Local residents age 55 and over are invited to a tea party that will launch an intergenerational program in Newtown.

Par-Tea at 3 will introduce the Connecticut-based nonprofit For All Ages and its mission to connect generations to end loneliness, reduce ageism, and improve mental, physical and social health for people of all ages. It will also focus on the For All Ages program Tea @ 3. The special event will be hosted by Newtown Senior Center on Thursday, September 4, at 1 pm.

Registration for the 60-minute program is required by September 3. Senior Center members should register through MyActiveCenter.com, while nonmembers can call the center at 203-270-4310 or send an email to maureencrickowen@gmail.com.

Guests will enjoy complimentary tea and sweet treats while discovering how tea — and the simple act of sharing it — can support well-being. They will also learn about the statewide program that partners people age 55 and over with a college student for weekly conversations over the phone or a video call.

The senior center event is being co-hosted by Newtown Suicide Prevention Initiative. The timing of the event is not entirely coincidental, falling within the first week of Suicide Prevention Month.

Maureen Crick Owen and Anna Wiedemann co-founded the local initiative in 2020. Crick Owen has been very open about losing her nephew and godson Matthew to suicide in 2007, when he was just 19 years old.

Speaking with The Newtown Bee earlier this week, Crick Owen said she has “a very special place in my heart to try to help people.” Her ongoing wish to continue that personal work took her in May to Rocky Hill, where she attended a suicide prevention conference. It was there that she learned about For All Ages and its programming, including Tea @ 3.

In that program, “a 55+ senior is partnered with a college student and once a week they have a phone or video call,” Crick Owen explained August 11. “Each person will receive a three- or four-minute YouTube video on a topic that is positive or uplifting prior to the call — nothing political — to help with the conversation.”

Sessions run 12 weeks. Participating young adults are college students from Quinnipiac University, UConn-Hartford, University of Hartford, University of New Haven, Sacred Heart University, Wesleyan University, and Yale University.

Each participant is given a welcome kit that includes a handmade mug cozy, tea to enjoy during the weekly calls, conversation starters, and other ideas for social engagement between the Tea-Mates. The phone calls do not need to be done at 3. They are done at a time that is convenient for both parties.

A representative from For All Ages will explain all points during the September event at the senior center.

Wiedemann has often spoken of concerns for others, especially those who lead isolated lives.

“During COVID I took a couple of classes with a professor online, regarding social isolation,” she said August 12. “At the time, when COVID first happened, I was calling 100 people per week, just to check on them.”

As time went on, it became increasingly difficult for Wiedemann to continue all those calls, she said. “People wanted to stay on the phone,” she said. It became physically impossible to maintain regular, close contact with so many people.

Wiedemann saw the downfall, she said, of so many senior citizens being socially isolated. A friend of Wiedemann’s recently moved into a memory care unit, “and I think COVID was the beginning of that turn,” she shared.

Wiedemann has seen the magic happen when different generations of nonfamily members meet.

“When Parks & Rec started doing the senior dances, and high school kids sat at tables with seniors, the conversations were incredible,” she said. The young adults “loved telling their stories, and the seniors loved listening to the kids.”

Wiedemann said she used to babysit the son of a friend. The friend later told Wiedemann she was her son’s favorite babysitter “because I always listened to him and his stories.

“I didn’t always understand what he was saying, but I knew it was important to listen,” she said. “People don’t talk to each other any more, so a program like this really allows for people to interact, one on one. Programs like these provide these important connections.”

Wiedemann believes senior centers continue the tradition of conversations.

“People are there, and they’re present. They’re not on their phones and iPads,” she said. Programs like Tea @ 3, “where people are teamed up and take time for each other, are wonderful.

“Whoever came up with this model, I really give them a lot of credit because it’s something we need,” Wiedemann continued. “It’s no different than seniors going into schools and reading to kids. A lot of kids don’t have grandparents who live nearby, and people just need that connection. You can’t put a money value on any of that.”

She is hoping, she said, the approaching launch of Tea @ 3 in Newtown will be the beginning of more partnerships between Newtown Senior Center and Newtown Suicide Prevention Initiative.

Crick Owen calls Tea @ 3 “one of the coolest ideas I have heard in a long time.”

As For All Ages states in part on its Tea @ 3 online page, “When you sit down for your cup of tea in the afternoon, you’ll find comfort in knowing that you’re part of a group of people who are all doing the same thing — you may be physically separated, but you’re not alone. You’re together in spirit, participating in a group activity. It’ll become a ritual that you’ll look forward to each week.”

The autumn session of Tea @ 3 will begin by mid-September. The opportunity to register for that session will be available at the senior center on September 4.

Anyone interested in Tea @ 3 who is unable to attend the tea party at the senior center is invited to contact Maureen Crick Owen for additional information at 203-733-4562 or maureencrickowen@gmail.com.

Registration for the autumn session must be done by September 9.

Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.