Who We Are

Youth x Senior Buddies is a project seeking to revive personalized, profound interaction between two seemingly polarized groups in society: young adolescents and senior citizens. In the face of a global crisis, we must force ourselves to confront and rethink our approaches to the behaviors we have normalized; we must embrace the endless ways in which we can positively impact and stand with the communities around us - and actively work towards implementing them. Through YSB, we aim to mitigate the vulnerability often experienced by the senior community (and heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic) by reducing the notion of isolation and elucidating the concept of aging to younger individuals.

How We Do It

YSB employs video conferencing services to collaborate with senior care centers in organizing virtual sessions where volunteers are able to engage in friendly interaction with the residents. These sessions will be personalized based on the availability and interests of both the volunteers and residents to maximize the quality of the experience, and will foster a healthy environment for personal development and growth.

Our Unique Approach

Instead of pairing one volunteer with one senior, we match small groups of volunteers with small groups of senior citizens. We believe such mini group settings facilitate the exchange of more diverse perspectives and allow volunteers and seniors from different cities and states to interact with each other. We are also expanding to have seniors from different centers virtually mingle with one another.