Middle school years can be hard. Growing old can be hard. And they’re hard often for the same reason: it gets lonely. Loneliness is no different from hunger in that it’s a biological signal to take care of ourselves, but it can be so stressful that it acts on our bodies like a chronic disease.

Silver Thread Public Health District is trying to prevent these health problems, in addition to loneliness, before they even start, by encouraging the kinds of connections that are healthy for all of us. To do this, we’re aiming to pair our isolated seniors with youth we think could also benefit from the intergenerational connection. To encourage these connections, STPHD facilitates activities between the youth-elder pair that relate to common interests; the specifics will be left up to the pair.

If you have a teen or elder in mind that you think would benefit from this program, please reach out to Maddie at maddie@silverthreadphd.org.