When my grandma explained how many elderly men and women were often abandoned by their friends and families once they were hospitalized, I (Prayerna/ co-founder RLove.us) realized that I could help both my peers and many other high school students, in addition to the elderly... RLOVE.US Evolution
Evolution of RLOVE.US
The idea for this organization came about when Prayerna, (Co-founder of RLOVE), who is now an 11th grade student, was searching this past summer for ways to fulfill the high school graduation requirement for community service.
Encourage your friends, family & community to volunteer.
She looked at various options, but wanted to do something that would be more personally rewarding. Her sister, Mayher (Co-founder of RLOVE), who is now in 8th grade, became interested in her sister’s quest for a meaningful way to serve the community. This became a topic of conversation in their home. Their father, who is involved in hospice care, told them of his company’s difficulties in finding volunteers for the terminally ill. He also told them that many elderly men and women were neglected and not cared for by their family members
Prayerna and Mayher learned that many of these people starve for human contact and, quite often, die alone.
Their dad explained that unless this trend is somehow adjusted, this problem will grow larger because of the aging population in the United States. Culturally influenced as well, Prayerna and Mayher are descendants of the Indian culture, which places great value and importance on the elderly. Most people from India live in extended families where they grow up with their grandparents living under the same roof. From an early age, they are accustomed to learn from, respect, and look after their aging parents and grandparents.
The sisters also learned about volunteering from their grandmother, who had assisted the elderly for many years. Their grandmother told them about her rich and personally rewarding experiences spending time with patients at various nursing homes and assisting living facilities in their neighborhood. They learned of the joy this brought to the elderly as well as to their grandmother and decided to devote their efforts to develop a resource that students or anyone else could use to locate places to volunteer for the elderly. This resource would benefit both the lonely elders, as well as ease the process of fulfilling community service hours for students.
Their goal was to combine people interested in volunteering with facilities that were looking for volunteers. The result of these efforts was RLOVE.US.
