Near the end of 2020, I worked as a freelancer for Enlivant, a Chicago-based company with over 200 senior living communities around the United States. I was brought on by the Social Media Manager to complete a project before the end of the year: posting over 500 updates to Facebook from email submissions by the various communities.

This project touched my heart in a way I hadn’t expected. I saw images from across the country of senior living staff going above and beyond to keep residents safe and happy during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were milestone anniversaries and birthdays, socially distanced arts and crafts, fun-themed meals, outdoor parades for veterans organized by local communities, visits from family members on the other side of a window…It was a look inside the lives of elderly Americans and their caregivers during a time of extraordinary challenges. The joy I witnessed and the warm stories I read often moved me to tears.

I’ve continued to work with Enlivant in 2021 on a website content project. It is a pleasure to do this work.