Finding Hope in a Time of Crisis
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (121736)
Gainesville, Florida
April 4, 2020 4:44am CST
I got a call Friday morning from one of my lifeguards. She had a question she wanted to ask me, to see if I thought it was a good idea and if we could help. You see, aside from lifeguarding at my pools, she volunteers in a local nursing home, helping take care of the elderly, and it was these people she was thinking of when she called me.
She asked if I would post a request in our lifeguard chat group on Facebook to see if any of our staff would be interested in becoming pen pals with the residents of the nursing home. The seniors are locked down in complete isolation, and no family members or visitors are allowed to have contact with them due to the virus. So she came up with the idea of pen pals for the nursing home residents, to give them something to do and to have some contact with the outside world. I thought it was a wonderful idea, but warned her that we may not get a very good response from our staff. She said she understood, and was hoping to get 3-4 people respond. Anything was better than nothing she said.
So I posted the request on Facebook, and told her I would let her know if anyone responded. The message went out to 85 lifeguards. Within an hour, 62 of those lifeguards responded that they would love to be pen pals with the residents of the nursing home! I was astonished, and it almost brought tears to my eyes!
We always give millennials such a bad rap, because they do things differently than other generations do. We label them as unloyal, lazy, spoiled, entitled, unmotivated, etc. But then they go and do something like this and totally prove us all wrong!
The response was overwhelming, and brought so much joy to my heart to see these young college students stepping up and giving back what they can in this time of crisis.
It gives me a newfound hope for the future of this country!
80 people like this
80 responses
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc i think it's also because you lead by example
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@hereandthere Aw thanks! That made me feel good!
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
I'm really proud of my staff, and they are stepping up big time in this crisis to help out wherever they can! I've got all of them scheduled to assist with a big food distribution our city is doing on 7 April. Many of them have even been asking if there is more they can do. Because they are lifeguards, they are generally caring people to begin with, but I think this just shows that our younger generation cares more than we think they do!
11 people like this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
4 Apr 20
What an amazing response. There are so many people with no one so just seeing other visitors is enough to make their day so at the moment it is horrible for everyone! Well done to all your staff! It will mean a hell of a lot to those residents.
8 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
Thank you Gary. I know how much this will mean to the residents of that nursing home. It may be just the thing to help many of them cope.
3 people like this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
4 Apr 20
what a great story. so will this be through snail mail, email, text, video call?
6 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
When I first saw the words "pen pal," I thought that it would require writing actual letters on pen and paper. But no, all of the seniors in the nursing home have email access, and most of them also have social media accounts on sites like Facebook and Instagram. So the pen pal program will be through email, although many of them will also communicate through social media.
6 people like this
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc they're way cooler than me. i don't even have one of those! hahaha!
3 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@hereandthere Email, or social media account?
5 people like this
@DaddyEvil (137678)
• United States
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc 
I was just thinking about suggesting some of us make an offer to be pen pals if some of your volunteers change their minds.
Actually, keep me in mind if you need any more people to help with this. (Pretty says she'd be willing to correspond with someone, too, if you needed her.
)
@simone10 Thank you for bringing that up with Jeff. I was going to pm him and make this offer there but since you already broke ground, I'll just throw my offer in with yours.
I was just thinking about suggesting some of us make an offer to be pen pals if some of your volunteers change their minds.
Actually, keep me in mind if you need any more people to help with this. (Pretty says she'd be willing to correspond with someone, too, if you needed her.)
@simone10 Thank you for bringing that up with Jeff. I was going to pm him and make this offer there but since you already broke ground, I'll just throw my offer in with yours. 3 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
I think that too many people responded! My lifeguard who is a volunteer at the nursing home is now scrambling to find enough residents to talk to all of our staff who responded!
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@DaddyEvil Thank you both! I think we have things covered on this end, but there is always an opportunity for you to reach out in your local communities to see if you can connect with those in nursing homes!
3 people like this
@LindaOHio (181931)
• United States
4 Apr 20
That's a wonderful response. The residents of the nursing home will be touched and thrilled to get a letter.
7 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@LindaOHio I wouldn't necessarily call them all tech savvy, but they at least have the basics down.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
I believe they are going to communicate by email. She said that all of the nursing home residents have email accounts.
4 people like this
@LindaOHio (181931)
• United States
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc That's cool. They are tech savvy which is good.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It may be the other way around! I've seen some seniors who make sailors look like angels when they speak! haha
But it does give me an obligation to post another message to my guards to let them know that when they start writing to the seniors, to keep the language clean and the messages focused on the positive.
6 people like this
good on you. 
