By Michelle Church
It is often said that we can’t control what happens in life, that we can only control our reaction. When our local high school graduating seniors started to lose the milestones of senior year because of the pandemic, Tracie Sypin and her sister-in-law, Beckie Bonifassi, started the Facebook group Adopt a Senior. A senior’s picture and information is posted on the group and they are up for ‘adoption.’ A member of the group – the adopter – then chooses a senior. The adopter has a special part in making their adoptee’s senior year memorable by passing along celebrations to the senior. Celebrations are whatever the adopter chooses: a card, a gift, or even as elaborate as decorating the senior’s yard. Most celebrations will take place during the time frame of May 18 through May 31, when many seniors would have been graduating. Seniors are asked to share their celebrations online, with the hashtag #GivingThanks.
The group originated after a phone call between Tracie and Beckie. Beckie is involved in an Adopt a Senior style group in California; she also runs a non-profit organization called Kin’s Kids that was created to honor her daughter Kinley who passed away in 2017. Tracie says, “She was telling me what she was out buying for her senior. After we hung up the phone, I just kept thinking what a great idea it was and how someone should do that for our kids here.” The Facebook group was created on April 27 and within a day, there were already 1000 members. It’s since grown to approximately 2000 members. As of mid-May, there are 149 seniors posted for adoption. Every senior has been adopted by at least one person and some have multiple adopters.
Donna Todd, a mother involved in the program, shared about putting her son, Donald, as up for adoption on the group. She says that the Adopt a Senior group “gave hope to all seniors in Greene County. My son watches his profile on there. It brightens up his day to see people care even though they don’t know him in person.”
Kameron Baron played three years of baseball for Mapletown high school and it was very hard on him when the season was canceled. A neighbor of his mother, Christy, told her about Adopt a Senior and Christy signed up Kameron. Since then, he has received a few cards. Christy says, “it has brought back his beautiful smile and he just feels so truly blessed”.
“It’s been great seeing all of the kids and what their future plans are, but my favorite part has been seeing our community come together to support these kids during this difficult time,” Tracie shares. She adds, “We just want to thank everyone for being a part of this and making these kids feel special. We may have started the group but they are the reason it is what it is.”
