A new non-profit organization in London is forming friendships through letters. The organization connects student volunteers to seniors in retirement homes to talk and keep each other company.
Samantha Keow is the founder of the organization.
“The reason why I wanted to start this organization was because in high school, I volunteered at a retirement home. And in my personal experience volunteering there, I could see firsthand exactly how important volunteers were to these retirement home residents. There are people that they look forward to talking to every week, that really showed them that there are still people who care and who want to talk to them,” says Keow.
Keow says after the pandemic hit and retirement homes closed their doors to volunteers to protect their residents, she wanted to provide an alternative method to giving residents the emotional support they need.
Letters go out once a month and student volunteers are matched based on personality and interests. There are currently 56 volunteers and Across Generations is working to get everybody matched up.
“I didn’t realize the depth of the relationship that we would be able to foster between a senior and a student,” Keow says.
Mariam Park is a student volunteer. She has been with Across Generations since December 2020. Since then, she has been able to form a special friendship with her pen pal.
“At the end of every letter, she says ‘from your friend, her name’ and I say ‘from your friend, my name’ for my letters. It made me feel good because I didn’t have any friends when I moved here to London. So I was really looking forward to opening the letters,” Park says.
Park and her pen pal have a lot in common and they share a love for music.
“My pen pal told me about the story she had in the past where she would travel with her husband’s band and go on trips with the band members and their wives, as well as go and watch their performances. She says she had so much fun during that time. I really admire that story because I realized that’s something I want to experience as well because I love music,” says Park.
Across Generations hopes to have some in-person events soon, once it’s safe to do so. Park says she’s excited to get to know her pen pal better and maybe teach her an instrument.
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