Students And Memory Care Residents Spread Their Wings With Kites

OAK LAWN, IL — With their feet on the ground, students at Southwest Chicago Christian School spread their wings and flew kites for their friends at Grace Point Place Memory Care in Oak Lawn.

Three years ago, Grace Point Place, part of the Anthem network of memory care communities, opened on property purchased from Chicago Christian Schools. The private Christian elementary school, which draws students throughout the south suburbs, saw the opportunity to teach kids lessons in service and empathy, by developing friendships with Grace Point’s residents who’ve been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

“Part of who we are in being believers in Jesus Christ is that we show love to otherst,” said Nate Pettinga, principal of Southwest Christian. “We do that through our actions and one of the ways we can do it is through opportunities to build relationships with our friends next door. Even though they have Alzheimer’s and dementia does not mean that they don’t have gifts and talents.”

On this bright, late-spring morning, the senior residents sit in the sunshine watching their young friends fly kites from a distance. The last interaction the Southwest Christian students had with the senior residents was in 2019, when the memory care residents made Easter bonnets. The children donned the bonnets and put on an Easter Parade for their old friends.

“The past year has been hard and isolating,” Shannon Dahlman said, community relations director for Grace Point Place. “We’ve tried to come up with quality and purposeful activities to keep our residents active and engaged.”

Since COVID-19 cases began to decline as the nation became vaccinated, the Grace Point residents have reunited with their families, after a year of Zoom interaction, FaceTime and window visits.

“A lot of our residents watch the children at recess, which is how we came up with the idea,” Dahlman said. “One of our residents mentioned, ‘wouldn't it be nice to fly a kite?’ Almost all of our inspiration comes from our residents. We want to make every day the best day.”

The residents made kites from kits. Others used their creative talents to add their own artistic flourishes. The kites sparked buried childhood memories.

“A lot of our residents started reminiscing about flying kites with their dads,” Dahlman added.

The grassy field between the school building and the memory care facility was busting with fourth and fifth graders flying the kites made for them by their old friends. Many of the children had never flown a kite before. Some kites went soaring into the heights. When the recess bell rang, the first- and second-graders ran outside as older students relinquished their balls of string to air loft kites.

Pettinga, and the Patch reporter, had their hands full untangling string and helping students get their kites airborne.

“Our kids are normally at recess anyway,” Pettinga said. “This gives them something fun to do. If we can spread a little bit of joy, we’re happy to do it.”