8 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER March 2023
Building intergenerational community , space and activities in Charbonneau
By DANA BRENNER Charbonneau Country Club
Efforts are underway to curate and develop space in the old Event Center to serve as a gathering place that appeals to children and adults alike , fosters community and provides fun and connection for Charbonneau kids and grandkids . This area currently houses puzzles , a pool table , bookshelves and ping pong . Construction will connect it to the Market Café in spring , and there will be regular “ open gathering hours ” on Saturdays once the space is updated . Laura Schott and Katie Jordan both have fond memories of living in Charbonneau as teens . Now , years later , they are each raising daughters here on different sides of Country Club Estates ( Gracen is 8 , and Katie ’ s daughters are 8 and 6 ). Over in French Prairie , longtime resident Meredith Eggert also has an 8-year-old daughter Audrey , as well as a 16-year-old son . Audrey has a friend Lola in her neighborhood who is also 8 , and whose dad provides maintenance for CCC .
Yet , these four girls who are the same age are not connected .
Jordan says that families with kids don ’ t get to meet or interact much . Events at the country club are understandably geared toward mostly senior adults , and with the average Charbonneau resident being 70 years old , it makes sense . Yet , the average is not the median , and that statistic does not take into account data that is not captured .
“ We have to go up to people with kids if we see them and say , ‘ Do you live here ?’ and it can be awkward ,” Jordan says . Teens are even less likely to be seen , and she wishes she knew of some for mutually beneficial babysitting .
Schott agrees . She says , “ Other families are hard to find . I don ’ t know where they are , or how to make it happen , although I would like to .”
Jordan would like to see more fun event-based opportunities for families with kids , and ones that mix the generations and allow for informal community building and getting to know one another .
It ’ s hard to know how many kids currently live in Charbonneau . Stats from Canby and Wilsonville school districts indicate that there are 25 registered school-aged students in the district . However , Schott and Jordan ’ s kids are enrolled in local private and charter options that are not represented in those stats , and with the increasing prevalence of online schooling that is run statewide , those numbers are likely not telling the whole story .
A whole other uncaptured demographic are the little ones living in Charbonneau who are younger than school age , not to mention all the grandkids spending time here . Valerie Carleton has lived here eight years , and her 3- and 1-year-old daughters would love some neighborhood friends . Tanesha Thomson has a 2.5-year-old who would be a perfect playmate , but they don ’ t know one another .
Dana Brenner and her 13-year-old son moved to Charbonneau in August of 2021 . The beauty , quiet , safety and kindness of the community drew her to choose the community . Her son attends a local private school for kids on the autism spectrum . Schott and Brenner met at their neighborhood pool last summer and were glad to find each other . Families at Charbonneau say the only way they meet other families is at the pools or the tot lot , and the latter appeals mainly to preschool kids and younger .
Because Brenner lives next to the dog park and has dogs , she has informally gotten to know many retired residents there . She has been incredibly impressed as she has learned of the skills , talents and interests of many of our retired residents that go underutilized and under-enjoyed . With her son not having any living grandparents , she began dreaming of ways to encourage intergenerational connection and mutual benefit .
“ My son would love to play board games and chess with retired residents , and would benefit from their kind attention ,” Brenner says . “ And he is such a lovely kid , they would benefit as well . So many of our residents are lonely and isolated , and I ’ d love to see us creating more community .”
Intergenerational connections can be fostered with residents who are not parents and grandparents as well . Through the Charbonneau chess club that met for a few months , Brenner ’ s son met resident Donna Seigel ( a single woman without kids in her fifties who lives in Charbonneau with her mother whose health has been declining ), and the two regularly play chess together now .
Denise and Bob Baumann are Charbonneau grandparents . They work full time during the week , but regularly
Charbonneau Country Club hopes to create opportunities for intergenerational connection .
care for their four local grandkids who are 6 and under on weekends . Denise and Bob would love more ways to integrate their grandparenting with events and amenities of the country club . Their oldest grandson loves to check out the puzzles in the new activity center , but at 1,000 pieces or more , they are geared toward adults . Anna Lancaster has been watching her granddaughter Maylee , who is almost 6 , twice a week for three years , and Cindy Anglin cares for her 3- and 6-year-old grandkids regularly .
Professionally , Laura Schott is a soccer coach who works with college students at George Fox University . She envisions that she might offer organized field games at Edith Green Park for kids and grandkids alike . She ’ d also love to have her daughter benefit from the talents of the many retired educators who live in Charbonneau . She could see tutoring or language learning happening . She ’ d
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