Santropol Roulant

"Seniors staying healthy and active in their community"
An Intergenerational Inquiry Project

Santropol Roulant has partnered with the Foundation of Greater Montreal, and two other senior lead community organizations to launch an Intergenerational Inquiry Project "Seniors staying healthy and active in their community".

The goal is to get at what it feels like to be connected to your community and how local community organizations like Santropol Roulant contribute to peoples' overall sense of well-being.

The results of this inquiry will help us develop future projects and programs that have been dreamed up by all of our members.

The project will be lead by an intergenerational inquiry team made up of Santropol Roulant volunteer, client and staff members. This squad will lead and undertake the appreciative inquiry process, interviewing our members and the memberships of our two partner organizations, around great meals of course.

If you would like to find out more about the "Seniors Staying Healthy and Active in their Community" project, or would like to get involved, please contact Marc Nisbet marc @ santropolroulant.org 514.284.9335.

The Harvesting Histories project was an ongoing storytelling and oral history project centered on capturing and celebrating the exhilarating and life changing experiences that our membership are living everyday.

The Harvesting Histories project was a response to an interest expressed from all areas of our membership for increased opportunities for Intergenerational exchanges . The project's 14 punctual events garnered the participation of 604 of our members, while the ongoing harvesting of stories touched many more.

The harvesting of histories was ongoing throughout the project. They took on varying scales and forms. Some were one-on-one visits by volunteers to clients' homes, while others were done at cafes in groups. Some participants chose one meeting while others chose to meet on an ongoing basis. Participants chose their partners and the format they felt most comfortable with.

To assure that our client members living with the highest levels of loss of autonomy had the opportunity to participate, the project's activities were planned using a flexible and creative approach.

Volunteers and client members who participated in the project had the opportunity to get involved in deeper and more meaningful ways in the life of the organization. Santropol Roulant was invited to share our vision and approach to Intergenerational programming at a conference organized for community organizers, at which point a group of volunteers and client members stepped forward to present the workshop. The Experience of our members becoming spokespeople and taking ownership of the workshop was enriching for all of the staff, the presenters as well as the participants of the workshop.

The stories collected throughout the year were compiled into an agenda that are sold as a fundraising initiative for future Intergenerational projects.

One of our main intergenerational projects in 2003 was the Map of the World Project. Born out of a desire to find new and more meaningful ways for our clients and volunteers to connect, this project brought our community together around the issue of cultural diversity through storytelling, artistic projects and intergenerational events.

Reflecting the general demographics of Montreal itself, a large proportion of Santropol Roulant’s clients and volunteers were born outside Canada and moved here at some point during their lives. So, although from greatly varying cultures, countries and even generations, these people all share the experience of leaving their homeland and settling in a new country. This was the common thread that brought them together.

Click on the map above to go to the site of the Map Of the World!

One Voice, Many Generations (2002)

Our intergenerational project in summer 2002, One Voice, Many Generations, comprised of creative workshops and a festival in the park that included over 200 clients, volunteers, neighbourhood families, local musicians and community groups in a wonderful example of community building.

Click here to go to the archive of the One Voice project.