Sharing a Moment of Joy With the Cupid Crew Take on Today

Sharing a Moment of Joy With the Cupid Crew

Find out how the organization is helping to fight social isolation

AARP

Wilma Consul: Hi, I'm Wilma Consul with an AARP Take On Today. It seems we're just recovering from the holidays, yet in a little over a week comes one of the busiest and most celebrated times of the year, Valentine's Day. Through a Wish of a Lifetime from AARP, it's become a tradition to spread love to older adults in the community. Come February, Girl Scouts of the USA volunteers in schools across the country join what's known as the Cupid Crew. They write heartfelt messages and personalized greeting cards and send them to socially isolated seniors. The goal is to deliver a quarter million cards this year. With thousands of letter writers in the Cupid Crew, a great story is bound to be told. We heard of one about a Girl Scout and her mother. Kayla: My name is Kayla and I'm 10 years old. Karen: Hi, I am Karen Klich and I am Kayla's mom. And I'm also her troop leader. Wilma Consul: Karen Klich is the patrol leader of her daughter Kayla's troop that last year made hundreds of cards for the Cupid Crew Kayla: About three hundred. Karen: No, actually more like over 800. We ended up deciding that with COVID a lot of the older residents of a lot of our memory care and nursing home facilities in the area probably didn't get a lot of family time. And then we ended up having a little get together where the girls all did Valentines. Some of them decided to put their addresses on with their parents' permission so that people could write back to them. And we also gave out candy and flowers, and it was a lot of fun. Wilma Consul: One of the letters made its way to a senior home where 95 year old Nancy Shelton lives. And as it turns out, Nancy used to be in the Scouts herself. Karen: Nancy received one of Kayla's cards and some candy, and she was super excited that we had thought of them at that time. Then she ended up writing Kayla back a thank you letter. Kayla ended up writing her back a card as well, and they've kind of been going back and forth ever since. Kayla: Mm-hmm (affirmative). She even said that she used to be a Girl Scout leader too. So we introduced ourself on a card and we've been talking about how we've been. She gives me like these cool mini crafts, and she decorates the cards, which are very cool. I'm impressed of how she can make these. And I make drawings and give them to her. It makes me feel great inside and out. Karen: We just hope more people decide to pursue doing this because I think it's a great opportunity for more Girl Scouts to be involved in their communities, and for the nursing home and the memory care facilities to realize that we care about them and we want them to know that we haven't forgotten about them. And hopefully when COVID's done a lot of these places, we can actually go back into and visit once again. But until then, this is kind of a way we can interact with them. They can write us and we can write them, and the girls can learn how to write letters, and use their cursive writing skills that they're learning right now in school. It's just kind of a win-win for everybody. Kayla: I hope they feel happy and very proud and caring. And they also feel loved. Wilma Consul: That was Kayla Klich and her mother, Karen Klich, from Lake in the Hills, Illinois. They're both participating in this year's Cupid Crew, a project of a Wish Of A Lifetime from AARP. Wilma Consul: Jeremy Bloom is a champion skier and an Olympian. He also played for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. But besides all those accolades, Bloom also has accomplished a great feat out of sports. He's the founder of Wish Of A Lifetime from AARP and the one responsible for Cupid Crew. You were on this program last year to talk about how you founded Wish Of A Lifetime. So welcome back. Jeremy Bloom: Thank you. It's good to be back. Wilma Consul: Well to day you're here to tell us about the Cupid Crew. How did Cupid Crew come about? Jeremy Bloom: You know, Wish Of A Lifetime, we focus on granting wishes to older adults and not only granting their lifelong wishes, but telling their stories of people doing remarkable and incredible things in the later chapters of life, which we think is a message worth sharing. And we had this idea that on Valentine's Day, how special would it be to knock on the door and deliver roses to older adults who are isolated. Jeremy Bloom: These are folks who they don't have a lot of family members left. They don't have a lot of family members who visit. We've always been the organization to bring happiness and delight to this generation, so why not deliver roses? And so we started the program very small and just the state of Colorado, a couple hundred volunteers. Jeremy Bloom: Over the course of the last several years, we've now scaled this program nationwide. With the pandemic, we can't knock on doors and deliver roses, but we can write handwritten and have those cards delivered. And last year we did that. It was an overwhelming success. And this year we have a goal to deliver 250,000 cards to isolated seniors and wish them Happy valentine's Day. Wilma Consul: Now I hear the Girls Scouts are involved this year. What kinds of other groups and individuals volunteer for the program? Jeremy Bloom: Yeah, we're super excited to team once again with the Girl Scouts of the USA. We teamed with them last year and they were such a wonderful partner. We love engaging different generational gaps and filling those gaps. So the young with some of our seniors. It's just a delight for us to be able to work alongside Girl Scouts of the USA. Jeremy Bloom: They write a