Joining Old & Young
JOY (Joining Old & Young)
JOY is a charity that brings together older and younger generations through shared experiences. Our original project was simply called JOY which brought nursery-aged children together with people in old-aged homes and daycare centres for ongoing activities throughout the year.
JOY has since expanded to to run various projects that align with their core ethos. During Covid we connected schoolchildren to Holocaust survivors through delivering challas and art that the students created.
Our current project is Lifetime Stories; an intergenerational storytelling project that connects young people with a grandparent or Chosen Elder and sets them off on a voyage of discovery through the stories of their life.
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.