These matchmakers connect teenagers and seniors. Friendship benefits both parties

When 82-year-old Andrea Levitt first met 16-year-old Angelo Williams at a cookie and tea party in New York a few months ago, she was overwhelmed. She lives alone and has been more isolated in recent years since her son and his family moved away.

“I remember sitting at the table with Angelo and he was so funny that it completely lifted me out of my depression,” she says. “And the best part is that I’m a big basketball fan, and Angelo loved basketball.”

Angelo says that this is the only thing that connected them.

“We just hit it off, you know… at first Andrea was talking about when she was younger, she met a lot of these celebrities at the time and she was really into theater… we really connected.”

He says his older sister used to go around New York looking for her own celebrities. “(Andrea) was really blown away that she met Taylor Swift,” he says.

Today, the couple communicates with each other via Zoom, but they met in person through a nonprofit organization an organization called Dorothywhich is the Hebrew word for “generations.”

Dorot, a decades-old non-profit organization, is joined by new organizations with similar missions to bring seniors and young people together for the benefit of both. The mission has a new sense of urgency in light of the epidemic of loneliness and isolation that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and has serious consequences.

“Loneliness is much more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health,” writes US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in his article. Advisory report on this issue for 2023noting that this raises the risk of death to the level of those who smoke 15 cigarettes a day.

Good discussions, strong relationships

Andrea, who spent her career in the garment industry in New York, says the organization was especially valuable to her during the years when her son, his wife and her grandchildren went to work in Milwaukee.

“It was hard,” she says. “It still is.”

She misses her family very much. So she says it was great to go out and meet teenagers like Angelo.

She says they are related despite the age difference and the fact that they are not, which surprised her at first. “I think I have things in common with them and we can have really good discussions,” she says. She still keeps in touch with a young woman she met years ago through Dorothy. The girl was a teenager when Andrea met her and is now working at her first job out of college.

“Artificial silos”

Donna Batts is the executive director of Generations United, which works to reduce age segregation in US society and bring generations together.

“If you think about the way we build communities … the politics, the way we build services and infrastructure, we’re age-specific,” she says, “which has really created some artificial silos and barriers between generations.”

Consider senior centers and senior living communities.

She says efforts to align young and old are badly needed, in part because the demographics of the U.S. are changing.

“Older people are more likely to be white, and younger people are more likely to be people of color,” she says. “And if we don’t connect them and they don’t learn to invest in each other and care for each other, that doesn’t bode well for us.”

Increase too

These caring relationships can grow both online and in person.

Dana Griffin launched her intergenerational platform, Elderlike COVID-19 in 2020. With Eldera, seniors gather for weekly mentoring sessions via Zoom with children ages 6 to 17. She says some mentors don’t get out much. They reported that when they have virtual dates with their mentees, it changes their entire day.

“They shower, brush their hair, get dressed, tidy up,” says Griffin. “And when they start to feel that they are valuable to the child, they start to get out of the house more often if they can.”

She says that these relationships with young people remind older people of their value in the world.

“Let me tell you, when an older adult is five minutes late on Zoom and a kid chews them up, saying, ‘I’ve been waiting for you. Where have you been?” they feel noticed. They feel they matter,” she says, in a society that often devalues ​​people as they get older.

But these pairs are not only for the elderly to feel good. Griffin says the benefits are both. She says children need a sympathetic, nonjudgmental ear—someone other than their parents. She says Eldera’s data shows that teens who maintain relationships with mentors until college are spending more time than ever with their elders: an average of two hours a week.

“They really need to talk about everything,” she says, “from roommates, to campus life, to majors, to dating.”

Eldera is currently funded by investors and royalties from its members. Both adults and parents of children using the service pay $10 per month. The company is in talks with the Cleveland Clinic, which is considering offering Eldera subscriptions to children and seniors who may feel lonely and isolated. Griffin says she hopes Eldera will eventually be eligible for funding through government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Friends from basketball

Angelo Williams is the sociable type, not one to spend hours alone on the phone. He signed up for Dorothy’s summer internship for teenagers, at first assuming that meeting people in their 70s, 80s, and 90s was mostly about his help. But after meeting Andrea Levitt and others, he discovered something.

“You get to learn a lot about someone else, and you get to like and keep their stories with you and even learn from their experiences and get really great advice,” he says.

Even if you support different teams. Despite decades of living in New York, Andrea has set her sights on Milwaukee today. Her son works for the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Please root for the Bucks,” she tells Angelo as they finish their Zoom conversation. “I know you’re a Nick fan, but you know…”

“Oh man,” Angelo says. “I have to say, I hope the Knicks this year!”

They hope to go to a game together this season.

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