Faith and Care...Youth Join Hands and Hearts with Elders

Confirmation is no longer about memorizing at Peace Lutheran in Waunakee but about living faith through experience.  The ninth grade confirmation students get to choose from one of four groups for emphasis—Faith and Care, Faith and Ecology, Faith and Art or Faith and Sports.  The Faith and Care group is led by Intergeneration Care Coordinator and Parish Nurse, Karen Marshall.

Faith and Care allows youth the opportunity to experience God in and with groups of people that may be different from them.  The youth receive training in elder care issues such as hearing loss, dementia, and hand massage.  Once a month they visit Waunakee Manor, a residential care facility near the church and meet in the chapel with those who would like to participate.  Some, but not all, of the residents are members of Peace.  They meet in the chapel and read stories, offer hand massages and do art projects together.  The project started in the fall with four residents attending and has now grown to over 23 per month.  After each monthly event, the youth process with Karen.  They talk through questions like, “What is God doing in these residents?” and “What is God doing in you?”

These youth are passionate about sharing God’s word and serving.  There is a depth to them.  It’s not all about hair and clothes.  The youth have asked to continue Faith and Care past their confirmation this spring.  Waunakee Manor is delighted with the idea and will have the youth as part of their regular programming in the summer.  The youth have willingly agreed to volunteer once a week for 10 weeks in the summer.  Waunakee Manor will now be able to answer their resident’s enthusiastic question, “When are the kids coming?”  The bonds are deep that the youth and elderly are making.  One couple in their 80’s has lost six of their eight children and they now care a picture of the Peace youth in their wallets as their “children”.  Faith and Care embodies God’s Work. Our Hands. 

Peace Lutheran is benefiting from the service of their Intergenerational Care Coordinator and Parish Nurse, Karen Marshall, through the community outreach program of St. Mary's Hospital in Madison.  The hospital pays a portion of her salary and she works in the congregation helping all ages combine faith with health concerns.

We think this is a wonderful example of "God's work, Our hands."