By Gary Cox, Spellbinders Volunteer Storyteller
My wife and I retired from our small business a few years ago and moved to Josephine Commons in Lafayette, a delightful apartment complex for low income folks over 55. We raised six children here in Colorado. We now have 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. When we were young, the oldest generation lived out their lives in their children’s homes. But now, we choose to live out our lives in affordable senior dwellings so as not to be a burden and to have some privacy. But in the process, we realized that we lost contact with our grandchildren who are very busy with their own lives. We recognized a feeling of isolation common to older adults and of not being engaged in a community even though we still had plenty of purpose after retiring.
When I heard about a group of volunteers, Boulder Valley Spellbinders, telling fairy tales, myths, legends, and stories to grade school children, I became interested. Then I read the words of the principal founder of Spellbinders, Germaine Dietsch: “The magic of storytelling is that when storytellers learn a story to tell as a gift to nourish the soul of their listeners, they are well nourished by it as well.” I decided to take the training and try it. I was over 80, retired, and looking for a way to continue being useful to the community. After my short training program and a background check for the safety of the children, I was assigned to tell stories to 20 kindergarten children for 1/2 hour each month at Coal Creek Elementary in Louisville.
I did not realize until I had told stories a few months to the same small class that this was filling a hole that I didn’t even know I had. It bonds our two generations that have not been connecting. Spellbinders trains us to create a ‘storyboard’ of a good story in our heads, add a little of ourselves to it, and look directly into the eyes of all….. holding the attention of the children, versus reading the same story. I find it does something more. After a few months of eye to eye contact, it becomes a heart to heart bond as well.
The Spellbinder’s founders said, “People who love language, stories, and children and who want to be involved in rewarding community service make good Spellbinders.”
If you want to be needed and have fun, visit www.Spellbinders.org and check out the chapter that I belong to, Boulder Valley Spellbinders at https://spellbinders.org/bouldervalley/
Video/Image Credit: www.Spellbinders.org