Diversity Spotlight: Mervyn
About Our Place, Our Woollahra
Our Place, Our Woollahra is a community inclusion and cohesion initiative that is proudly funded by Woollahra Municipal Council in partnership with Holdsworth. Built around three objectives – Inclusion, Participation, and Recognition – the program celebrates the people, cultures and stories that make our community what it is.
Each month, our Diversity Spotlight shines a light on a resident, local business, or community group whose story reflects the richness of cultural diversity in our neighbourhood. These are authentic voices, shared in their own words, to help us all feel a little more connected – and a little more at home – in the place we share.
This month, we sat down with Mervyn.
Written by Angie Vriens
Where the generations meet
Mervyn Levine on volunteering, belonging and what children remind us about the world
A door opened by curiosity
Mervyn first came to Holdsworth as a volunteer, drawn in at a moment when the organisation had just purchased a new community van and was keen to promote it. What began as lending a hand soon became something deeper. With a commercial and sales background behind him, Mervyn found his experience valued in unexpected ways – before long he was sitting on the panel that interviewed potential staff, including hiring diversity across the organisation.
“I got a feeling sitting on the inside,” he recalls those early months. “I could see the culture of the place.” Over eighteen months as a volunteer, working alongside then-CEO Ruth and staff like case manager Francis, he came to know Holdsworth not as an outsider but as part of its fabric. He is still connected to the community today.
Twenty weeks with the youngest generation
It was through Holdsworth that Mervyn discovered the Grand Friends intergenerational program, run in partnership with the George Institute and a local preschool. Over 20 weeks, older community members and young children came together each Thursday morning for three to four hours of shared activity, warmth and routine.
No two weeks looked the same. There were drives around the track, line dancing, arts and crafts built around a different theme each session, and the small rituals that make a group feel like a group: a welcome to begin, morning tea in the middle, and a proper goodbye to everyone at the end. The structure, Mervyn felt, was thoughtfully done. “They have it down to a fine art,” he says.
What the children taught him
Ask Mervyn what he gained, and the answer is disarmingly simple. The experience confirmed something he had first learned from his own children: that kids are innocent, and that this is the most beautiful thing. A real benefit of learning from children at that age is that they haven’t yet absorbed the prejudices adults carry. “If politicians were four or five,” he offers with a smile, “we would have a wonderful world.”
And what did he give in return? Perhaps the most valuable thing was simply his presence. For quite a few of the children, there were no grandparents nearby, one child knew their grandparents only through a computer screen, a world away overseas. Through Grand Friends, those children got to experience what having a grandparent feels like. They also picked up a quieter lesson, Mervyn notes: that growing old is not something to fear.
A place where your opinion is respected
For Mervyn, belonging came down to being heard. “Your opinion was always thought about, and always respected,” he says. “It never made you want to give up.” The connections formed in those sessions don’t need formal continuation to endure. As he puts it, you see everyone every now and then and simply pick up where you left off.
Would he do it again?
Without hesitation. Mervyn speaks of the program with the affection of someone who found more than an activity, he found a community that made room for him, valued what he brought and reminded him of something worth holding onto. His advice to others in Woollahra thinking of taking part is really an invitation: come and see what happens when the generations meet.
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About Angie Vriens
Angie Vriens is Head of Community Programs and Inclusion at Holdsworth, leading engagement and inclusion initiatives across Woollahra. For her, the Diversity Spotlight series is about making sure members of our community feel seen and heard. Everyone carries a story worth sharing and when we listen, we discover how much we have in common and how much richer our community is for its differences.
Want to be part of stories like Mervyn's?
Our Place, Our Woollahra is currently recruiting to run a Grand Friends program that brings older and younger community members together to share company, conversation and connection. Whether you have an hour a week or a lifetime of stories to tell, there’s a place for you. Get in touch with Holdsworth to find out how to join.