ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, ILL. — A northwest Chicago suburb has found a way to bridge the generations with a day care that caters to both young and old.
Inside Lutheran Home’s large senior living facility, a childcare and preschool program brings together two very different generations to teach and cherish the new and the experienced.
The Shepherd’s Flock Program cares for kids six weeks to five years.
There is reading, arts, crafts, games and songs.
Grandpa Mark Thomas has seven grandkids and 11 great grandkids of his own. While he can’t see his own each day, he can help teach a whole new generation of little ones. They in turn help revive some of the best emotions and memories from his lifetime.
“Takes me back to those days when my kids were that small,” he says.
And Lutheran Home is now getting a big thank you from the family of two residents recently passed. They anonymously donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild the non-profit’s playground including new drainage and water features, anew surface and new equipment.
“We had a husband and wife who lived in our assisted living that would frequently sit in their living room and watch the children in the playground,” said Linda Smith, one of the center’s directors. “That was very important to them and part of their day.”
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