We walked down the hall, and there sitting in her wheel chair was an elderly woman, head down, disoriented, and moaning.  Hayley skipped toward her—her body expressing all the joy that fills a preschooler’s heart.  As the woman heard Hayley’s voice, she looked up, and a grin crept across her face.  The young child scrambled up into her lap, and the woman called out, “Hayley!”  Hayley gave her a kiss, hopped down, then pushed her chair a bit.  The woman began laughing.  Hayley giggled then told her, “We’re going to see Granny and Pop.”  The lady, warmed by Hayley’s presence, held out her hand and touched Hayley’s shoulder.  In that moment, both generations had shared the light of their lives.

All my life, I have been a part of a multigenerational family.  My maternal grandparents moved to my home town when I was 7-years-old, and they helped my parents to raise me.  As they grew older and needed more care, they moved into an assisted living facility to get the services they needed.  I enjoyed taking my daughter, Hayley, to see them because of the joy it brought them to watch a young child run around and play.  What I also experienced, moreover, was the impact her presence had on other residents living on the hallway, and in turn, the influence they had on her as well.  It was simply inspiring to see how both she and the senior adults lit up as they smiled, laughed, and spent time together.

Those touching experiences compelled me to begin dreaming about an organization that would connect young and old so they too could share the light of their lives with each other.  In 2006, my former pastor, Rev. Ashley Crowder Stanley and I began discussing how we could realize this dream.  We invited representatives from private businesses, local nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and community groups to discuss the impact intergenerational programming could have in our county.  It was agreed that by partnering our skills and services, we could meet a wider spectrum of the community.  From those early discussions, LightShare was born.  LightShare is a for-impact 501(c)(3) organization that connects generations through educational programming to build community. 

Since its beginning, LightShare’s primary goal has been intergenerational programming.  We have observed that by connecting young and old, each generation experiences positive outcomes.  What LightShare did not anticipate, however, was that it would also develop into a vehicle for community building and unification.   In the first community we joined, we simply thought we were offering an after school enrichment program.  As time has passed, however, we have found that we have become a part of that community by facilitating the development of safe and healthy family activities and connecting other agencies and services with the neighborhood.  In essence, we involve residents to invest their skills and resources to impact their community.