
In the spirit of honoring their elders, engaging in hiddur p’nai zaken, teens from Tucson Hebrew Academy and BBYO have been meeting monthly with Handmaker residents since September as part of the Better Together intergenerational program.
One Wednesday morning each month, residents eagerly waited in the Grand Foyer or Great Room for the THA students to arrive. Their anticipation increased when the sounds of the teens’ laughter and conversation grew louder as the group made their way through the halls of Handmaker toward the meeting area. Whether they were participating in Tashlich, making mini pies for Thanksgiving, singing Hanukkah songs, playing board games, at a Tu B’Shevat Seder, baking Hamantashen, or making Elijah cups that were used at the Handmaker Seders, the group had a great time with one another at every meeting. They enjoyed getting to know one another, learning with and from each other.
Once a month on Sundays, the teens from BBYO came for their Better Together visit with residents. The teens would arrive at 9 a.m. for a video call with a group of teens in Moldova who will be visiting Tucson for the JCC Maccabi Games, before meeting with the residents. Together, this intergenerational group learned about Sukkot and made mini Sukkahs, shared and heard stories from veterans, wrote letters to Lone Soldiers in the IDF, planted trees for Tu B’Shevat, made masks for Purim, and put together 72 stress relief care packages to be sent to children and teens in Israel. As the program year progressed, it was wonderful to see the relationships develop between the teens and the residents.

On Tuesday, May 13, the THA teens, THA and BBYO staff, and Handmaker residents gathered in the Great Room of Handmaker to celebrate the end of another successful and fun year of being Better Together. (Unfortunately, the BBYO teens could not join the luncheon because they were in class.)
The THA students served a delicious pizza and salad lunch to the residents and then served themselves. True mensches, every one of them! It was fun to watch a slide show from the program year running on the big screen as they ate and reminisced about the last year.
Rabbis Jesse Davis and Yosef Lopez from THA spoke about how much the teens from THA learned from the residents and vice versa, and Davis Hubbell from BBYO spoke about the BBYO Better Together program. It was also wonderful to see and hear from Johanna Shlomovich, THA Head of School.
Several residents and teens also shared with the group how this program impacted them. Sophie Davis from THA said, “When we first started coming to Handmaker once a month, it was just another activity on our schedule. But after a few visits, I really started looking forward to these meetings. It has been so great to come to Handmaker and get to know the residents.” Jane Ross, a Handmaker resident, said, “We really loved having you guys come to Handmaker. It has been a lot of fun.” And Handmaker resident Karen Green said, “You are all such great kids. We learned so much from talking to you. We will miss you over the summer, and hope that you come back soon.”
Congratulations to the four BBYO teens who are graduating from high school, and the 10 THA 8th graders who are graduating from middle school. The Handmaker residents are looking forward to seeing many of the teens back again next year, for the last year of this four-year grant funded by Better Together. It should be another great one!