Pen pals for senior citizens aim to connect facility residents to the outside world

If the past months of social distancing have been excruciatingly challenging for most of us, imagine how much this has affected residents in senior living facilities.

Although some shelters allow visitors, with strict social distancing protocols, other facilities have implemented zero visitor policy. The Victorian Senior Care facilities in North Carolina is one of those.

This measure has caused many of the residents to feel isolated and alone.

The strict quarantine and social distancing protocols have paid off to the Victorian Senior Care facilities because they have not recorded any positive case to COVID-19.

However, they also needed to find a way so that residents will not feel isolated. Thus, they thought of pen pals for senior citizens. This project intends to connect each resident with a pen pal so that every one of them will feel connected to the outside world.

Pen pals for senior citizens: the launching

To launch the project, the staff at the Victorian Senior Care facilities helped take a photo of each resident. The senior citizens were holding a poster board. This board contains details like the hobby or activities that the seniors are interested in discussing.

There are different categories that the seniors chose. Some even wanted to talk about dogs in the letters; others want to discuss with someone who lives in Hawaii.

Pen pals for senior citizens: the responses

After the program was posted on their Facebook page, the seniors have spent quite some time opening and reading letters and packages from people living in different places.

The post that initially went viral now has more than 320,000 shares on Facebook. Aside from that, a lot of people are expressing their intention to write to senior citizens. Almost everyone instantly wants to become their pen pals.

One of those who saw the post said, "I'd be willing to write to any of them! This is such a beautiful and amazing gesture! Hopefully, it becomes a trend in senior and assisted living places."

According to the Chief Operating Officer of the Victorian Senior Care, They are overwhelmed with the support that they are receiving. She said, "It has been mentally strenuous on them to not be able to see their families or go out into the community."

Aside from the staff, the seniors are also enthusiastic about the outcome of their call for pen pals. Even at this very challenging time, the seniors were able to have better mental well being with the help of their pen pals.

A call for more pen pals

The Victorian Senior Care facility might have been receiving a lot of letters, cards, and packages now. However, other senior care facilities are still looking for pen pals for senior citizens.

Since the project worked well to improve the mental well being of senior residents, other care facilities are also looking for pen pals.