This year has been isolating for everyone. From not getting to hang out with your friends, to only having ten or so classmates physically in any class with you, social interaction is not what it once was; though this new normal is a necessity to prevent the spread of coronavirus. This dearth of social interaction heavily affects people who have been isolated from their families, and one important population that has faced this separation is senior citizens. According to the CDC, “Risk for severe illness with COVID-19 increases with age, with older adults at highest risk.” This means that the large majority of senior citizens are forced to isolate themselves and take the highest precautions to stay safe. And, on the whole, the communities they live in have also helped to protect them. Here in Needham, Sudbury Farms has a shopping hour in the morning for senior citizens and people with disabilities in order to help minimize their risk. Groups such as the Needham Council on Aging have programs to get food and medical supplies to these same at risk groups. Senior citizens have been given the tools to avoid a lot of risk; however, they are missing out on social interactions with their friends and family, or just social interaction in everyday life.
One student at Needham High School, Elizabeth Guttilla (‘22), is seeking to help with this problem. Throughout her time in high school, Elizabeth has volunteered with senior citizens at Newbridge on the Charles and the Needham Center at the Heights, and was thinking of seniors as the year progressed. She says that “During COVID, when seniors are housebound, I thought it might be nice for them to receive a card.” To this end, Elizabeth has started a “Students to Seniors Holiday Card Project'' in which students from Needham High School will be sending cards to senior citizens throughout the community. She has gathered names of senior citizens and shared them through a Google form that was sent out to the school, with the instructions to “submit the form below as many times as you'd like for any senior who you think would like to receive a holiday card from Needham High School.” The google form is linked here, and also at the bottom of the page, and Elizabeth encourages anyone throughout the community to fill it out. In terms of the cards that will be sent out, Elizabeth designed them herself using a program called Illustrator, and printed them out in Needham High’s Commercial Design Lab (room 605) on Friday. Students will then sign and customize the cards in order to make them more personalized for each senior, and they will be mailed out to arrive sometime before the holidays.