@ptrikha_2 (47085)
• India
4 Apr 20
This is very nice to hear. I am always against stereotyping or labeling anyone or any community on the basis of race, age, caste, nation etc.
A good human being can be anywhere- even in the midst of thousands of devils.
Just as a devil can exist in between thousands of good fellows.
Humanity is still well alive !!
6 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It's nice to know there is still good left in the world.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It exceeded my wildest expectations!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It's nice to see uplifting and positive information at a time like this.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (472087)
• Switzerland
4 Apr 20
This is wonderful Jeff, I know that locally they have provided smartphones to the elders in the nursery homes, so that they can have video chats with their family. Of course the nurses set up the phones for them, but they feel a lot less left apart for the world now.
5 people like this
@LadyDuck (472087)
• Switzerland
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc I know that it is hard, we are both very unhappy not to be allowed to go personally shopping. We are the only two of us here, all our relatives are in Italy, the borders are closed. At least we can chat through the computer.
4 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@LadyDuck Fortunately, technology allows us to keep in touch with our family and friends. Unfortunately, it's still no substitute for real person-to-person contact. I hope you and your husband are coping well. What are the procedures there if you need to buy more food? Do they let you out to go to the store, or do you have to order online and have it delivered?
4 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It is very hard being socially isolated, it is even worse when you are elderly, alone, and can't be with your family. I'm glad that there are ways we can help keep each other social connected during this time of isolation.
3 people like this
@wolfgirl569 (108301)
• Marion, Ohio
4 Apr 20
That is a great percentage of them that want to do it. Hopefully they carry through.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
They will. We are going to pay them for doing it. But we will need to see proof that they are following through.
3 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
4 Apr 20
Right now people are DYING for things to do. This might not work in a normal time, when people are too busy to stop and do something like this, but right now? This is a GREAT idea, I wonder if they need this here.
5 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
5 Apr 20
@moffittjc very true, can't knock the end result!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Apr 20
@Jessicalynnt And maybe some of these things will continue long after the pandemic crisis is over!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
I agree, probably some of the motivation is because of boredom, but hey, whatever it takes to get them engaged with the seniors, I'm all for it!
3 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It might lead to some long-term friendships!
1 person likes this
@Namelesss (3365)
• United States
4 Apr 20
Everyday my faith in humanity sees another reason why we should all hang on because humanity as a whole truly is awesome and awe-inspiring.
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
It does give me a sense of hope. I was starting to lose that hope at the beginning of this crisis when people were hoarding supplies and refusing to follow social distancing. But most of those people are slowly coming around and seeing the severity of this crisis.
1 person likes this
@dfollin (25387)
• United States
5 Apr 20
@moffittjc That's right ! He is here, always is!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
People who ask "Where is God during this crisis?" just have to open their eyes and look around.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Apr 20
@dfollin I'm seeing Him do all kinds of work during this crisis! His healing hand is everywhere!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
Is it respect, or is it boredom due to the lockdown? Either way, the end result is doing something good for the community (and they are getting paid for doing it).
4 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
What generation do you fall under? I'm Gen X.
2 people like this
@Torunn (8607)
• Norway
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc I'm Gen X too. I found out we're called Generation Irony here, quite fitting for many of my friends of the same age.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@Torunn So what's the irony in the name referring to?
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (69090)
• United States
4 Apr 20
How sweet! That’s a great idea, and I’m so thankful to see a lot of people jumped at the opportunity to help!
5 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
Yes, the response exceeded my wildest expectations. Once again, my staff wowed me!
3 people like this
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
4 Apr 20
That is a noble act to give joy to the elders in the nursing home.
4 people like this
@Alexandoy (65308)
• Cainta, Philippines
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc having someone to chat or even a pen pal is big deal for those seniors. There was a time that I was visiting a nursing home so I know how those aged people there long for companionship.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
@Alexandoy They very much long for companionship. Many of them, who were married for many decades and came to rely on their spouse for companionship, now find themselves alone because their spouse may have passed on. And their kids and grandkids are grown, and so they just stare down increasing isolation as they continue to get older. So it's nice when somebody takes an interest in them and provides them the companionship they so desperately need.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
I agree. That was amazing that so many of these young college students expressed an interest in helping out the seniors.
3 people like this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Apr 20
Thank you! Sometimes my staff leaves me shaking my head, but then times like this come along and they absolutely wow me!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (121736)
• Gainesville, Florida
5 Apr 20
@CarolDM Many government agencies are getting such a bad rap throughout this ordeal; in our local government, we are trying our best to do the right thing and to do the compassionate thing.
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203422)
• Nashville, Tennessee
4 Apr 20
@moffittjc That is great to hear. You are all doing something right.
1 person likes this
