Connections at Home Awarded Grants To Serve Socially Isolated Seniors

Connections at Home (CAH), a non-profit based in Verona, and serving Montclair, Bloomfield and many other neighboring towns, is the recipient of several grants to further its mission of helping socially isolated, homebound seniors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent much of New Jersey’s population indoors to isolate at home, with minimal contact with others. It is a challenging and lonely situation, but for many homebound seniors, this is their reality all the time.

Connections at Home was founded in 2014 to combat social isolation and loneliness; since then, they have provided some 175 seniors with a free, easy to use tablet or computer.

Montclair-based Partners for Health awarded CAH $25,000 to further its mission and add 30 new clients in the next year. For each clients, Connections at Home customizes their tablet or computer, and trains them on its use, as well as helps with setting up email and social media accounts. Each client is also paired with a social worker who checks in on them regularly to help them with their social service needs, and with their computer or tablet.

The Wallerstein Foundation also awarded CAH $25,000. That money will be used to purchase 25 GrandPad tablets, and 15 Telikin computers for our clients. Both those devices are designed specifically for older adults, and allow users to videochat, email, share photos, play games, listen to music, check the weather, and read articles.

Connections at Home is also the recipient of a $25,000 grant from The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. This grant is to be used to expand its presence in East Orange and add 30 new clients there, paying for tablets, computers, and social work hours.

Connections at Home is extremely grateful to these three organizations and their backers for their funding of this important project. As many are experiencing, social isolation can be devastating, and particularly for the most vulnerable in our population.

For more information on Connections at Home please email alex.kent@cahnj.org, call 973-239-2600, or check out our website www.cahnj.org.