UT Freshmen Start Nonprofit to Help Older Adults Combat Loneliness During Pandemic

Two University of Texas at Austin (UT) freshmen and a high school junior have founded Big & Mini, a nonprofit that pairs college-aged students with older adults to help relieve seniors' loneliness during the current pandemic, reports KXAN . The collaborators borrowed money to set up the Big & Mini website, which currently has about 500 Bigs (older adults) and 500 Minis (students) enrolled. Membership is free, although the site is funded by donations. All ages are welcomed, and participants are quickly trained on platform operations and Internet safety. They also must answer a questionnaire about their common interests, after which Bigs and Minis are placed a matching pool. The service assigns matches, schedules their first meet-up, and provides some icebreakers. Participants use a portal on the site to access video chat, so they can communicate directly with the nonprofit about their experience, with calls handled through the open-source Jitsi platform. Following the initial meeting, Bigs and Minis can schedule future meetings through the website, without disclosing personal information.