Visit the gallery
Providence Mount St. Vincent
http://www.providence.org/themount
How do you come together and share a resource?
Providence Mount St. Vincent (The Mount) is an exceptional intergenerational living care community for older adults located in West Seattle with over 400 residents.
The Mount participates with Seattle Public Schools in a worksite training program that offers opportunities for work experience to special education high school students. Students earn credit in the process of learning workplace skills and leave the program with more confidence and experience to assist them in obtaining paid employment. Through classes offered at The Mount, students may also complete a resume and cover letter, practice interviewing skills, obtain a food handler’s permit and explore careers and college opportunities.
The Mount provides Seattle Public Schools with space for their programs, integration with operational and administrative staff support, and job opportunities for the students. This program has been operating in cooperation with The Mount since 1984 and hundreds of students have successfully participated in the program.
Students work in many different areas of The Mount. They assist with laundry services, work in the skilled nursing kitchens and provide food service, transport residents around the building, perform clerical services, and care for animals and plants. They also visit and participate in resident activities such as art class and work in the childcare center.
How would your group use the award money?
One of the ways that we build community and cooperation among all age groups is through our “Art at The Mount” program. Older adults (average age is 89), young children from our daycare, students from middle and high school, and staff and volunteers of all ages come together to create and cooperate. Some of our residents have dementia, others have physical limitations, others are 100% active and cognizant. No matter what level of skill or art ability, all enjoy the camaraderie and community shared in art classes. Young children help older adults, older adults help students, volunteers interact with all ages. Some of the art produced in the group is classically beautiful, some has a childish charm whether created by an older adult or a child, some is technically perfect, much is not. But whatever the medium or the method, there is such beauty expressed by the participants and the interactions around the table. In this upcoming year of tight budgets and cuts from funding sources, $5,000 would help us to continue our intergenerational art programs and continue all the benefits and quality of life provided by getting together to make art.
