Over the years of caring for her adult daughter, 60-year-old Ann always had her husband Dave to lean on. When he passed away suddenly in the summer of 2024, she found herself at a loss. That’s when she learned about the AgeSpan Family Caregiver Support Program and started working with a support specialist, who later connected her with her caregiver mentor, Melissa.
“Melissa is a blessing,” Ann says. “She’s an unbelievably kind person. Since my husband died, it’s been horrible – so hard on my daughter and on me. I have really needed support.”
Ann was matched with Melissa in 2025 thanks to an initiative funded through a grant from Community Care Corps. The program has partnered with AgeSpan to solicit volunteers with caregiving experience to provide current caregivers with guidance, advice, or just a listening ear. Ann is a caregiver for her 34-year-old daughter, Andrea, who lives with a disability and a mental health condition. Their landlord is converting their Haverhill apartment building to condos, so Ann and her daughter need to find a new place to live. While continuing to care for her daughter on her own, searching for apartments and packing up has been overwhelming at times.
“I don’t want my daughter to have to live in a group home and I’m capable of taking care of her at home,” Ann says. “But to pack up and move on top of the grief, it’s been hard to find the motivation. Melissa is such a compassionate person. She’s been a godsend, and this program has been invaluable.”
Melissa checks in with Ann on the phone regularly and visits in person every other weekend. They talk about grief and the realities of caregiving, which can be hard to share with others.
“I have cousins and other family, but I’m surrounded by people who don’t really get it,” Ann says. “Unless you’ve been there, you don’t understand what it’s like. Melissa understands. She’s been through situations in her own life, and she makes me feel less alone.”
Through it all, Ann has also had regular check-ins with Family Caregiver Support Specialist Kelly Beekman who has been working with her since 2024. The holiday season has been especially difficult for Ann, but it was made a bit brighter thanks to Kelly, who arranged for Ann and her daughter to receive Christmas gifts through the Pfizer Holiday Wishlist Project. This special program pairs AgeSpan consumers and their families with gifts purchased and wrapped by Pfizer volunteers. Ann says support from Melissa and kind gestures like this have really made a difference for her mental health.
“I’m pretty resourceful when it comes to getting help, but it’s been hard to find support of this kind,” Ann says. “This program is an unbelievable asset in the community. The only ones who have really helped me are AgeSpan.”
The Caregiver Mentor program is still accepting volunteers. If you have previous caregiving experience and would like to volunteer for this program, please contact Family Caregiver Support Program Director Crystal Polizzotti at cpolizzotti@AgeSpan.org or visit https://agespan.org/volunteer/family-caregiver-support-program/.
To learn more about the Family Caregiver Support Program, visit https://agespan.org/solutions/caregiver-support/.
