Find your village: Uniity friendship Morning Teas
Founders of Adelaide not-for-profit organisation Uniity (Unifying Neighbourhood Intergenerational Interactions Together with You) Adrianna Pearce and Marigold White know first hand what it’s like to crave connection and support as a mother with a young family.
After losing her grandma the week before her first child was born, living in the day to day of what can be an overwhelming and lonely period with a new baby at the best of tiems, compounded by the sense of loss after farewelling a much loved family member, Adrianna admits it was a difficult time.
“I found being at home a lot during the day a shock” she says “that, plus losing my grandma meant it was a challenging time. I went for a walk around my neighbourhood and saw an Italian Nonna in her garden and so very much wanted to show off my baby and have a coffee and a chat.”
It was this moment that made Adri start thinking about how she could find a way to connect people that may be missing family and craving that emotional support.
A long way from her own parents in Ireland, Marigold also understood the longing for the simple connection of family for herself and her children.
After getting to know an older lady with whom she’d developed a friendship, Marigold could see the value in this type of connection and how mutually enriching the relationship was. Seeing how her daughters also benefitted greatly in having a grandmother figure in their lives nearby, and sharing in important family milestones together, reinforced in Marigold the value of having a village of support and friends who become like family, when you can’t be with your own.
These are the types of connections that Uniity hopes with foster with their Find Your Village Morning Tea events.
Creating connections and Enriching Lives with Find your Village Morning Tea
Find your Village Morning Tea, an event Uniity holds on the first Friday of every month, launching Friday August 7 in Brompton, is all about finding family-style connections.
The friendly and relaxed environment offers play activities set up for kids and is intended to draw on the experience of popping in to a good friends house for a coffee and a chat while the kids play.
The team at Uniity host these types of activities and events as the catalyst for people to meet and make lasting friendships.
With activities tailored to each specific neighbourhood, Uniity works to leverage off the unique culture of exisiting communities in order to create caring connections. Meaningful friendships and connections between older and younger generations provide emotional and practical support across all life stages, and it’s this type of joy and purpose that the Find your Village Morning Tea is looking to foster.
“We want to empower community and provide the motivation and inspiration for people to make the most of their neighbourhood, and to participate in activities that add value to their lives and wellbeing” says Adri.
Find Your Village Morning Tea provides a welcoming environment with a high tea experience, for people to simply connect, get to know each other and build friendships. The intent is for parents who may not have family nearby, and older people in the community who value family-like connections, to meet and form friendships.
Everyone is welcome.
For more information:
To RSVP to the next Find Your Village Morning Tea:
About Uniity
Uniity creates opportunities for people of different ages to meet and get to know each other.
In recent decades, smaller families, busier lives, and greater mobility have all contributed to the separation of generations. Neighbours aren’t connecting like they once did. On an individual level some people may have missed out on certain family connections, or they may not have their family close by and some may never have had children and may be feeling like there is a void in their life. Uniity aims to foster these relationships for mutual benefit. These intergenerational friendships are also particularly valuable in the passing down of knowledge and wisdom to younger generations that might otherwise get lost.
Uniity is 100% volunteer run. It has been supported by the Office for Ageing Well through a mentorship with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI).
Uniity is currently operating out of the suburb of West Croydon/Croydon, South Australia. We will host activities and events in other suburbs in accordance with our collaboration partners.
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