SERVE team at Grace College finds a path to community outreach with senior citizens through pen pal program
Students at Grace College are pairing with residents of local nursing home, Warsaw Meadows, in a pen pal program that seeks to help the residents cope with the isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SERVE team is a student organization at Grace College that focuses on community service and outreach with programs that connect Grace College students with refugees, the elderly, and children in the area. It has been challenging, due to COVID-19 restrictions, for students to find ways to connect with their community this past year. One way SERVE has adapted is by starting a pen pal program with residents of Warsaw Meadows.
Jacob Sturdolf leads the SERVE team and when the academic year started, Sturdolf and others brainstormed ways that the team could stay active while adhering to COVID-19 restrictions. The team landed on the idea for a pen pal program and it checked all the boxes. Both the Grace College students and the residents participating report that the program has been a success. In a news release from Grace College, Warsaw Meadows Community Liaison Moriah Young spoke about the reaction from residents when she delivered the first round of letters, "Our residents were overjoyed to receive personalized letters. I could tell the letters made them feel very special, especially those who are in the dementia unit."
The students involved are also grateful for the opportunity to connect with senior citizens, noting that it not only feels good to help the Warsaw Meadows residents feel less isolated, but that the residents have a lot to offer as well. One student, Julia Myers, spoke about the reciprocal relationship of the pen pal program, "With all the complications of the year, it's important for us as college students to see people in the community who are hurting in ways we cannot understand." Myers added, "There is so much insight to be gleaned from those who are older and wiser than us."
Another student, Harper Nolander, expressed the empathy she feels for the nursing home residents during these difficult times, "I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to be alone in the nursing homes right now due to COVID. The least we can do is write a letter to show someone that they are loved and cared for. Jesus wants us to care for others, and this is one way that I can do that."
Myers hopes to expand the program by recruiting more students and connecting with other nursing homes in the area.