Although many in the younger generations have been raised on text messaging and email, there are still others that remember waiting by the mailbox for the mail to be delivered. Getting mail was something to be excited about. For the 50 grandparents that the Kokomo, Indiana Ross Medical Education Center campus adopted from Samaritan Caregivers, they remember. That’s why it is so meaningful and exciting for them when the snail mail keeps arriving.
The staff, faculty, and students at the Kokomo campus were thrilled to “adopt” some grandparents at the local Samaritan Caregivers. Many of these residents have no family to visit them, or family members that aren’t always nearby or able to visit consistently. To help to provide some love and encouragement, every month for the next year Ross students will be sending them special cards in the mail. “We hand make our cards with encouraging words for our newly adopted grandparents,” shared Campus Director Shannon Spencer. The students are thrilled to get started, some of them expressing that they don’t have their own grandparents to connect with, so this is especially exciting.
Samaritan Caregivers is dedicated to providing individuals aged 65 and older free independent support. Some of the services that they provide include transportation, companionship, personal shopping, and more. “We have partnered with them to do many of these activities,” said Shannon Spencer. “In the fall we helped clean up several seniors yards. We cut weeds, trim hedges, picked up trash, and even mowed some yards. Earlier this week one of the seniors saw a student working at an office that had helped clean up her yard in the fall, she called the campus and told me what a wonderful job she did taking care of her and would recommend our school to anyone. This made my day as much as it made hers!” The campus looks forward to continuing their relationship with this great organization.