Yarmouth Connects
January 1 – March 31, 2020
Yarmouth Senior Services, Yarmouth Age-Friendly Community Team and D-Y School System are collaborating on a community-wide project called Yarmouth Connects.
Our goal behind this effort is for Yarmouth residents to build our community while physical distancing in the upcoming winter months. We hope to reduce the feelings of isolation and loneliness in our community by encouraging human connection during the cold dark winter months when social isolation is expected to peak. We strongly believe that the power of connection has the ability to boost the daily wellness and human spirit of our beloved Town. We find this mental wellness to be especially important for our older residents who are currently restricted to their homes due to pandemic concerns.
Think back to days past. Do you remember the feeling when the children playing in the street would stop what they are doing to move out of the way and wave at you as you drove by? Or maybe the warmth you felt when you received an unexpected card in the mail from a long lost friend. Perhaps it was the kindness you felt from a stranger who complimented your style as you walked by. We would like to bring those positive feelings back into our Yarmouth community.
In taking the Yarmouth Connects Challenge, you have the opportunity to reach out to family, friends, neighbors and even strangers, and improve the mental well-being throughout our community.
Efforts to reach out/Connecting Activities include actions that can be completed while physical distancing. For example:
- Waving to a neighbor
- Smiling at a stranger
- Complementing someone
- Calling/Texting/Messaging a friend or neighbor out of the blue
- Writing a card or a letter to someone - We have launched a card and letter writing campaign to people in nursing facilities, where you can drop of cards and letters in the drop box of the Senior Center and we will quarantine them prior to delivering
- Checking in on an older person to make sure they have everything they need or random acts of kindness such as shoveling or bringing the newspaper to their door
If you should have any questions regarding this challenge, please reach out to:
Yarmouth Senior Services at 508-394-7606 x 1338 or YarmouthSeniorServices@gmail.com