MINNEAPOLIS — Just back from the store, Beau Ryan has compassion in the bag.
“What Ramona wants, Ramona gets,” she laughs, gripping a few sacks of groceries.
Ramona Stonechild is a resident of Heritage Commons at Pond's Edge assisted living.
“I'm just waiting for her to come down”, Beau says as she waits outside by the door.
A month ago, Beau and Ramona were strangers. Then, strange days made them friends.
“Well, hi, Ramona, how you doing?” Beau says warmly, as she greets the smiling woman pushing a walker through the assisted living door.
“You look great!” she continues.
“Thank you,” Ramona says beaming from 15 feet away.
The pairing was made possible by a Northstar Neighbor, a COVID-inspired organization founded by Hennepin County Commission Jeff Johnson.
“A few friends and I sat down and said, this isn't complicated, there’s somebody who wants to help, and somebody who needs help, and someone needs to connect them, and so we did it,” Jeff says.
Ramona says her main issue is picking up her meds. She made one trip downtown to Target after the stay at home order, then took stock of her age and her asthma.
“After I did that, I felt really bad because I put myself at risk and was determined not to do it again,” she says.
Enter Beau.
“I'm happy to do anything that you need me to do,” Beau tells Ramona. “I'm out and about anyway.”
Yet Jeff Johnson believes the deliveries may not be the most important function of Northstar Neighbor’s pairings.
“I think the more important piece is just the companionship and the conversation,” he says. “I think there’s a lot of loneliness out there now.”
Renay Parkhurst is having regular half-hour phone conversations with her volunteer, Karen Vetsch.
“She's an excellent listener,” Renay says. “That's a really cool thing, because I don't have any family.”
Meanwhile, Karen feels like she’s found a new friend.
“I enjoy volunteering because I figure every little bit counts,” she says.
Beau Ryan says the benefits of the program cut both ways.
“My pay was cut, so I was starting to feel sorry for myself a couple weeks ago, and honestly it makes me feel better to be able to help someone,” she says.
Someday these new friends hope to give each other a hug. In a way, they already have.