Joining Old & Young
JOY (Joining Old & Young)
JOY is a charity that brings older and younger generations together through shared experiences. Our Lifetime Stories Project connects pupils with a grandparent or ‘Chosen Elder’ and inspires a love of storytelling and listening as we send students on a voyage of story discovery.
It all began with Jenny, who brought nursery-aged children together with people in old-aged homes and daycare centres for ongoing activities throughout the year. This was called JOY as it joined the older and younger generations. From these beginnings a charity was formed.
JOY has since expanded to run various projects that align with their core ethos. During Covid we connected schoolchildren to Holocaust survivors through delivering Challas and art that students created.
We are a close-knit intergenerational charity and are always looking to partner with schools, sponsors or other charities to expand what we do.
The Story of JOY
JOY (Joining Old & Young) was founded by Jenny Kossew.
“My passion has been educating nursery aged children through music and entertaining the elderly through song, which I’ve been doing for over 25 years. When I brought the two generations together, I realised that there was more than music that could bridge the age gap – both groups were asking for more interaction as it brought them so much happiness. It was this that sparked the idea for JOY – Joining Old and Young.
The full benefits of these sessions became apparent when I started running them on a regular and recurring basis as it afforded both generations more one-on-one time, with undivided attention and this created a genuine and lasting connection.”
What is JOY?
JOY brings together the older and younger generations through shared experiences and paired activities to create relationships and friendships based on our core values of respect, empathy and compassion. We use the similarities and differences of these two generations to foster interaction, connectivity and communication and encourage both age groups to learn from each other.