The “Fairy-tale Europe brings generations together” project was conducted in December 2011 in all Polish provinces. In 16 province capitals, seniors were engaged as volunteers in telling of European fairytales to children. In  kindergartens, schools, libraries and bookstores, youngsters not only listened to the seniors telling the stories, but also took part in games and quizzes, as well as learnt dances and customs of different Member countries of the European Union.

The project ties the aims of the European Year of Volunteering - 2011 as well as of the upcoming European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations– (2012) by encouraging people over 50 to volunteering. The project entails numerous positive effects. It helps to reverse negative stereotypes depicting the elderly as excluded from participation in social life. During the storytelling events children were provided with a unique opportunity to meet kind, energetic and interesting mature people who could talk inspiringly about their hobbies, tell tales and play with them, arising positive feelings in everyone. Seniors, on the other hand, could discover volunteering as a satisfying manner of spending time, and that their wisdom and life experience could be of great significance to the younger generation. Teachers and librarians who organized the intergenerational meetings expressed their willingness to continue them in the future.

One of the project’s element was the Contest for the Best Storyteller. On the website www.bajkowaeuropa.eu, profiles of all the storytelling seniors were presented along with the recorded fragments of the stories. The winner of contest was Mr. Waldemar Malewicz from Białystok, a retired office worker and a passionate traveler.

The project “Fairy-tale Europe brings generations together” is co-financed by the European Union. It constitutes an element of communication plan of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Representation of the European Commission in Poland and the Information Office of the European Parliament in Poland as part of the management partnership.