,” a collaboration between fourth-graders and seniors that resulted in a book earlier this year.
“I wanted to do a project like this for about 10 years,” said Sally Scholl, a teacher at Sycamore Valley. Scholl thought teaming up her students with seniors would be beneficial for them both. “But there was never a home for the elderly nearby.”
When the Reutlinger center — formerly the Home for Jewish Parents — moved to Danville from Oakland, Scholl’s wish was granted.
Carol Goldman, activities coordinator at the Reutlinger center, greeted the children on their first visit. She gave them index cards with their buddies’ names, and the kids had to identify them.
Gordon Chow writes that before meeting his buddy, Ida Lacy, “I was scared when I got there.”
But once the children met their buddies, that initial fear quickly dissipated.
“I never thought being with someone older could be so fun,” writes Shareef Ghanem. “Well, my buddy, Ann Burrell, is awesome. She enlightens your day with funny stories.”
The children interviewed their buddies on their first visits. Beforehand, Scholl prepared her students by discussing possible questions to ask. Scholl had two blind students in her class who took their braillers along.
She had no Jewish students in her class last year, so Scholl — who is not Jewish — also told them a bit about Judaism.
But they learned even more from their buddies.
“Eric Berger says the home for Jewish Parents is nice except for the food,” writes Evan Pimantal. “The food is called kosher, which means it is blessed. Kosher food was started by the Orthodox Jews. Mr. Berger likes ham which is not on the kosher menu.”
And although Scholl had taught a unit on tolerance, which included the Japanese internment camps as well as the Holocaust, a few of her students got a crash course when they were paired up with Fanny Weiss, a Shoah survivor.
In the essays that the children wrote about their buddies, Danielle Heinson and Sandra Fernholz write, “When Fanny was little, she was forced to go to a concentration camp during World War II. The name of this camp was Auschwitz. It was the worst camp ever made!” and “The Nazis wanted every Jew to come.”
Most of the seniors did not go through the war. In Shane Swinnerton’s account of his buddy Freda Moore’s life, “World War II didn’t directly impact Freda too much because she lived so far from the battlefield.”
Throughout the year, the pairs of kids and seniors wrote poetry and did art projects together.
During one visit, Scholl assigned each student one of the five senses. The kids then asked the seniors to share a specific memory that their sense evoked.
Hyman Wiseman recalled the sight of pigeons flying around his house in his small New York apartment. His brother would bring them into the house.
Judy Nashon remembered the feel of her newborn son, while Hildy Wiseman reminisced over touching her husband’s curly hair for the first time.
Lindsay Varien asked her buddy Anita Dickler what she remembered tasting as a child. “Mallomars” was the answer. The chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies were a childhood favorite.
At the start of the year, one of Scholl’s lessons was on growing older and dying. Aaron took it quite hard when his buddy, Irene Rubin, passed away right before her 96th birthday. “It never crossed my mind that that would be the last time I saw Mrs. Rubin,” Madsen writes.
Over the year, real friendships developed. “The seniors were very glad to see them each time,” said Scholl.
The seniors also visited the elementary school. Not one missed the visit, Goldman said, adding that ordinarily, many of the residents are reluctant to leave the home.
“The residents started buying little gifts for them and making things for them in their crafts classes,” said Goldman.
And many of the children have stopped by over the summer with their parents, sometimes taking their buddy out with them.
“We get a lot of short-term visitors and entertainment,” said Goldman, “but this was real substance going on. Our residents wanted their own families to meet these kids.”
“It was just amazing,” said Scholl. “The kids became so attached to their buddies, and the parents ended up being fascinated by them as well. We had tons of parents who wanted to go each time.”
At the end of the year, Scholl compiled the essays, poetry and photos into a book. Called “Friendship Makes the World Go Round,” Scholl paid for it with the help of grants from the Teaching Tolerance program of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Washington Mutual Bank and some prize money she won as Contra Costa Teacher of the Year.
The seniors and children all received copies of the book.
Scholl has since retired and is joining the Peace Corps. She doesn’t know where she’ll be sent yet; perhaps to Africa.
But she hopes “Project Joy” will have lasting effects.
Goldman hopes it will, too. After the seniors held a graduation ceremony for the children, both groups were equally sad.
Since Scholl has retired, she has spoken to another Sycamore Valley teacher about continuing the program.
“We’re looking forward to it happening…soon,” Goldman said.