On Mother’s Day weekend, more than 100 older adults at the Beach Channel Senior Residences in Far Rockaway celebrated with food, music, and salsa dancing. They were joined by high school student volunteers and community partners for an intergenerational celebration.
“Seeing everyone get up, start dancing, and support each other was really special,” said Dylan Moritz, the high school sophomore who helped organize the event, and recruited more than a dozen of his classmates to volunteer alongside him. “The goal is to create moments of happiness and connection, and it shows how much joy can come from simply bringing generations together. Many of my classmates were thrilled to join and already look forward to the next event.”
The event was organized in partnership with affordable housing developer The Arker Companies and JASA, the nonprofit serving older adults. It marked the first in what the organizations intend will become a broader series of celebrations across senior developments, designed to bring more families and young volunteers into senior communities and create meaningful moments of connection for older New Yorkers. The event series, called “Generations,” is a reference to both bringing different generations together to form meaningful bonds, as well as to The Arker Companies being a third-generation family business.
More than 100 older adults at the Beach Channel Senior Residences in Far Rockaway celebrated Mother’s Day weekend with food, music, and salsa dancing. They were joined by high school student volunteers and community partners for an intergenerational celebration.