The Castlewood Senior Living Brings Story Corner to the Community

Planetary Scientist Carl Sagan once said, “One of the greatest gifts adults can give – to their offspring and to their society – is to read to children.”

Putting books into the hands of children and forming meaningful intergenerational relationships is a priority for Arrow Senior Living communities! To support our efforts, we have launched what we call “Arrow Story Corner.” Each month a resident records the reading of a children’s book that highlights an “Arrow Tradition,” and these stories are shared online for all to hear. This tradition has grown from our company-wide Black History Month Story Corners, where residents all around Arrow Communities read children’s books highlighting black figures in history.

To support small businesses and literacy efforts, we host a fundraiser and partner with the EyeSeeMe Children’s Bookstore to purchase and donate copies of the books we read to local schools, and then a portion of our fundraising efforts also support The EyeSeeMe Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to create programs that increase childhood literacy for under-served communities and to promote African American History and multicultural literature that will increase respect and tolerance for diverse cultures.

This month, The Castlewood Senior Living is taking things a step further and embarking on the adventure of monthly Story Corner events in our community. One of our very own residents will read the Story Corner book of the month to children, as well as other residents, and share in a craft event and snack time. The featured book will then be added to our community library for residents to read to visiting grandchildren. A copy of the book will also be donated to local schools with which our community partners.

Everyone can benefit from slowing down to enjoy reading or listening to a story. Reading is universally something that people of all different races, socioeconomic backgrounds, and ages can enjoy. These Story Corner events will create a safe environment for people of all demographics to come together and unite under a common love and appreciation for storytelling.

Residents of The Castlewood community visit with a local preschool, The Adventures of Learning, monthly. These kids enjoy being read to, played with, and ultimately just loved on. Our goal is to invite the students out to our Story Corner events to continue to build relationships with them and welcome them into our space, as they do for us!

Resident Clara DePriest participated in the September Story Corner series by reading the story, Lulu and The Hunger Monster. I enjoyed seeing Clara light up as she read the story and really come to life as the storyteller. You could tell that Clara had experience in reading children’s stories and this opportunity allowed her to reminisce on the times she used to read to her own children.

All our Arrow communities encourage adults to give the gift of reading to youngsters. The relationships formed during the time spent between the reader and listener can be life changing for both generations.