Ryan Jespersen and his girlfriend, Sunny Massa, were relaxing at home when Sunny came across a heartbreaking Facebook post.
The image was of an elderly man, staring at his empty hands, standing in front of empty grocery store shelves. The post said the 70-year-old man was trying to buy groceries for his 80-year-old neighbor.
Massa was heartbroken.
“It was sad to see someone so vulnerable out trying to help other people like himself only to find the shelves were empty,” she said.
Jespersen, a third-year medical student at UNMC, and Massa decided right then they were going to do something to help the elderly.
That’s when they came up with Support Your NEighbor COVID19, a nonprofit foundation that helps the elderly obtain groceries and essential non-food items, with a companionship component that provides weekly well-being checks.
“I grew up being really close to my grandparents, and I’ve always had an interest in helping the elderly, so that image on Facebook really hit home for me,” Massa said.
Jespersen agrees.
“The initial desire was to help my parents or grandparents and others their age learn how to navigate the internet and buy and pay for groceries from home so they don’t have to risk going out to the stores and it grew from there,” Jespersen said.
After reaching out to the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging and other programs like that, Jespersen had a list of people who might need help.
He soon learned after talking with them that they either didn’t have the technology to order groceries online, they couldn’t afford the delivery fee or they simply didn’t have the money to buy any.
It was then that Jespersen reached out to local food pantries and formed a partnership with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
“What Ryan is doing is an enormous boost for us,” said Marty Smith, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which operates a food pantry in Omaha.
Smith said he passed along the names of 120 elderly folks who took part in a Christmas dinner last December at St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Church.
“I suggested Ryan call those folks to see who wanted help with ordering food online, or needed grocery deliveries, or who needed food from the pantry because of financial difficulties and it’s just grown from there,” Smith said.
While the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry offers the general public the opportunity to get groceries every Tuesday and Thursday, Smith said they have set aside Mondays and Wednesdays as days that Jespersen can bag and deliver groceries to the elderly.
Jespersen said he bags the grocery items and personally delivers them to residents, texting or calling them to notify them that he is leaving the items on their doorstep. He also provides instruction on how the items are to be disinfected before the resident takes them into their home.
“We wear masks and gloves at the food pantry to insure safety,” Jespersen said.
But the outreach goes beyond just providing the elderly with a means to acquire groceries.
“Right from the outset, Ryan wanted to stay in touch with these folks and check on them to see how they are doing, which is very dear to our overall mission at St. Vincent de Paul,” Smith said.
Jespersen said the companionship component of the program is to help stem the isolation and loneliness some elderly are encountering right now.
“We match people with a volunteer, and together they set up a weekly phone call so folks have someone to talk to,” Massa said. “It’s just being a good neighbor.”
this is a great service. Thank you Ryan and Sunny for being aware of others, having empathy to help, and finding a way to contribute. We need more people like you. We are all in this together. One for all.