There is a resident at The Lodge at The Lakes at Stillwater who delivers newsletters and calendars to every room.

He does it every day and it’s his routine, his contribution, his way of staying connected to the people around him. This past spring, he started bringing company.

A small group of young adults from The Bridge Volunteer Program, a school district-based transition program for students ages 18 to 22, began joining him on his rounds. 

They helped fold calendars and stuff newsletters. They made the trip from room to room together. By the time the school year ended, they had become his people.

"The way that he lit up," says Haley B., director of volunteer programs at The Goodman Group, "was that he truly just wanted to spend time with them and loved them."

That is at the heart of what The Bridge Volunteer Program has brought to The Lodge at The Lakes at Stillwater, a community managed by The Goodman Group in Stillwater, MN.

A Program Built on Purpose

The Bridge Volunteer Program is a school district-run program designed to give young adults with developmental differences real-world work experience in meaningful settings. 

A group of four students and a coach visited The Lodge three times a week for roughly two hours each visit. 

They turned over the dining room after breakfast, wrapped silverware, restocked condiments and filled daily menus. They helped organize supply closets and assisted with laundry. And they spent time with residents, doing puzzles, playing card games and just being present.

"It was very intentional," Haley explains. "It was not to replace our team members' work, or to do the work for them, but to do the work alongside us."

What the Residents Brought to the Table

The Lodge is home to residents with a wide range of backgrounds and life experience. Retired teachers, nurses and parents of children with different needs found themselves especially drawn to the program. For them, The Bridge Volunteer Program students were an invitation to show up as their fullest selves.

One of the most memorable moments of the spring came during a card game. A group of residents who play Kings in the Corner together every day agreed to split up and include the students. One woman, a retired preschool teacher, sat down with a student who needed extra time and prompting to play.

"She went back in time," Haley recalls, "and was engaging as if she was a preschool teacher again, with the patience that he needed and the verbal prompting."

The game went three rounds. He won two of them.

"Those are the moments you cannot make happen," Haley says. "You can set someone up in an opportunity, but you cannot just turn that on in them."

Growing Something Meaningful

The Bridge Volunteer Program at The Lodge at the Lakes at Stillwater is still in its early days. It launched in the spring, just before the students broke for summer, but the foundation is already in place for what comes next. 

Haley is actively exploring similar partnerships at other communities managed by The Goodman Group, including researching programs in other states where the model could be replicated.

Her approach to bringing new volunteers in (residents or program participants) is to start with purpose, lead with how much they are needed and ask for one chance.

"Can you just try it one time?" she says. "Nine out of 10 times it is golden and they stick with it."

For seniors considering a move to senior living, or families searching for a community where life keeps moving with intention, The Lodge at The Lakes at Stillwater offers a glimpse of what that can look like.