REGION – Senior Solutions, the area agency on aging for southeastern Vermont, and Springfield Area Public Access TV (SAPA TV), with funding from the Vermont Arts Council, proudly sponsor the Intergenerational Lap Quilt Project. Students from Riverside Middle School (RMS) in Springfield will spend the next two and a half months making quilted lap blankets for older Vermonters. This project is the brainchild of Marlboro resident Linda Fuhrman, a former NASA engineer and avid quilter who originated the concept, donated much of the fabrics, and is the artist behind the designs. The students, working with guidance from Riverside Middle School fiber arts teachers Jessica Shepa and Marguerite Janiszyn, Fuhrman, and other local quilters, will design and make their own tactile lap blankets. In the process of doing so, they will learn sewing and quilting skills, and get an opportunity to connect with older members of the community. Around Thanksgiving, the quilts will be presented to participants in a memory cafe, a gathering for people with dementia and their caregivers, which is organized by Senior Solutions. Senior Solutions offers monthly cafes in Chester, Ludlow, Wilmington, Brattleboro, and White River Junction.
Research has shown that dementia patients benefit from tactile experiences. Touching a variety of textures can help stimulate a patient’s existing memories, and even bring back those memories thought to be lost. Many of these individuals are often isolated from social interaction, especially with young people. These quilted lap blankets will provide an opportunity for the aging and the young to interact in their community together. This project aims to foster a sense of community among its participants, as well as artistic enthusiasm and pride on the part of the quilters, and tactile enrichment for the quilt recipients.
SAPA TV, the Springfield area’s public access TV station, will record the process of quilt creation and the gifting ceremony, and will distribute the recordings on social media and to other stations around the state. To view SAPA TV’s programming from anywhere in Vermont, please visit www.sapatv.org. For more information about this project and the Chester Memory Cafe, please contact project coordinator Joann Erenhouse of Senior Solutions, at jerenhouse@seniorsolutionsvt.org.