Making friend is easy when you ’re 3 years honest-to-god . But the quondam we get , the hard it can be to connect and stay connected . Now one California teenager has a answer : a little assist from a younger generation .
Anika Kumar has been volunteering with older adult since she was 15 . While work in an assisted living facility , Kumar get word that she loved the bonds she mould with residents .
“ They have so much to partake in , so many stories , so much advice and encouragement , ” shetoldKCBS San Francisco . “ It ’s really dandy the relationship you may have with them . ”
Kumar knew that theconversationsmeant a lot to her fresh protagonist , too . She decide to take the good thing she ’d found and expatiate it so others could experience the same happiness .
Just a few unforesightful yr later , her nonprofit organizationForget Me Notis going strong . The model is uncomplicated but wonderful : local teenagers spending sentence on the telephone set with old grownup .
military volunteer undergo training and sit in on weekly brainstorming sessions to come up with conversation topics like current events and the movies . Each volunteer is then paired up with an older participant , and the two talk for 20 or 30 minutes per week .
Britt Bassoni of the Episcopal Senior Communities helps train volunteers and supervises the calls to make certain the senior are nonplus the most out of their chats .
“ Some take reassurance that things are going to be okay , or that this will slide by , ” Bassoni said . “ Others just require a conversation around their interest . ”
Kumar graduated as valedictory speaker of her school day ’s 2017 category and is channelize to the University of California , Berkeley . She ’s pass over leading of the program to other volunteers , and hopes they ’ll be capable to expand its geographical ambit .
