Sherlley Morales, Intergenerational Program Assistant
At Little Brothers- Friends of the Elderly, we have a Highlight of the Week series where we shine a spotlight on members of the LBFE community including board members, older adults, volunteers, students, staff, CitySites (and more!) to learn about them and their experiences with LBFE. This week’s highlight is of one of our FIRST high school youth workers’ from the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment, Sherlley Morales who is working part time with us for the summer as our Intergenerational Program Assistant. As the Intergenerational Program Assistant, Sherlley will help implement and support weekly activities for elders in senior housing. This job opportunity is for creative, outgoing and self-motivated youth to help prevent loneliness and isolation among older adults and to help LBFE shape our emerging youth opportunities. Sherlley and other DYEE youth workers will have the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with elders and gain insight into the challenges older adults with limited incomes face. Read on to learn more about Sherlley’s background and experiences:
Hi, I’m Sherlley. I’m from Guatemala “the land of eternal spring.” I would say that my favorite things to do in my time off are to read and listen to music. I don’t really have a preference in my music type but I lean more into pop music. My responsibilities at LBFE are to interact with elders and make them feel welcome and be helpful when they need my help. I chose to work at LBFE because I like what the organization stands for- they believe that other than a place to live and having food, elders need someone to talk to and time to have fun just like people who are younger than them do.
What I’m most excited for is to be able to interact with the elders and be able to build friendships with them. What I hope to grow personally is to able to interact with people who are older than me and be able to talk to them more openly and not make them feel uncomfortable.
I would say that one of my favorite memories so far this summer was helping an elder use her computer so that she could show her daughter that she did know how to use a computer. I felt like I was part of something when I was helping her because she was really excited and she was even taking notes so that she could remember what I taught her and show her daughter.
We are very excited to have Sherlley working with us this summer and to be partnering with the Department of Youth Engagement and Employment! Remember to check out next week’s blog to see who will be highlighted then!
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