Meals Letters

Kids Make a Big Dif­fer­ence to Home­bound Seniors

Jackson

Jackson brings packets of letters from his classmates to be delivered to his home-bound senior friends receiving Home Delivered Meals.

Third and Fourth grade stu­dents at Nathan Hale Ele­men­tary School con­nect with local seniors through Ken­neth Young Center’s Meals on Wheels program.

Jack­son Bur­ress, a third grad­er at Nathan Hale Ele­men­tary School, has been vol­un­teer­ing for Meals on Wheels with his mom Haley for the past four years. I love vis­it­ing my Meals on Wheels friends,” says Jack­son. They are always so nice to me, tell me sto­ries, and some­times give me a piece of candy!”

For Jack­son, it’s more than an occa­sion­al sweet treat that keeps him return­ing to the hous­es of local home-bound seniors, hands full with a warm meal — he loves the fact that he can make some­one smile. Some­times, we are the only peo­ple our Meals on Wheels friends see for the day,” says Haley, Jackson’s mom. We make it a point to be cheery and kind, and we see that returned to us every time.”

Jack­son has got­ten his friends involved with Meals on Wheels through­out the past few years. He has asked neigh­bors if he could cut flow­ers from their gar­dens to give to the seniors on his Meals on Wheels route and has even brought a friend along to help deliv­er meals. This year, he enlist­ed the help of his teacher, Miss Ostrows­ki. Jack­son want­ed to see if his class­mates could each write a let­ter to bright­en the day of Meals on Wheels recip­i­ents. Miss Ostrows­ki jumped on board and soon the entire 3rd and 4th grade class­rooms were writ­ing letters!

It was very reward­ing to see the kids get so excit­ed about writ­ing a let­ter to make some­one else hap­py,” says Miss Ostrows­ki. The kids learned about the Meals on Wheels pro­gram and worked hard to write a let­ter that was friend­ly, kind, and thought­ful. The stu­dents knew their let­ters were going to be a bright spot in the day of a local senior and worked to make it spe­cial,” recalled Miss Ostrowski.

The seniors loved receiv­ing their let­ters,” says Kate Gar­barek, Direc­tor of Devel­op­ment and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions at Ken­neth Young Cen­ter. It is refresh­ing and inspir­ing to see kids ded­i­cat­ing their school time to kind­ness, as well as to the art of a thought­ful let­ter. We are so thank­ful for Jack­son, Miss Ostrows­ki, and the stu­dents at Nathan Hale School!”

The Meals on Wheels pro­gram, coor­di­nat­ed through the Ken­neth Young Cen­ter, serves more than 100 seniors through­out the local com­mu­ni­ty by deliv­er­ing hot and nutri­tious meals through­out the week. How­ev­er, some­times the vis­it, friend­ly face, and note from a lov­ing ele­men­tary school­er, means the most.


Previous Article Next Article
You're Not Alone

Half
of us will expe­ri­ence some form of men­tal ill­ness in our lifetime

Get Involved

How You Can Help

Keep up to date with KYC!

Get the latest Kenneth Young Center news and insights emailed to you each month. Just complete the form below to subscribe.