Founded by Nina Rawal ‘23, “Caring About Seniors” is a service project dedicated to helping senior care facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

From the onset of Covid-19, the majority of seniors in senior living communities have had to isolate themselves from the rest of their families and friends. As a result, more seniors living in these communities became more anxious and depressed due to this overwhelming loneliness that was forced upon them. 

After seeing her grandparents’ emotional decline, Rawal was inspired to create a program that would reach out to seniors and connect them to others in a safe, healthy, and entertaining way. 

According to Rawal, the major step she took in creating the project was reaching out to nursing homes. “Through this, I was able to see what exactly the nursing homes and seniors needed so I was able to create the four main sections of my project.” 

The four programs include pen-pal writing, baking, mask-making, and raising funds through GoFundMe. Each of these programs was created to allow volunteers to engage and entertain the older community through safe and enjoyable means. 

From these programs, Rawal was able to send approximately 1,000 masks to numerous caring facilities in the valley, as well as numerous treats and baked goods. Rawal explains, however, that these accomplishments were made with the help of about 150 volunteers. 

Overall, ”Caring About Seniors” has had an over-reaching impact on seniors both throughout the state and the country. The program has connected with six nursing homes in the valley, as well as a cancer care foundation in New York, and is looking to expand even more. 

To those interested in becoming involved with this project, go to caringaboutseniors.com and browse through the four sections of the program to see what is most enticing. Then, click on “contact us” and fill out a contact form, making sure to include what you would like to do in the subject. 

“It is a pleasure to know that I am helping in making seniors’ days better, especially during these hard pandemic times,” said Rawal, determined to continue her progress.