Community Stories

Volunteers reach care centers back on lockdown

January 18, 2022

A volunteer delivers a bag to a woman. Both are masked.

When the pandemic hit care centers again, Heart2Heart volunteers responded to make sure our seniors continued to feel connected to the community.

Earlier this month, as the Omicron variant began to sweep across South Florida, many of our care centers once again closed their doors to visitors. Heart2Heart staff called to check on the care centers where our volunteers regularly visit. Almost half of those centers had closed to visitors, either because of an outbreak that affected their residents or out of caution.

Heart2Heart sprang into action! We gathered personal protective equipment we had on hand and packed up covid care packages for each of the care centers on lockdown. Then we put a call out to our faithful volunteer base for help delivering the packages to care centers in crisis.

Many of our volunteers who normally help lead events or make regular visits to care centers were eager to help. In total, 13 volunteers responded to our last-minute request for assistance. With only a few days of notice, they delivered covid care packages to 20 different centers in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

The care centers were grateful. One activities director told us that they were out of KN95 masks when they went into lockdown. The masks, hand sanitizer and gloves we sent them helped keep their staff and residents safe.

We never know how the pandemic may change the landscape for our seniors. But Heart2Heart remains committed to connect to seniors in continually creative ways.

To find out how we reach seniors, click here for a list of our outreach opportunities.  

Join the Team!

Becoming a Heart2Heart volunteer means that you are dedicated to serving the aging community. It means you want to connect in a meaningful way to a specific individual or to several people. It means you are committed to a consistent amount of time per month – whether that’s several hours a week or just a few hours per month.

Heart2Heart volunteers must be background checked and trained. Our training can be completed from your home on your computer or device, through the online Volunteer Portal. We run fingerprints in our office in Fort Lauderdale, and you can schedule an appointment with us after you finish the training.

The first step is to create an account on our Volunteer Portal. To get started, click here!

Read more …

Big Ideas and Small Acts of Kindness

Big Ideas and Small Acts of Kindness

We were inspired by the story of Rashaad Green, an inspirational student we met at a college volunteer fair. At 22 years old, he is helping homeless people, including a 64-year-old senior, and he’s started a club that will bring art therapy to seniors. He dreams of one day curing cancer and opening a permanent and temporary housing facility for the homeless.

The Glamorous Stories of a 1940s Broadway Dancer

The Glamorous Stories of a 1940s Broadway Dancer

Lillian Flowers is 98. She lives alone in Fort Lauderdale.

She used to dance on Broadway.

While volunteer Steve Retford is helping her get services she needs, he gets a front row seat to glamorous stories from Broadway, filled with famous theater producers, celebrities (she dated Dean Martin briefly), and traveling through a life of show biz.

We extended his front row seat so you can listen to Lillian’s stories too.

Heart2Heart Welcomes New Staff — in a New Space!

Heart2Heart Welcomes New Staff — in a New Space!

In case you haven’t met them in person yet, we introduced the new additions to our team:

– Rosevel “Rosie” Castro, outreach coordinator
– Peighton Stone, dietician and intern with us from Nova Southeastern University for eight weeks

Some of our team got new roles, too. Check out all the details about that — and our new office!