Teens Bring Joy to Isolated Seniors with Visits, Gifts, and Games Through ‘Siblings for Seniors’
Colette and Anthony’s visits mean the world to lonely seniors—learn more about their big-hearted work
We brought Scrabble!” Colette Gentile said as she and her brother, Anthony, met their great-aunt Dee at her apartment door.
“Come in!” Dee hugged them both. Dee, in her 80s, lived alone in Staten Island. Colette and Anthony made the trip from northern New Jersey with their mom, Camille, as often as possible.
“She smiled the whole time we were there,” Colette remarked during the ride home.
But she couldn’t help but wonder, What about all the other seniors who don’t have anyone to visit them?
A few months later, Colette attended a girls’ leadership group. Their final project was to design a social initiative to help the community. “I want to do something with seniors in nursing homes,” she decided. But it was the beginning of COVID-19, and nursing homes weren’t allowing new volunteers.
While she waited for the pandemic to ease, she told Anthony about her plan. “Count me in!” he said, and they decided to call themselves Siblings for Seniors.
When a local assisted living facility finally allowed them to visit, the siblings happily spent time with residents who quickly gathered and greeted them by name. They played games and trivia and learned history from the seniors who lived through it.
“Your kids bring a ray of sunshine,” staff aids told Camille. “So many of our residents don’t have families who can visit, and they feel isolated.”
“Whenever Colette and Anthony are here, it’s like a visit from the grandkids,” says Craig Ketchersid, director of recreation at CareOne at Livingston Assisted Living. “They bring smiles everywhere they go.”
Hoping to make an even wider impact, Colette and Anthony formed a nonprofit, SiblingsForSeniors.org, and began raising money for their local Meals on Wheels, which serves mostly seniors.
They’ve raised over $3,500 so far, and they also decorate gift bags to go with the meals, chock-full of snacks, games and craft supplies, and include a handwritten note with each.
Last year for the holidays, the siblings held a bake sale to buy “Cozy Feet” for all their new assisted living friends. “We were still seeing the residents wear the slippers and socks we gave them months later,” says Anthony. “That really felt good.”
Colette agrees. “It’s so rewarding, making our senior friends smile and bringing them joy by simply spending time and showing them we care,” she says. “It takes so little, but it makes such a huge difference in their lives.”
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