lot of cards for us. They send a lot of cards for us. But we're also partnering with schools and other people and volunteers across the country for Cupid Crew 2022. It really is a volunteer-driven effort to safely create and deliver heartfelt cards to older adults who are socially isolated. Wilma Consul: Are there eligibility requirements to be part of the Cupid Crew? Jeremy Bloom: Anybody can be part of our crew. Everybody's welcome. It's as easy as going to our website and downloading the card and filling it out and putting it in the mail. It's pretty easy. Wilma Consul: You've been doing this quite a while now. Do you ever hear from those who've received cards or roses? What do they say? Jeremy Bloom: Oh, I just wish everybody could experience how meaningful this is to the people who are receiving them. It really blew us away the first year that we knocked on doors and delivered roses. The response that we got, the joy, the smiles, the tears of happiness, it really was incredible. And we got lots of wonderful feedback last year from seniors across the country, older adults across the country who received this and how meaningful it meant to them. Jeremy Bloom: So it really does go a long way. I mean, it's hard for a lot of us to relate what it would be like to be socially isolated and living alone and not a lot of people seeing us. And so these are really meaningful things that we're doing collectively together for Cupid Crew. Wilma Consul: So Jeremy, you talk a lot about how it makes them feel. What about you, how does it make you feel to be doing this work? Jeremy Bloom: I just can't help but smile when I think about this program and all the hard work of the staff at Wish Of A Lifetime from AARP to bring this program to life, and all of our volunteers, and Girl Scouts of the USA. I'm just delighted by it, and I know that it's going to bring a lot of happiness, a lot of happiness, a lot of joy to hopefully over 250,000 older adults, which is a big number and a big goal, but we're excited for it. We think we can deliver upon it. Wilma Consul: And for those who weren't able to hear you last year, realize how you found Wish Of A Lifetime. Can you just briefly tell us how that came about? Jeremy Bloom: Sure. Absolutely. You know, I had the great privilege and honor to ski in two Olympics for the United States and had a wonderful career. My first ski teacher was my grandfather and he used to throw a little miniature sized candy bars down the mountain. That's how he would teach me how to ski. I had such a wonderful relationship with him, and also my grandmother, and I wanted to give back to that generation. Jeremy Bloom: I've always found that generation, kind of the World War II generation, to be incredibly selfless human beings who don't ask for a lot, are kind of simple in the way that they live. And sometimes in our society, we kind of push them aside and we don't pay attention to them. We think that their dreams are unimportant and their life is kind of over. And I just think that's wrong. These are the people that paved our roads and pulled us out of the Great Depression and fought bravely on the beaches of Normandy and the boats of Pearl Harbor. Just an incredible generation. Jeremy Bloom: So I started Wish Of A Lifetime to be able to grant their wishes, and remind them how important they are, and how much we love them and appreciate their contributions to the world and society. It's been the most meaningful journey of my life over the past 13, 14 years with founding Wish Of A Lifetime. Wilma Consul: Yeah. Some of the memorable parts of my childhood were spent with grandparents, you know? Jeremy Bloom: Mine as well. Wilma Consul: So it makes a difference. You do such fulfilling work for our older adults, and it's been a pleasure chatting with you, Jeremy. Jeremy Bloom is the founder of Wish Of A Lifetime from AARP. If you want to spread aloha, some love to our isolated older adults for Valentine's Day, you can make a card at wishofalifetime.org/cupid. And if you want to know more about Jeremy Bloom's journey to founding Wish Of A Lifetime, take a listen to episode 118 of this podcast. We have a link to the Cupid Crew website in the show notes. You have until February 14th, that's Valentine's Day, to gather your friends and family to participate. Wilma Consul: That's it for today's show. If you like this episode, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected]. Thanks to our news team producers, Colby Nelson and Daniel Alarcon, production assistant Lindsey Johnson, engineer Julio Gonzalez, executive producer Jason Young, and my co-hosts Bob Edwards and Mike Ellison. Become a subscriber on Apple podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or other apps, and be sure to rate our show us well. For an AARP Take On Today, I'm Wilma Consul. Thank you so much for listening. Valentine's Day is almost here! It’s become a tradition to spread love to socially isolated older adults in the community come February through the Cupid Crew, a project by Wish of a Lifetime from AARP. Girl Scouts of the USA, volunteers and schools across the country join what’s known as the Cupid Crew. They write heartfelt messages on personalized greeting cards, and send them to socially isolated older adults. The goal is to deliver a quarter million cards this year. On today’s show, we sat down with Cupid Crew founder, Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Bloom to discuss how his organization is warming hearts letter by letter. We also hear from Girl Scout member Kayla and Troop Leader Karen on how the Girl Scouts and Cupid Crew became involved. Learn how you can get involved: . Subscribe:

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