An Intergenerational Surprise
By Rev. Katie Goetz
Adult Volunteer from Woodside Road United Methodist Church in Redwood City, CA
“I want to do that again next summer,” my 11-year-old recently said to me.
“Sierra Service Project or intergenerational week at SSP?” I asked.
“Intergenerational week,” came Evelyn’s reply.
With 30+ years of SSP experiences under my belt, I had been a bit skeptical about intergenerational week heading into this summer season. I wondered if SSP would feel too “adult” for the middle schoolers who were with us or if it would feel too “young” for the adults who might have been looking for their own experience.
“Adults and youth developed richer relationships with each other because they were working together.”
During our week in Del Norte County, we ended up with about a 50/50 split between youth and adults, and I learned that work teams that balance the number of teens and adults work out well. Practically speaking, youth spent less time waiting around for their turn to do something. On a deeper level, adults and youth developed richer relationships with each other because they were working together instead of adults providing crowd control (I’d soloed work teams of 5 or 6 kids in the past to quickly discover more adults on a work team is better).
And this week brought a personal bonus for me. I quickly discovered that I was paired up to lead a group with Steve from Asbury UMC in Livermore. He had been my counselor in 1992 when I went to SSP for the first time – just another way that intergenerational week was a gift!
“It’s another week of community building and faith formation across the generations.”
I don’t know what SSP 2025 holds for us just yet, but my hope is that it’s another week of community building and faith formation across the generations.
Editor’s Note: Katie and Evelyn’s experiences are similar to how so many intergenerational volunteers talk about the week! If you’d like to check out intergenerational weeks for yourself, whether with your family, friends, or on your own, see our current availability for summer 2025.
