SAN JOSE, CALIF.—Students Jonah Price, Manushree Desai and Jianne Andaya creates a new club at Silver Creek High School called Sending Sunshine, to spread joy to the elderly one card at a time.

Two sophomores, Price and Desai, and one junior, Andaya, are on a mission to help invite students to help spread love to those in need of an uplifting card.

As a month of the 2024-2025 school year has passed, many clubs are starting to get the feel of leading their peers and making their activities fun and exciting. Each and every club at Silver Creek is different in their own ways. Some do many volunteering events, performances, competitions and etc. 

But co-president, Desai, sees Sending Sunshine as a special way to spread love. “Our club emphasizes on sending handwritten cards and notes to specifically senior centers which not a lot of clubs in our area have the opportunity to do!” she says.

Multiple steps were taken to get Sending Sunshine to come alive. One of the other co-presidents; Price, states “I wanted to start Sending Sunshine after I saw an ad that the main organization was creating new chapters. I waited anxiously for a response, thinking they wouldn’t ever get back to me, but I stayed patient. I got a response after about two months of sending in an application, and they had accepted it.”

The Sending Sunshine organization started a new idea to expand their community called chapters. This chapter creates an opportunity for students to contribute through school clubs. This caught Price’s attention and sparked an idea to bring this chapter to life here at Silver Creek.

Due to the fact that this chapter is very new to the Silver Creek community, the officer board is always working hard on things they can improve and goals they want to achieve. “I want to bring happiness to the elderly…they are people too, and I want to help spread awareness about the loneliness that the elderly go through not seeing their families, or not even having any at all,” Price expressed. 

Desai is happy to welcome anyone interested in her club’s main motives. She is excited to see the community grow and come together to do great things as a whole. Desai says, “People should join and contribute because this gives them a chance to do something kind for the elderly but also empowers themselves and their creativity through our club.”

About one-third of senior citizens live alone causing them to experience loneliness. Some may not have support from their family, have a hard time going out and socializing and/or isolated in a nursing home.