MANCHESTER – Township high school students recently came out to provide some tech support to seniors from several Whiting communities. The Crestwood Village VI Club House was filled with seniors who had a lot of questions.
The students patiently explained how to use features of their respective devices – be it Smart Phones, laptops or others – and helped them with solutions to a variety of problems.
The program came about through a team-up between the township’s senior liaison, Judy Noonan who is the confidential aide to Mayor Robert Arace and School District Public Information Officer Dina Silvestri.
Thirteen students and MTHS Student Counselor Rachel Kelly visited residents at the local senior community for Technology 101. The informal gathering provided for a relaxed setting where the residents came ready with their devices and questions.
“We have residents of the Renaissance, Crestwood Village VII, Crestwood Village VI and The Pines at Whiting and others are here today,” Noonan said.
When asked what her technical problem was that she hoped to see remedied, Charlotte Leby of Village II replied, “do you have about an hour?”
She has lived in Whiting for 15 years. “People who I’ve been talking to have had the same problems. I’m retired and I want to talk to my grandchildren. I also need (an operating phone) for my health. I had a heart attack in my sleep.”
“We once lost power at my unit and so that is why I got this,” Leby said regarding her first cell phone. “My son got it for me so I could talk to him. There is a lot to it.”
Leby was having a problem in being able to update the programming on her phone. “I’m in my 80s. Life can be a nightmare but life is also good but it can be difficult. This makes me nervous,” she added concerning her Sansone model phone that seemed to be frequently losing its charge.
“This is the woods and we don’t get a good signal,” Leby said.
MTHS senior Samantha Billanueva was helping Mieke Jansma with her lap top and getting Wi Fi to operate. “She is doing a great job,” Jansma said.
“I thought it was going to be intimidating but they are just like my granddaughters so we fit right in very comfortably. They knew their stuff and if they didn’t know specifically, they would ask their friends and they would work together,” Peggy Carucci of Village VI said.
Her issue was also a phone issue. “How to sign on, sign off, how to take a picture and how to send a picture. Basically, it was simple but I didn’t know how to do it so I set a nice wallpaper screen and it was good. It took 15 or 20 minutes. It was a breeze.”
Carucci is the president of the Bingo Committee at the Village. “We have a lovely clubhouse that includes a library. Everything has been donated, books, large print, puzzles. It isn’t just from our village but a lot of people from the different villages come in. It doesn’t matter as long as they bring them back.”
“There is no time limit on the books you just sign it out and if you like it, you can pass it along to somebody else. We decorate for the seasons and every January we purge. If a book hasn’t been out in two years, we get rid of it,” she added.”
Carucci added, “we go to book sales at different libraries to bring in more but everything here has been donated. We ask people who their favorite author is and we try to get some current books from that. It is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. so long as the clubhouse is open. We only close on Sunday which is when we have Bingo.”
“The program today was a very good thing. It helped a lot of people,” Carucci added.
Noonan thanked the Village VI Board for their role in helping arrange this as well as the school district. She hopes this event can be repeated again next year.
“We had 25 to 30 seniors come out here for help today,” Silvestri said. “The kids want to help and the seniors want the help.”
