WHO WE ARE

Home Away from Home is a senior organization that aims to provide engaging, creative, and socially enriching activities for seniors. They hope to enhance the social interaction, promote creativity, improve mental and physical health, and provide a platform for seniors to showcase their talents. This foundation has been founded in 2003 and its main objective is to ensure that their members enjoy life fully after retirement.

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The Senior Citizen Recreational Center is also focused on the wellbeing of the elderly. They provide their senior citizens the possibility to socialize & interact with each other through various activities, on a weekly basis, which stimulate the seniors’ social skills, while having fun as well.

 

EPIC is a foundation that promotes conservation on Sint Maarten through research, education, outreach, and advocacy. Currently the organization facilitates a project called Perpetual Plastics with the Sister Basilia Center and others to increase awareness and educate on the need to recycle. Additionally, they recycle specific plastics, through a shredding and melting process into new, though recycled, art items with their participating organizations. EPIC rents a space for their machinery and holds workshops in this location. Also, the art of paper making is taught to the participants, using scrap paper.​

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WHAT WE DO

For this project, both senior groups would be partaking in the making of art items and paper making. They will be educated on the need to recycle and actively create art together. Schools in the neighborhood of the location of Perpetual Plastics, will also be part of the project. Small groups of school children will get workshops on how the plastic waste is recycled into art and will actively partake. An effort will be made to try to get both groups together, where school children might be able to assist the elderly and vice versa in making these art items. Intergenerational learning can be facilitated this way. The project will provide weekly classes for 3 school classes for 1.5 years. Weekly workshops with the elderly will also be facilitated on a weekly basis, for one year. During the project one or two exhibition/ market events will be coordinated. Under the budget falls the collection/sorting of materials, the payment for instructing, facilitating, and project coordination. Transportation,  marketing and communication will be covered as well.

 

WHO WE SERVE

The target group consists of >100 seniors from both organizations, with ranging mobility. The workshops are open for all seniors, and they can indicate their interest and sign up. They will be transported to and from the Perpetual Plastics location for these activities.

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The children from the neighboring schools (ACE foundation, Seventh Day Adventist, Charles Leopold Bell Primary school) will be of an age than can safely work around the machinery on the location.