Lifting Hearts With the Arts

Short term:
- increase intergenerational connections
- donate resources (devices, art supplies) to seniors care facilities in need

Intermediate:
- improve understanding and relationship between generations
- decrease loneliness in both senior and youth populations

Long term:
- improve mental/emotional health in senior and youth populations
- improve cognitive ability among senior populations through enriching activities

Our model of connecting seniors and youth is backed by evidence from Stanford University that intergenerational relationships benefit both parties. Seniors benefit from a decreased sense of loneliness and connections to the “outside” world, as well as building efficacy in using technology they can use to connect to their own loved ones. In addition, students build meaningful relationships with positive role models, gain a broadened world view, and build empathy.

LHA connects students with residents of long-term care facilities through technology. In our one-on-ones, we pair student volunteers with individual senior residents based on shared interests for weekly video calls. The goal of these activities is to build connections through shared interests and conversation. During one-on-one calls, students listen to seniors as they share their passions and life stories. They also share their own passions through art projects, individual concerts, and other activities.

In our group activities, we host virtual mini-concerts, trivia games, game nights and other activities that build connections with our volunteers as well as fellow residents. During one recent event at a Springfield facility, we hosted a “Name that Tune” trivia night featuring 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s music. Residents were able to join from a socially-distanced group location or their own rooms. We also host seasonal virtual concerts for all of the facilities we work with.

Collaboration: Our board and chapter leadership teams are each built of at least three to four volunteers who work together to ensure the organization runs smoothly. By sharing ideas with one another, we are able to introduce new programs, such as seasonal concerts.

Learning: We regularly work on generating new ideas to improve our impact. Through experimentation, we're able to test out new programs and methods of outreach.

Leadership: All of our chapter leaders and board members have a shared understanding of goals for LHA. Each leader brings their unique perspective to the table and as a result, each chapter is slightly different in activities offered.

Efficiency: We are good at managing donations, costs and other funds. Our scheduling programs and methods are streamlined across chapters to ensure smooth operations.

As of February 2021, we have hosted over 2,500 one on one activities and over 50 group activities. We've raised and donated about $8,000 worth of technology and art supplies to senior care facilities we work with and have partnered with just over 30 care facilities around the US and in Canada. We have established LHA chapters in Illinois, Nevada, Texas, California, Michigan and Washington. We've put together two recorded seasonal concerts. Additionally, we became a certifying organization for the Presidential Volunteering Service award and received the One in A Million Award by Multiplying Good.

Moving forward, our goal is to continue broadening our reach by establishing new chapters and growing existing ones. Additionally, because we have grown so quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, LHA has not had the capacity to build our fundraising program until recently. Donations thus far have come to us as a result of exposure on local media. Our organization is fully run by student volunteers. Even so, there are overhead costs involved in building chapters and partnerships in our communities. Because all our services and donation initiatives are offered at no charge to seniors and residents of long-term care facilities, we rely on donations for these expenses. This limits our ability to recruit, train, and manage our volunteer force.

We are currently building an income strategy that includes grants and other large gifts so we can continue to meet the need in our community and maximize our impact through donations to care facilities. This strategy includes a financial contingency plan that will address growth and sustainability in both spending and income.