Recreating Helping Hands Serving Hearts

By Travis Wilson, Class of 2016

Travis Wilson

This year has, by far, been the most rewarding of my college career, primarily as a result of being involved with Helping Hands Serving Hearts, Inc.  Helping Hands was a project I had started several years ago in Northern Kentucky.  I had been assisting my Grandpa quite frequently with various projects around his home that he could not complete as easily or as safely as he could in the past; tasks such as washing windows, changing light bulbs, trimming tall trees, etc.   Seeing that he was certainly not the only senior citizen living independently, I realized that there was a distinct need in the community for non-medical senior care in the form of help with simple everyday projects.  Small projects that can be done in minutes by a younger, more able-bodied person become major concerns for those who are more advanced in age and spend a large amount of time in their home.  We hoped to alleviate some of the stress that these projects cause for our clients so that they may stay in their homes longer.  At the time I was very involved in a local civics club that was very committed to service.  We began connecting with a local senior citizens' club from which we could draw clients.  I then began to connect the seniors with students who were available to assist them, and Helping Hands Serving Hearts was born.  We continued this work through the final two years of my high school career, and we were relatively successful in our efforts.  We assisted over thirty seniors during this period of operation, but we made no plans for continuation or expansion and the program fizzled out after I graduated.

During my freshman year of college I had thrown around the idea of getting the program restarted in college with a few of my fraternity brothers and fellow McConnell Scholars.  However, we never had the time to sit down and organize adequately so that we would be capable of taking on the workload that we knew the community would demand of us.  This past summer, having been given the opportunity to be a part of the McConnell Scholars' Service Team, I saw this as the perfect chance to restart Helping Hands Serving Hearts.  We hoped to make it an integral part of the McConnell Scholars' service regimen, as well as to connect the McConnell Center with other campus organizations.  Through a lot of hard work from our dedicated Executive Board, we have been able to successfully organize bi-weekly service days on which we gather a large group of students on campus and carpool to various pre-assigned senior residences where they complete their project in a few hours.  We thoroughly emphasize the importance of the volunteers interacting with the elderly clients.  Many of those whom we help do not have family or friends that visit frequently; we have realized that anything we can do to foster intergenerational friendships is particularly valuable.   

The organizational aspects of Helping Hands have been some of the biggest challenges but have also provided the most opportunity for growth.  Partnering with a dozen organizations to provide referrals, including some of the largest non-profits in Louisville, we have gained substantial credibility in the community and have sharpened the business skills of those involved in creating the partnerships.  Also, our partnerships with around a dozen Greek and student organizations to provide volunteers give us the ability to provide a high level of service as well as to cultivate better relationships between these organizations.  So far, we have had the opportunity to put in over six hundred hours of community service and always have more opportunities for expansion.  Moving forward, we hope to continue on this upward swing of momentum and fulfill the demand throughout the community to the best of our ability.  None of our initial success could have been possible had it not been for the support of the McConnell Center, Sigma Chi Fraternity, and all of those who are willing to volunteer, as well as those willing to mentor and partner with us.  It is truly amazing what students can do when they use their networking and organizational skills toward a common goal for the good of the community.

Travis Wilson is a sophomore McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. He is pursuing majors in History and Economics and a minor in Political Science.