Yahoo Finance Twentysomethings Live Alongside Senior Citizens At This Ohio Retirement Home
It might be hard to picture twentysomethings and retirees getting along, but at the Judson Manor retirement home in Cleveland, Ohio, they're all one big, happy family.
There, three graduate students, enrolled in the Cleveland Institute of Music, share a home with hundreds of retirement home residents nearly four times their age. They're part of a unique, artist-in-residence program, which gives the students their own apartments in the former luxury hotel for free until they finish school. In exchange, they provide the seniors with concerts in the manor's ballroom.
Now several years into the program, it seems the popular performances have led to meaningful friendships between the students and the residents. When they aren't performing, the students are telling jokes, swapping recipes, and sharing meals with their older neighbors. Tiffany Tieu, 26, is one of those students, and she couldn't be happier about it.
"It was surprisingly easy to become a part of the community," she tells ABC News. Tiffany became especially close with resident Laura Berick, 80, after they bonded over a mutual love of cooking. Ask Laura about Tiffany, and her eyes light up. "I see more of her than I do some my adult grandkids," she tells NBC.
It's that feeling of family that makes living in the manor such a special experience. "It's like I have a lot of extra grandparents," Justine Myers, another student in the program, tells CBC News. (Is it just us or do you now wish you lived at Judson Manor, too?)
Student Daniel Parvin, 26, feels the same way about his elderly neighbors:
I value them as people I can look up to...Some of them have lived four of my lifetimes, and they have all that experience I can ask about.
Just like Laura and Tiffany, Peggy Kennel, 92, cherishes her friendship with Daniel. Pictured above, she has even given him some of her late husband's old clothes. (Cue the 'awws!') Smiling at Daniel during the CBC News segment, she said, "It's wonderful to have younger people here. It makes us feel younger."
Learn more about Judson Manor's sweet friendships in the video below:
(h/t Yahoo)
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