While other North volunteer-based clubs give back to St. Charles through tutoring, park clean-ups, food packing and donation drives, North’s newest club seeks to better the local community with the help of classic board game “Connect Four.”
Members of pilot club Connect More travel to local St. Charles retirement homes to form connections with seniors over the friendly competition of “Connect Four.” Connect More collaborates mainly with senior living facility Brighton Gardens of St. Charles off of Dunham road.
“We take groups of students, and we go to retirement homes and play ‘Connect Four,’” said junior Reese Thomas, president and founder of Connect More. “You go for an hour, and you talk and connect with people.”
Although the club has had a promising turnout so far this year, accumulating almost 50 interested students, Thomas was initially worried about starting up the club, fearing nobody would be interested in participating.
“Honestly, I’ve had the idea since freshman year, but then I was kind of scared. I was like, ‘I don’t want to try to start this and then have no one want to join it,’ so then once it finally got rolling, and to see people join, it means a lot,” said Thomas. “It means a lot that people care so much about something that I care about, too.”
Thomas has observed that the club’s visitations to Brighton Gardens have raised the spirits of many seniors living there.
“There’s regulars that come every Sunday, and we have a designated area that we play in, and there will be people just sitting there waiting, the same people every week, and they give you hugs, they tell you how much you remind them of their grandchildren,” said Thomas. “A lot of them don’t get visitors as much, or maybe their family lives far away, or they might not have family, and you can just see [how it impacts them].”
Connect More adviser Peter Gleason emphasizes that forming these connections allows seniors to engage in conversation and for students to listen to stories and absorb wisdom.
“Some [students] have come back and been like, ‘Yeah, they told me this story and this story, and we just talked, we didn’t even play Connect Four,’” said Gleason. “There’s a lot of people [in retirement homes] that are forgotten about, and then going in there and having conversations with these kids, they get to tell their stories.”
Similar to the seniors, club members have also felt positively impacted by their participation.
“It means so much to people, not just for residents, but for people who participate,” said Thomas. “The first time we [visited] we had people just leaving in tears because it just felt so awesome. You could just tell how happy it made other people.”
Goals to expand Connect More’s success and impact to better access and benefit the broader St. Charles community are currently taking shape.
“[One big goal we have is] to expand to more retirement homes in the community,” said Thomas. “Also, we’re trying to get [Connect More] to other schools in the area…our first goal is East.”
Gleason and Thomas emphasize that engaging in volunteer work like Connect More actively betters the surrounding community and makes a genuine difference in the lives of people in St. Charles.
“I think the cool part is that it’s just giving back to the community. I think the whole idea of service is to give back to the community, not to just get your hours,” said Gleason.
Students that are interested in participating in Connect More can email Thomas at [email protected] for more information on how to take part in connecting.
