Calgary teens create hotline for seniors to help them feel connected during quarantine

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High school students in Alberta, Canada, want to make sure senior citizens who are in quarantine and away from their families and friends don't feel alone.

On Friday, the Calgary teens launched Joy4All, a free hotline seniors can call anytime to hear a pre-recorded joke, poem, positive story, or feel-good quote. "A lot of folks who are in isolation are really missing their families right now," teacher Jamie Anderson told CBC News. "So we're just trying to fill in some of the gaps and bring them a little bit of joy and levity during these difficult times."

The hotline isn't entirely finished, as the teens are working on adding messages in different languages. Student Jared Quinn said he knows that people his age might not have a lot in common with senior citizens, and this is one way to bridge the gap. "I think we can learn a lot of respect for each other and a lot of wisdom from our elders in the community," he said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.