Senior Tech Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Ashlyn Sidhu, is bringing high school and college students and older adults together.
Kent Senior Activity Center hosted the nonprofit organization Aug. 26 to provide services to many elderly residents. The event was a success with the room packed with people for the majority of the morning.
Sidhu created an intergenerational approach to tech support for elderly community members in order to promote in-person, one-on-one contact to fixing all sorts of tech problems.
“We don’t want to just fix the problem,” she said. “We want to give them the education and the digital literacy for them to be able to handle it on their own. So that’s our whole goal.”
A senior can come to an event with their phone, iPad, computer or anything else tech-related with any questions that they may have. All help sessions are free of “tech jargon” Sidhu explained.
“We simplify it. It’s a judgement free zone and they can just ask questions,” she said.
The relationship built between the students and the seniors is one of the most unique and important parts of the Senior Tech Foundation.
“And it’s not just the seniors that are benefiting, it’s the students,” Sidhu said. “They’re learning leadership skills, they’re learning tech skills and they’re learning how to communicate.”
The organization was created just over two years ago and began as a for-profit business Sidhu said. About six months ago, she realized that in order to help as many people as possible, her business needed to transition to a nonprofit organization.
“I wanted to make sure that every senior can access free tech help regardless of income or regardless of where they live,” she said.
In addition to one-on-one opportunities to ask questions, the Senior Tech Foundation also offers technology presentations that cover topics ranging from artificial intelligence to online scams.
All aspects of the organization are expanding due to the amount of success and praise that the Senior Tech Foundation has received.
“We’re ramping [our events] up. We’re partnering with different cities all over Pierce and King County. Hopefully, every city will want us pretty soon,” Sidhu said.
Sidhu made it clear that one of her main motivations to start this organization was due to her strong dislike of online tech help.
“If you’re already having problems with technology, adding more tech doesn’t help. We like to make sure it’s in person,” she said.
She added that this is especially difficult for elderly individuals as they usually are not as sure how to navigate online chat bots and help forums.
Senior Tech Foundation began with one retirement community in Seattle and has expanded immensely over the past two years. Sidhu and her organization continue to visit that same retirement community every Sunday to remember where they first began their work.
At the Kent event, Mayor Dana Ralph attended to demonstrate the city’s support for Sidhu’s initiative.
City of Kent spokesperson Tracy Taylor commented on the city’s excitement to host an event like this one.
“We’re grateful for our partnership with the Senior Tech Foundation and for the support from (Kent-based) Ezee Fiber in helping make this event possible,” Taylor said. “The Senior Tech student volunteers were patient, thoughtful and incredibly attentive to each person they worked with. I loved seeing people come in with a question or a problem and walk away knowing they could do it themselves. We are excited to hold another event like this soon.”
