r/UpliftingNews

Lonely seniors in Oswego County, N.Y. are finding new friends through an innovative program that pairs them with lifelike robotic cats and dogs.

Since 2018, the Oswego County Office for the Aging has helped more than 400 seniors adopt animatronic pets that purr, whimper, and respond to touch—without the costs or care demands of real animals.

"These can provide a much-needed distraction," says Elizabeth Weimer, Senior Aging Services Specialist. "The feedback we have gotten is that they really do help with loneliness."

The state-funded program provides the pets free to qualifying seniors living independently. Story link has been gifted to redditors.

A few weeks ago a man named Gerald texted me and said go see his neighbor Mary Kay.

So I went. I filmed. I posted a short video about her story.

Mary Kay has been cooking everything from scratch, alone, on two burners, in a small kitchen in Grandview Missouri. Wednesday through Saturday. For years. She never told anyone she was struggling. She just kept showing up.

The video hit half a million views in under a week.

The community raised over $6,000 through a GoFundMe. She sold out both days that first weekend. Her neighbor Gerald’s BBQ restaurant next door sold out. The restaurant down the street ran out of food and closed early.

One video fed an entire block.

I sat down with her recently for the first time since it all happened. I asked her how close she was to giving up.

She said a month before that video she was 80% sure she was going to have to close. She had talked to her family and said she thought it was it. That she didn’t think she could feasibly do it anymore.

Then I asked if she thought she was going to make it now.

She said definitely. Definitely.

The video of that conversation can be shared if you want to see the amazing impact of what happens when a community comes together.

Simply Grand Kitchen and Creamery. Grandview MO. She’s still there. Still cooking everything from scratch. Go see her.