Opinion
To the Editor:
How lucky Sheboygan County will be to have a place like the Plymouth Intergenerational Center in the area. The Plymouth Intergenerational Coalition (PIC) and its partners – The Family Resource Center of Sheboygan County, Head Start, Growing Generations Child Care (managed by Here We Grow), the city of Plymouth Senior Center, Parent’s Plus and the Plymouth School District – all need the community’s help in making this one-of-a-kind facility a reality. And with your support, this special dream facility will strengthen our community by working together to share resources and help one another.
Imagine a place where people of all ages feel at home. A place where young and old can sign up for kayak trips, enjoy bocce ball or Wii bowling tournaments or learn how to play skat. A place where the current programming offered by the tenants can continue, but with the coalition’s support, new intergenerational learning opportunities can be added.
Imagine the friendships that will blossom when:
• A savvy teenager assists a grandfather in setting up an e-mail so he can stay in contact with his granddaughter who went off to college.
• A retired businessman helps a young father learn about the feasibility of opening a new business.
• A retired doctor guides a teenager through the questions needing answers when considering a career in medicine.
• A young adult delivers dinner, from the center’s kitchen, to a shut-in older community member who is struggling with a painful knee.
• A young mother, not from this area, and a grandmother, whose children don’t live nearby, meet in a gardening class and the young mother finds the moral support she needs and the grandmother finds a family to spend time with since hers is so very far away.
These “working together to make things happen” dreams can all become realities right here in Sheboygan County at the Plymouth Intergenerational Center. If you would like to learn more about PIC, we invite you to attend a presentation Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the Elk Room at the Osthoff to see our plans, learn more about our tenants/ programming and have any questions you have answered.
Help the coalition and its partners make these dreams come true. A total of $2.47 million has already been raised, but we need another $1.7 million to complete the project. Your generous help can fulfill a promise for better tomorrows. No donation is too big or too small. It will take all of us to make this dream come true so fill out the pledge form below and send it in today.
Martha Laning, PIC executive director; Larry Gentine, PIC
Capital Campaign co-chair; and Mike Harvey, PIC Capital Campaign co-chair
