Rock Creek Senior Living to Celebrate Back-to-School Season

At Rock Creek Senior Living, we are always excited to celebrate the Back-to-School season! Partnering with local schools is typically a year-long effort, but there is a special focus on the time when most students are heading back to the classroom- whether in person or virtually. Our residents find it easy to relate to school outreach efforts as many of them can recall a time when they returned to school as well.

Fostering these relationships helps build a sense of community among students, teachers, residents, and staff. There are plenty of advantages to intergenerational activities- such as decreasing the social and economic isolation so many seniors feel. Research has shown that seniors’ health, memory, and balance can benefit from volunteering regularly with children. Not only do these relationships benefit the older generations, but also the younger ones as well. Studies have also shown that children who interact with elders are less likely than others to start illegal drug use, will more likely have improved communication with their parents, and are less likely to experience depression. Lastly, these experiences can create timeless memories for both the seniors and children involved, such as making a new friend, trying a new game or activity, or listening to stories of each other’s life.

Our plan is to do a school drive for families that need help with purchasing supplies. Along with showing our support to our local school and teachers, we are going to be making “Welcome to the Class” door hangers, for teachers to use during the school year. We will be hand delivering these to teachers the day before school starts.

We have a lot of past teachers at Rock Creek, so they know the struggle. We will be doing a survey and making a list of things teachers use, but maybe are not commonly thought of. We will put those items together for a local teacher here in the Ankeny community. Plans are to have a donation box in the lobby and post the list on Facebook, so family members can donate as well.

I would love to take our residents to a sporting event, like a basketball game, at our local high school during the school year. We have a lot of former coaches here in our community.

Rock Creek Senior Living will continue to show their support in a lot of different ways this Back-to-School season and throughout the school year.