02-05-2025
AmeriCorps volunteers comfort lonely seniors. Trump just cut their programs.
Each week, a group of people 55 years or older fans out across Chester, South Carolina, offering comfort and companionship to the elderly residents of the small town.
The town's Senior Companion Program pairs the 18 volunteers — known as companions — with seniors who need assistance with daily activities like shopping, meal preparation and gardening. The program benefits vulnerable residents and volunteers alike, said program director Mary Mobley. She said some companions, who earn $4 an hour, have told her that without the program, 'I'd probably sit home and die.'
