By offering activities allowing senior citizens (seniors) to connect with one another, Generations of Indian Valley (Generations) encourages social interactions and building relationships.

For Assistant Director Lisa Furchacher, “The whole concept of [Generations] is socialization.”

“Anything we can do to get them out of the house and into a place that’s full of activity, that’s our main goal,” Furchacher said.

Some seniors feel they gained close friendships through Generations.

“Most of these people I did not know before I came here, and now I consider to be good friends,” senior Marge Brittin said.

Senior Sue Moister agrees and feels “it’s a good place to meet people.”

Others feel it is a great place for people to sit and talk with their friends.

“It is a good place to catch up with people” senior Joanne Munshell said.

According to program coordinator Amy Stover, the people at Generations are one of her favorite parts of the job.

“I feel like they’re like my buddies,” Stover said. “They’re just good friends that I can chat with.”

 Social services coordinator Emily Filice agrees with this and believes “being able to talk to people” is one of the best parts of working at Generations.

For Filice, forming relationships with the participants is an important part of what she does.

“I have found that the better your relationship is with the participant and the more you talk to them, the more trust they have in you,” Filice said. “And maybe they can talk to you about things that they wouldn’t otherwise talk to somebody else about.”

Generations has many activities and programs that range from “educational to fitness” as per Stover. One of these is a morning fitness program, which tends to be full of seniors each morning.

According to Stover, Generations hosts a lot of programs aimed at giving seniors a place to socialize with one another and meet new people. 

“We have a lot of programs that are social and fun for people to have an opportunity to come out and just be with others and get out of their house and make connections,” Stover said.

Generations also offers many programs designed to help seniors. Their most popular program is their Meals on Wheels program. 

According to Furbacher, Meals on Wheels is a program where “we provide meals to about 165 [homebound seniors] per day that can’t get out of their house.”

Furbacher believes they make about 400 meals a day that go toward the program. Each senior receives two meals a day, one hot and one cold.

Generations also gives seniors resources to sign up for various benefits. According to Filice, she helps people sign up for benefits such as Medicaid, Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Generations also offers programs for people who are grieving, and according to Filice have a “grief counselor” seniors can speak to.

Stover feels the people and community at Generations make the “vibe [there] so awesome.”

“You can’t create it, you can’t force it to happen,” Stover said. “It just happens here with these people who are just really fun to be around.”