GRAND FORKS – On a recent sunny afternoon in north Grand Forks, Clara Wysocki watched from a short distance as two UND students helped prepare her home for winter, moving lawn furniture and other yard decor into a backyard shed.
“Where do you want these to go, Clara?” Brooke Kolstoe said, holding up two artificial pine trees with square wooden bases.
“Put them on the left side, by the wall,” Wysocki instructed.
Kolstoe and Grace Taiwo are part of the volunteer initiative that aims to connect UND students with older residents in the University Park Neighborhoods to help them with projects and household tasks while building community connections.
Through the Bringing the Generations Together project, these and other students are helping residents with chores that have become more difficult – or impossible – to do themselves.
Earlier that afternoon, Kolstoe turned back the time on two wall clocks, to conform with the switch from Daylight Saving Time.
“They are hard to reach,” said Wysocki, a first-time participant in the project.
Launched in fall 2023, the project is concluding a semester during which about 25 students have been matched with eight residents, said Shaylee Miller, project coordinator. About half of the students and all but one of the residents have participated in the project in a previous semester.
During the three semesters of this project, students have helped residents rake, winterize gardens, paint rooms, compile neighborhood history, prepare meals, organize pantries and cupboards, and more. For some residents, this provides a financial benefit, sparing them from having to hire help, Miller said.
“Beyond the work they do, the groups also find time to share stories, ideas and laughs, creating a meaningful experience all around,” she said.
The residents “love it,” Miller said. “They have a lot of great conversations with (the students); they share their community history. They get tasks done that they are not able to do anymore – (some) don’t have family in the area anymore. And it builds that community connection. …
“If they don’t have tasks, they have coffee and play cards,” Miller said. The camaraderie increases “social wellness.”
The current groups will conclude their time together with a public celebration set for noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Riverside Park warming house. It will feature a chili competition, a potluck and silent auction. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to continue the project in 2025.
Everyone is invited and welcome to attend, Miller said.
For Wysocki, the Bringing Generations Together project means more than just getting some household tasks done. It’s a chance to get to know today’s college students, learn about their lives and their dreams for the future.
“They’re great,” Wysocki said of Kolstoe and Taiwo. “They make you feel younger.”
When the students are around, “I enjoy hearing things – what they talk about,” she said. “You learn things. I love to learn.”
Wysocki heard about the project from her daughter, who noticed it online, she said. As she’s gotten older, some chores have become more difficult, Wysocki said. Her husband Cyril – better known as “Cy” – died in 1997.
After he died, “I did them myself,” she said. “I even mowed the grass up until three years ago.” She also contracts for snow removal.
After she joined the Bringing Generations Together project, several other tasks have been carried out by the students.
Last month, Kolstoe and Taiwo trimmed plants, removed grass from flower beds, cleared a path in her backyard that was covered with berries, and picked tomatoes. They raked her yard and set up all her Halloween decorations. “She’s a big Halloween person,” Kolstoe said.
Project coordinator Miller sees the Bringing Generations Together project as a means of connecting people of different ages “in a way that they might not have had a chance to before,” she said. “(It is) a great community building initiative that can help break down silo-ing between students and established residents in the area.
“I hope to see these newfound connections inspire others to form and foster a strong sense of community and belonging across all ages.”
That has been true for Joelle Fettig, a UND graduate student in public health who participated in the project last spring and this fall. She has “built a real connection” with Karen Verke, she said.
Fettig helped Verke with household chores, such as vacuuming, dusting, rearranging furniture, and taking things to and from the basement, she said. “It’s not easy for her, getting up and down stairs.”
“We do errands together,” said Fettig, who is house director at a nearby sorority. “I’m just a call away.”
From Verke, Fettig has learned about managing a home and home-ownership, she said. She’s also learned about Verke’s life. “She raised her kids in this house.”
“(The project) has provided me with the opportunity to expand my connections and see life from new perspectives,” Fettig said. “I initially joined the program to get more involved in the community. This program isn’t just about helping others – it’s about building real connections that enrich both our lives.”
In Verke, “definitely, I’ve made a new friend,” Fettig said. “And it’s not just Karen. It’s the other students too. Three of us go (to Verke’s home).”
Fettig has built friendships with other students, including one of different ethnicity, whom she would not have come to know, save for this project.
Brooke Kolstoe said she has enjoyed aspects of participating in the Bringing Generations Together project, “especially with Clara, and being outside; she has so many projects to do.”
“I’ve learned a lot from her,” Kolstoe said. “She talks about life with her husband and before the flood (of ‘97). It’s interesting to hear the stories.
“She talks about the flood actually quite often. How different things have changed since then.”
Kolstoe also shares her own story with Wysocki, she said.
“She loves hearing about how different my life is, compared to when she raised her children – especially with technology and schooling-wise.” In the past, Kolstoe worked in nursing homes for two years and “really enjoyed it,” she said. The UND sophomore from Glenwood, Minnesota, is planning to pursue a degree in physical therapy.
Eric Hylden/Obituary
Grace Taiwo, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in energy engineering at UND, has three children, ages 17, 14 and 11. Originally from Nigeria, she came to the U.S. in 2021 for a college education.
“I’ve always loved volunteering,” Taiwo said. She teaches flute and recorder, and has volunteered with the Hope Church event “Night to Shine.”
“It’s my way of giving back to the society that’s given so much to me,” she said.
From Wysocki, Taiwo has learned much about the University Park area and its history.
“She talks about how this place used to be, compared to now,” Taiwo said. “These are good things to know.”
It’s gratifying to help someone like Wysocki, she said. “Having people around you is very important.”
Addressing ‘silo-ing’
Bringing Generations Together was launched in 2023 by a group of UND students in the master’s degree program in public administration. In community conversations they found a common theme: that there was “silo-ing” occurring among neighborhood residents, Miller said, “even though they were living side-by-side.”
The project pairs UND students with residents, over the age of 50, in the University Park Neighborhoods. Students volunteer for a semester. Each semester, about 10 residents have been teamed up with students.
The project was initially funded, for the first two semesters, by a Community Challenge Grant from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), Miller said. This semester, it is funded through general UPN funds. The project is also supported by the Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks and Region and the UND Graduate School.
The University Park Neighborhoods is bordered by Columbia Road and Washington Street and, north to south, from Gateway Drive to Dyke Avenue, said Miller, who is working on a master’s degree in public administration at UND.
But the UPN association is not limiting its activities totally to that area, she said, and is “really trying to come together” with other north-side organizations to promote the entire north end.
Miller, who has conducted pre- and post-surveys to gauge the project’s impact, found that residents “have self-reported that they are more connected and more comfortable participating in the project.”
And, ultimately, by fostering that sense of community, she said, “neighborhoods where neighbors know each other are safer neighborhoods.”