plymouthintergenerational.org

Published in the Review and Sheboygan Press in October '09

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 email 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.  Help the Coalition and its partners make these dreams come true.  $2.47 million has already been raised but they need another $1.7 million to begin building.  Your generous help can fulfill a promise for better tomorrows.  

 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 please make a donation or pledge toward our goal.

About the author: Martha Laning is executive director of the Plymouth Intergenerational Center. She is joined by Larry Gentine and Mike Harvey, the co-chairs of the capital campaign to raise money to build the center in Plymouth.
Contact Laning at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information