Celebrating Local SEniors and their stories
A writing competition at Montrose started it all.
Aneesa M. ‘27 wrote an essay on senior loneliness during the height of COVID, and it opened her eyes to the isolation and disconnection that many seniors face on a daily basis, even in her hometown of Walpole. And after years spent apart from her grandparents in India, Aneesa decided she wanted to connect with local seniors in more meaningful ways.
That’s why she started Storykeepers, a non-profit organization dedicated to recording, preserving and celebrating the stories of senior citizens across her neighboring towns.
“My generation doesn’t reach out enough to seniors – there’s so much wisdom to be gained. We need to maintain that connection somehow,” Aneesa said.
Through her venture of Storykeepers, Aneesa has served seniors in Walpole, Medfield, and Franklin so far, with her sights set on Medway and Sharon next. Together with her co-founder, Aneesa interviews and records their stories, then edits them into concise, yet warm accounts, with a pseudonym to maintain privacy. Each book holds the stories of 15 seniors. They’ve partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s research.
The most rewarding moment for Aneesa is the delivery and unveiling of the books.
They are always so happy. It’s such a wholesome, full-circle moment, seeing their faces when they find their story in the book. They have so much fun with it, asking each other to sign their books.
The books are distributed to the town’s Council on Aging and the local library. Aneesa also holds ambitions of composing a master book of every story that they’ve captured someday.
“Service and giving back has always been a really important thing for me and my parents. They’ve always demonstrated gratitude for just the basic necessities of life and for each other. I was feeling so helpless about what to do for seniors who have gone through so much, and I can’t tell you how good it felt holding the books we spent hours on, and knowing that I had the capacity to make that impact. It gave me so much confidence and a sense of purpose.”
Aneesa attributed her writing and editing abilities to the strong writing training she receives at Montrose. She also wanted to thank her mentor, Mrs. Barbara Whitlock, for her encouragement throughout the process.
She gave me a lot of confidence,” she said. “A big part of life is not just to survive, it’s about making other people feel good. This wasn’t a huge project, just three local towns, but I wanted to help how I could. It’s about what you leave behind, and that feels so good and purposeful to continue to find ways to give back to the community.
The spirit of giving back is running especially strong at Montrose this month. During our January Month of Service, Montrose students will be visiting nearly a dozen local organizations to work and experience their impact firsthand.
To learn more about how Montrose students give back to our community, use the link below to dive deeper.