Community Stories
Heart2Heart is at its best when within meaningful one-on-one connections: one volunteer bringing love, hope and purpose to one senior who is lonely. These are the stories of Heart2Heart volunteers who are making all the difference in the lives of our aging saints.
You can join their efforts! You can help bring joy to seniors in homes and in care centers throughout South Florida who are battling isolation.
How Our Patient Advocates Make a Difference
This year, Heart2Heart hired two patient advocates — Maria Purgavie and Shirley Ramos. Since July, they became responsible for connecting with...
The Heartbeat of an Outreach
Malcolm Mcallister holds a special place in the story of Heart2Heart. It wasn’t just that he developed close-knit friendships with our...
Dependable and Kind: How One Volunteer Kept a Senior Mobile
All her life, Barbara Giannou has been active and independent. Even being born deaf never stood in her way. But when mounting medical...
Activity director spills the secrets to staying active
You could say that Ellyn Fishbach is an expert at staying active through the golden years. For one, she waited until after retirement to begin...
Daughter Feels Grateful for Help in between Treasured Moments
In his younger days, Vinal Thomas was a vibrant, pew-jumping pastor. He and his late wife helped plant nearly 30 churches, and he constantly...
Celebrating Self Care through staying active
Marie Perry, 65, has stayed young through staying active. As we celebrate Self-Care Awareness Month, we asked for her perspective on taking care of...
A Volunteer’s Strength Helps a Senior Move
For 84-year-old Marilyn Kerr of Boca Raton, moving to a new home felt impossible. She had sold or given away most of her furniture because her new...
Church Volunteers Bring a “Beach” Baptism to a Nursing Home
Fifteen people were baptized at Seaview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center last month — a number that surprised even the volunteers who organized the...
A Friendship Forged in a Stressful Move
Heart2Heart Volunteer of the Month Florica Rebelo made life less stressful for a senior who was forced to move out of her apartment. When Marilyn's...
Nurse’s Personal Journey Inspires Her to Connect as a Relief Care Volunteer
After a long day working as a nurse in the early 2000s, Marie Perry would come home to care for her two small children and her father-in-law, who...
Connections through conversations, stories and plants
Every week, Sabrina Bortz looked forward to delivering meals to Louis. After she handed off his weekly meals, the two of them wandered around...
Volunteer Fulfills Her Calling by Giving to Seniors
After Jessica Jean went down to part-time at work in order to spend more time with her two daughters, she realized she had a little too much time on...
Heart2Heart Connects to Seniors in Hialeah
Seniors at Sun Village Homes in Hialeah, created a Mother’s Day themed craft as a quartet of Hispanic singers sang Christian songs in Spanish. The...
Teen makes “punny” cards to connect with seniors
A boldly colored block of cheese sits next to a cheese grater, both meticulously colored in Crayola markers. Careful, hand-drawn calligraphy in...
Easter baskets bring cheer to seniors
Employees at Team Horner Group delivered 24 Easter baskets to the residents of a senior living facility in Oakland Park on Good Friday. The...
Volunteer Goes the Extra Mile to Help Seniors
Greg Bartolai, 52, of Coconut Creek, goes the extra mile for seniors. Not only does he deliver meals to seniors through Heart2Heart’s Food for...
John and Lynn Offerdahl deliver Food for Hope meals
John and Lynn Offerdahl saw firsthand how the meals made in their restaurants nurtured a relationship between Heart2Heart volunteers and seniors in...
Volunteer cares through homemade meals and dominoes
Damaris Pena cooks a homemade meal for a senior couple once a week, but her visits are not about the food. What’s more important is the time...
Volunteers Rally to Help a Senior Get Better Sleep
The strength of community translated to a comfortable night of sleep in a new bed for a senior named Sherri. Three Heart2Heart volunteers...
Annual report: Heart2Heart’s reach doubled in 2022
In 2022, Heart2Heart volunteers reached twice as many seniors as they had the year before. A total of 7,361 seniors were impacted by the work...
Volunteer of the Month personalized blankets for seniors
After 12-hour shifts at work, Sofia Weiner would spend an hour of her evening sewing names to personalize donated blankets for seniors. She...
Volunteer of the Month Prioritizes Giving Back
Every Saturday morning, Nicole Matthews spends time with two seniors before visiting her own mom at a nursing home. We named her the December...
Volunteer Leads Grassroots Outreach to Seniors
After Yezi Williams left her full-time job to prioritize her family, she wanted a way to serve her own community. She took the initiative and...
Volunteering with seniors gave Nohemy hope to persevere
Nohemy Rosada has perservered through tumultuous times because of relationships she made with seniors while...
Featured Volunteers
Nohemy
Nohemy is a sweet senior whom we met because she worked in the building where Heart2Heart is located. We saw how hard she worked, and it pained us that she spent so much of her earnings on bus fare to get to work.
Heart2Heart did something about it. We raised $3,000 on Nohemy’s behalf to help her purchase a 2005 Kia Sorento. Now, Nohemy uses that same car Heart2Heart bought as a volunteer.
Linda
Linda is 65 and lives in a nursing home due to a condition called dystonia, which causes her muscles contract uncontrollably. Linda’s only living relatives are cousins who live in other parts of the country.
Two years ago, Heart2Heart volunteer Erin Sitton began visiting Linda. Soon, they formed a deep connection, to the point where Erin and her husband Andy consider Linda family.
