Support Our Future
Middle Earth continues to address the child care need in Cleveland County by offering quality early childhood education programs for young children and maintaining an extensive waiting list. Due to the expansive development of the research campus of the University of Oklahoma, Middle Earth's current home will be torn down to make way for the future.
The Future: Today, Middle Earth faces new and exciting opportunities. Land has been made available to Middle Earth, thanks to the generosity and foresight of the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. Middle Earth is building their new facility and will return to the research campus of the University of Oklahoma within the next two years. This new permanent home will allow Middle Earth to eventually expand and provide an ongoing intergenerational program bringing young children together with senior citizens on a daily basis.
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Intergenerational Programs: Results of an ongoing program with a pilot group of Middle Earth children and a local adult senior day center are very positive. Children and their "Grand-friends" enjoy planned activities including art, music, movement, gardening, cooperative games and literacy rich conversation with each other. Research has shown interacting with the children energizes the adults and captivates the children. Both groups look forward to being together on a weekly basis, and have bonded with hugs and special friendships. In our new neighborhood, an adult senior day program will locate next to our facility, so that we can maintain separate residences but offer joint programs with children and seniors.
The National Council on Aging defines "intergenerational programs" as "activities or programs that increase cooperation, interaction or exchange between any two generations. They involve the sharing of skills, knowledge, or experience between old and young." Both generations benefit from these programs. As mentors, the elderly are provided with invaluable opportunities to remain useful and vital and make a positive difference to the children with whom they will interact. Children learn to value and enjoy the elderly. For children who live far from their biological grandparents, this exposure is especially important.
Middle Earth's proposed intergenerational neighborhood adheres especially well to the philosophy of Bruce Perry, Ph.D., senior fellow of the Houston-based Child Trauma Academy, who contends that we do our children a disservice when we segregate them by age, as we do in school. He postulates that a child's brain develops more fully when the child socializes with adults of all ages, such as "grandparent" adults, as well as children of all ages. Current Alzheimer research also points to the benefits of exposing older adults to younger people.
The concept of an intergenerational neighborhood, serving children and aging adults in a facility that provides both separate and interactive programs for the different generations, is an emerging concept. It fits perfectly with the philosophy of the University of Oklahoma's research campus, which offers cutting-edge research and a free flow of ideas co-mingling the university and private sector. It also offers a compassionate solution for members of the "sandwich generation," those individuals who care for both children and aging parents.
Middle Earth is headed toward an extraordinary future--a future that requires your assistance to become a reality. You can help in several ways:
Middle Earth is a 501 (c)(3) organization. Donors may deduct contributions Middle Earth as provided in section 170 of the (IRS) Code.