Teens step up to help seniors, homebound residents

As the coronavirus impacts daily life for everyone, the younger residents of Canton have taken on the responsibility of reaching out to help care for the senior citizens and homebound residents of the town. Both the Galvin Middle School Problem Solvers and the Canton Catholic Community Youth Ministry are working to keep people connected with others and to make sure that they have needed medications and household items.

GMS Problem Solvers Ishita Jaiswal and Disha Nayak with Anuradha Banerjee

Ishita Jaiswal, a seventh grader, and Disha Nayak, an eighth grader, both have grandparents who live in India. Jaiswal speaks to her grandparents about once a month and sees them every three or four years, while Nayak has a conversation with her grandparents every week and sees them every two years. When the grandparent of one of their friends passed away, they were motivated to do something to strengthen the relationship between grandparents and their grandchildren.

“We decided to start this program,” Jaiswal said, “so that we can bridge the generation gap with seniors in our community.”

They called the program Project SMILE (Seniors Matter In Life Every day). The pair has worked with seniors at Cornerstone at Canton and Brightview Canton as well as with the Council on Aging at the Senior Center. They meet every week to work on Project SMILE and have hosted a variety of events for local seniors, including a Bollywood dance and a piano recital, which they presented three times, a cooking demonstration, and an art show.

The art show was held at the Canton Public Library in January. Jaiswal and Nayak told their friends about the show, placed flyers on a board at the library, and posted announcements on social media, including the Project SMILE Facebook page they created. “About 25 people came,” Jaiswal said. “Grandparents brought grandchildren.”

They taught the crowd how to paint a picture they had designed of a bridge in shadow over water with a dark blue sky in the background. The girls and their families provided all of the materials.

Nayak and Jaiswal also taught them some practical skills with technology, which have come in handy for seniors during the quarantine due to the coronavirus. It is an area that they are willing to continue virtually at Brightview and Cornerstone and with any seniors who would like to learn some online skills.

“We taught them how to FaceTime so they can call,” Jaiswal said. “This will help with their emotional levels and help them not feel lonely without any visitors.”

Nayak said that they also explained to the seniors how to order groceries from supermarkets, which is something that some of them may not have needed to do before. “They can place a food order so they don’t have to go out,” Nayak said.

They are posting the opening and closing hours of supermarkets on the Project SMILE Facebook page.

Jaiswal and Nayak are happy with the way Project SMILE has helped senior citizens in Canton. “It’s just a good experience,” Nayak said. “I am enjoying seeing the seniors being so happy after we help them with their technology and just spending time with them.”

“It’s a good program,” Jaiswal said, “and we’re making a big impact.” Senior citizens who would like help with technology or to learn how to use FaceTime or any apps can send an email to projectcmps.2020@gmail.com.

Also stepping up to help local seniors are the members of Canton Catholic Community Youth Ministry, led by CHS seniors Emma Cunningham, Stephanie Ciampa, John Peplau, and Billy Wade. The four students serve as the presidents of the youth group and each is in charge of three or four committees, such as feeding the homeless on Boston Common, working with the Galvin Middle School program, and planning Kids Camp. They plan events with those committees, but when the coronavirus quarantine forced the cancellation of meetings, they started to plan how they could help the senior citizens in Canton.

“We started talking about it almost inevitably after our normal events were shut down,” Peplau said. “We all kind of talked about it,” Ciampa said. “It was something we would absolutely do.”

The group decided to offer to pick up prepaid prescriptions, basic household items and a small number of grocery items, and to run errands for senior citizens and for those people who are homebound.

The Canton Public Schools have been closed since March 13, leaving teenagers with extra time on their hands. “We have a lot of kids with nothing to do,” Peplau said. “This is one way to get them involved in the community.”

The group advertised their plan in the Canton Citizen last week as well as on social media. They also got the word out to their own members and put together a team of 15 to 20 students who are going to take part in the program. More students are expected to join.

Residents can call or email with their request. The presidents will assign a student to talk to that person and make sure that the item is prepaid or to make arrangements to pick up payment. The student will then head to the pharmacy or grocery store and leave the items in a safe, agreed-upon location outside the senior’s home to protect the health of everyone.

Mike Mahan, the director of the Canton Catholic Community Youth Ministry, said that while the emphasis will be on picking up individual items or small orders, those who might have a larger need are encouraged to contact them. “We can adjust that,” he said. He added that the group cannot pick up alcohol or cigarettes. “We cannot get anything that requires an ID,” he said.

Kristen Desisto, the assistant director of the youth ministry, said that while the quarantine has caused the group to place some things on hold, they are taking advantage of the time to pause and look at what they want to accomplish. “It’s an opportunity to get things done,” she said, “to seize upon it and make things better.”

“I love being a president of the CYO,” Peplau said, “having the opportunity to help, to have an impact on people’s lives. It’s really sad to see all the events canceled. It’s nice to be able to help people out.”

Cunningham said, “We always come up with great ideas, especially in times of crisis.”

“It just felt like we had to do something,” Ciampa said.

Mahan said that committee meetings and work on programs is being held online. “All our functions and activities are going forward,” he said, adding that the youth ministry is planning a large online activity for next weekend. “Kids Camp is on and we’re looking for it to be a total celebration and we’re working on it constantly.”

Those would like help with getting a prescription or groceries should call 781-828-3420 or 781-828-0090 or send an email to welcome@cantoncatholic.org.

The Canton Council on Aging is currently closed to the public, but is staffed. They have coordinated meal delivery and food shopping transportation and counseling. Please contact Outreach Worker Robin Tobin or Director Diane Tynan at 781-828-1323 or email dtynan@town.canton.ma.us if there is someone that you are worried about, because they live alone, are suffering from financial constraints, do not have a support system, or lack transportation.

All town departments, the Canton Food Pantry, HESSCO Elder Services and volunteers are working together to provide help during this time to those who need it.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Mar 27 2020. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.