Intergenerational programs are in development throughout Hawaii, with a selection of recent programs detailed below. If you are interested in starting an intergenerational program in your community and would like to partner with UH-CTAHR, please contact the intergenerational extension team.

Statewide:

Grinds on a Dime Online Cooking Series

Participants learned how to cook fast, cheap, and easy family meals in this free online cooking series with extension agents Hallie Cristobal and Marielle Hampton. Each session demonstrated three simple, affordable recipes from the weekly theme: vegetarian, pasta, chicken, seafood, or Thanksgiving leftovers.

Class recordings are available at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpBlZA9fHZRaRrln2GKmC_3hezCvgmGHQ

Maui County:

Ohana Garden & Grindz

The Ohana Garden & Grindz program on Molokai invited ‘ohana (parents, grandparents, keiki) with youth ages 9-13 to a weekly workshop to learn gardening, safe food handling, and kitchen skills. Due to COVID-19, the program went virtual. Participants gardened together, cooked together and ate together in a virtual setting from the safety and comfort of their own homes. After a successful pilot, the program received funding to expand to Hawaii and Kauai Counties in 2022-2023.

Kauai County:

Reading to Kupuna

During the pandemic, extension agent Hallie Cristobal recorded videos of 4-H members reading their favorite books aloud and passed the recordings along to local kupuna. Local youth in the 4-H program also carried out a service project to make Valentine’s Day cards for delivery to older adults in the community.

Hawaii County:

Kumu Mala / Keiki 2 Kupuna

For older adults stuck at home during the pandemic, a container gardening program on Hawaii Island offered fresh home-grown crops, support for plant problems, and opportunities for virtual socialization. In partnership with the non-profit Kumuki‘a, CTAHR junior extension agent Marielle Hampton helped launch the Kumu Mala program with 64 Waimea-area kupuna who received potted plants with herbs and vegetables to grow at their homes. Program organizers also delivered a short guide to container gardening and a kit of supplies to each participant, along with invitations to an online training session and a weekly Zoom check-in. This pilot program was funded by Hawaii Community Foundation. With additional funding from Hawaii Community Foundation’s West Hawaii Fund, the program has expanded to include students at Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School who grew plants for the program and wrote letters to participating kupuna.

Photographs by Liz Barney (http://www.lizbarney.com/).