GOLDEN CONNECTIONS
We are a student volunteer-driven longitudinal phone call-based program. We connect students and older adults registered with a community service agency to help reduce social isolation and promote wellbeing.
Volunteers undergo training to communicate with older adults, identify and report elder abuse and provide them resources to address some of the social determinants of health including food, utility support, and health and wellness services. Volunteers refer any identified social needs to the local community service agency we partner with. In turn, the connection between volunteers and older adults allows them to experience joys and sorrows together while fostering a relationship.
Goals for student volunteers
Partners
Contact us: goldenconnections21@gmail.com
Testimonials
“In the fall, one of my clients mentioned it was almost her birthday, and that she had not celebrated her birthday in years. I was able to notify the program coordinators, and asked if we could surprise her with something like a cake or balloons. Lifescape was able to put together a balloon bouquet all tied to a necklace as a birthday gift, dropped off right at her condo door. She was so excited to receive her birthday surprise package from Lifescape, and frequently mentioned how much she appreciated the gifts and knew we were truly looking out for her.” -Student volunteer
“ I have learned so much through becoming a volunteer in this program. I found that listening and showing interest in the lives of older adults I was paired with resulted in them showing just as much interest in my life. This reinforced the reciprocal nature of volunteering and highlighted that each person really does have the ability to make an impact.” – Student volunteer
“Some volunteers have been able to gain the trust of the older adults they speak to and identify key problems they are facing like: food insecurity, medical concerns, safety, and have alerted Lifescape to make a change in their lives” – Student leader
The state of Illinois rolled out the Senior Tablet Program that would provide tablets and free internet access for qualifying adults. We were able to utilize our student volunteers to get more eligible adults enrolled in this program. We know that this program is making a difference because many of these adults would not have known about this otherwise.”- Community Agency
INSTRUCTIONS: In order to add a sidebar anchor:
- Duplicate the existing item, listed as a 1/6 text field. (Or create a 1/6 column and add a text field, modify the class so it’s exactly “additionalAnchor”).
- Modify the text field inside the 1/6 column. Inside there, modify the HYPERLINK so that it would go to a corresponding section with a “#” in front of it. (Example, we have a “chief” section on the page, then it would make sense to have the hyperlink go to “#chief”)
- Then change the hyperlink TEXT to a appropriate label.
- IMPORTANT: If not done already, go into that CONTAINER that corresponds to your anchor (i.e. Meet The Chiefs), and add an ID matching the anchor’s HYPERLINK WITHOUT the “#”, i.e. “chief”.
- (If using side bar widget box, then there’s a saved copy of a widget box COLUMN, grab it in the column library, it should 1/6 of a length of a column.)
NOTE: Order added to the sidebar is from last to first.