By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
With Earth Day occurring this upcoming Saturday, the intergenerational program, Bridging the Years, put on a family-fun event this past Wednesday at the Walpole Public Library. Bridging the Years is a program comprised of the Teen Advisory Board, Parent Advisory Board, and the Walpole Council on Aging. Together, their goal is to provide opportunities for the young and elderly to learn from and engage with one another, while strengthening their community bonds.
The Community Room was jam-packed with laughing and smiling faces, as an array of activities were set up for all to enjoy. Some of these engaging activities included: coloring pages, books to read, a scavenger hunt, and the very popular make-your-own terrarium station.
This station, which was run by the Walpole COA Garden Club and local Cub Scouts, allowed the little ones to create sustainable terrariums using recyclable coke bottles and different plants.. As an added bonus, children were able to pick out tiny knick-knacks to place inside their hand-made terrariums, such as gnomes, tree stumps, and glass pebbles. Senior volunteers Marlene, Bill and Donna from the COA Garden Club were there to lend a helping hand with creating these sustainable terrariums.
To go along with these interactive stations, hand-written posters could be found lining the room as well as an informational slideshow playing in the background. One specific poster, made by Krista Adams of Troop 82540, detailed a sad story about a whale in order to persuade us to clean up our trash. Adams wrote, “In 2019, a very young whale washed up on shore! The poor whale had 88 pounds of plastic clogged it’s digestive system making it feel full. The whale didn’t eat, and it starved. Sadly it didn’t make it. (This is why people need to help!)” All of these educational masterpieces were created by the Walpole Girl Scouts to exemplify the very important message of the day: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Program coordinators, Lindsay Greener and Nikki Cataloni, explained that the overall purpose of this exciting event was to strengthen community bonding. Cataloni specifically stated, “Intergenerational events are meant for the community to come together. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, children, teens, seniors. We all want them to learn and engage with one another. When this event was brought to my attention, I said let’s do it!” While this was the first Earth Day event Bridging the Years has run, it was quite the hit.
To find more upcoming events at the WPL, please visit their website: https://www.walpolelibrary.org/home/
