The intergenerational component works with youth organizations that bring students from schools in U.S and Canada to adopt those who reside in the RCFE while the elders mentor them in an exchange that is meaningful for both groups of age.

Pacific Institute also offers this opportunity to any group or individual in search of helping and engaging in community work. Volunteers are invited to take over caring and giving activities that will promote a social commitment toward the most needed members of our communities and a personal growth experience for the participants.

Because Pacific Institute believes in building communities as the only way to create health, volunteers learn from their elders the wonders of life and the wisdom of ages by building a strong relationship based on mutual respect and loving support.

Volunteers can help by:

• Visiting with elders in residential facilities or home placements
• Leading educational and/or recreational activities for residents in different locations. Examples of some of these activities can be: book-reading, story-telling, musical performances, dance performances, art creations, table games, topic-discussions, etc.
• Serving as companions for elders who want to go places but do not have the strength to do it alone and who do not have friends or family members to help. Some of the places to where elders and other members of the groups that we serve like to go are galleries, museums, concert halls, parks, churches, temples, local cafe shops, and shopping!
• Helping administrators with daily activities in the delivery of services.
• Learning about mental health issues, living, and aging as part of a cycle and applying this knowledge when supporting our clients.

For an application, click here.