Reaching the Community Through Small Actions
Nuzhat N., a Francis Lewis High School volunteer, expresses her involvement and gratitude to GlamourGals.
Growing up, I always used to visit my grandparents and spend as much time as I could with them in Bangladesh. Living here in the states, at the end of my trips, I knew that I would have to eventually return back home and part ways with them. However, I couldn’t help but think in the back of my head what they would do in their meantime or who they would talk to. In turn, I decided to do some research on how to stay in touch with your elderly relatives, which is when I came across the issue of elder isolation. After coming across this topic, I realized that this wasn’t an issue worrying or affecting me personally, but rather millions across the globe.
I saw that my high school offered a club that focused on interacting with seniors in our local community and I knew I had to get involved. After joining my junior year, I signed up to become Treasurer of my high school’s GlamourGals chapter my senior year. As treasurer of my high school’s GlamourGals chapter, I was able to dedicate over 50 hours of volunteer service to GlamourGals by providing complimentary makeovers and journaling at local senior citizen centers in Queens, NY. This past fall, I also organized a letter-writing workshop for members of the club to write to senior citizens who were facing challenges posed by isolation during COVID-19. Additionally, I have reached out to hold personal Zoom calls with the seniors at local centers in an effort to remotely interact with them. In the future, I hope to continue this journey by volunteering at local senior centers in college. I believe that this mission doesn’t stop after high school, but should continue for the rest of my college career. This type of work has been extremely close to my heart and I aspire to build onto it during college.
Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has put seniors in a more vulnerable position than ever, it was an initial challenge to find ways to serve the seniors in our community. However, I knew that there had to be some way to stay in touch online and still have a chance to speak with our senior friends. With my club, I decided to plan frequent Zoom calls with seniors from my local senior center. I didn't want to let COVID-19 infringe upon our communication methods, so a Zoom call seemed perfect. Even though we were not able to visit the seniors in person for a good portion of the year, I still wanted to get on a video call and have some face to face interaction with the seniors. I have also helped organize letter-writing workshops so that our volunteers could get a chance to know the seniors a little bit better. I am currently working on a pen-pal system so that our e-board and volunteers can write letters back and forth with one of the seniors. We have been testing out different ways to reach out such as email, letter-writing, etc. I hope that the pen-pal system will help foster new relationships among the volunteers as our senior volunteers are getting ready to depart off to college.
GlamourGals has allowed me to reach the senior population in my community in ways I have never thought was possible. Many of my friends' parents, grandparents, including my own lives have been jeopardized by COVID-19. I honestly think that having a GlamorGals chapter reside within my community has enabled us to make an impact on a small scale, which is still super important. As we continue to build these relationships with seniors in our local community, I know that we are helping them navigate their struggles. The pandemic has disproportionately affected some more than others. Our GlamourGals chapter has tried to reconnect with our senior friends via Zoom, which has been great because it's crucial to stay connected in a time like this. The seniors in our community need us, but we need them as well. From having amazing conversations to trying out new makeup looks, GlamourGals has given the seniors in my community a place to be themselves and fight against senior isolation, so they never have to feel alone. Most areas with a heavy senior population aren't as fortunate to have that, which is why we are hoping to take what we've learned in our chapter and make a difference within and outside our community.
