Friends gather to make Valentine’s cards for seniors

Glitter glue, heart-shaped stickers and pastel paper surround 13-year-old Jessica Gresham as she gets ready to decorate Valentine’s cards for the community’s seniors.

Jessica spent the last month planning the effort. On Valentine’s Day, she will personally deliver roughly 300 cards to nursing homes throughout Moorpark and Thousand Oaks.

“This is my way of contributing to my family, which is the people in my community,” Jessica said.

The student launched her Valentine campaign by giving a speech at her school, persuading others to join her movement. She told students that she pre-made hundreds of cards, and that their task would be to decorate them, write a kind message and then turn them into their teacher at Hillcrest Christian School in Thousand Oaks.

“A lot of seniors in nursing homes are lonely. They’re separated from their family or have no one,” Jessica said. “I bet it will put smiles on a lot of faces.”

Jessica’s mother, Lucy Gareys, said her daughter is always busy with a project.

“She’s always been creative and energetic, and from an early age she’s had this internal drive to connect with people in her community,” the Moorpark resident said.

When Jessica was younger, she organized days of fun activities for neighbors and others her age. She got into the entrepreneurial spirit and would sell slime, bracelets or other tchotchkes and donate the proceeds to their church, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Camarillo.

But Gareys believes that her daughter’s sudden passion for supporting seniors with Valentine’s cards comes from somewhere else.

“We don’t have roots here,” Gareys said. “I think she’s missing the elderly people in her life.”

Jessica is an only child and a first-generation immigrant from Ukraine. Jessica’s 87-year-old grandmother, Zina, now lives in Russia. Jessica has been unable to visit her due to the pandemic and because of the ongoing war.

CARE-FUL COLORING— Sophia Scott, 13, makes Valentine’s Day cards for seniors in Moorpark on Feb. 7. MICHAEL COONS Acorn Newspapers

She dedicated her Valentine’s Day card movement to her.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to see her for a very long time,” Jessica said. “I wish I could send love to her in the same way that people send love to their (elders) here.”

She said she’s always wanted a big family, and her way of showing support is giving back to her community in big and small ways.

Jessica decided to intersect her two biggest passions last year. Her love for environmentalism and connecting with her community was the inspiration for her One Is Enough campaign.

She created her own website, oneisenough.site, to raise awareness about waste reduction and promote the importance of reusing and recycling. There, she organizes community clean-ups, raises funds and offers service hours.

“I see the ignorant attitude toward waste because it is not a ‘glamorous’ topic for my generation to talk about,” Jessica wrote. “If more young children start to think about it, then they will grow up as mindful adults.”

Jessica, though, has even bigger plans for her future. The 13-year-old said her hope is to convert the organization into a nonprofit soon. She is also looking for a fiscal sponsorship to expand on her ideas.

Jessica Gresham, 13, makes Valentine’s Day cards for seniors at her Moorpark home on Feb. 7.

Under her new campaign, she began hosting monthly events in the park. She teaches about the importance of consuming only what one needs, without excess and wastefulness, in order to help the planet. She also posts informative style YouTube videos featuring her peers.

“Kids in my generation are the future of this planet. We have a world, and we are only to share it,” she said.

With help from kids at her school, Jessica also hosted a card-decorating party at her house and invited others from her community to get involved.

Even though it only takes one to make a big difference, the teen hopes to start a movement someday.

“I want to show that we can show love to our community and love to our world,” she said.

Emily Allison, 13, organizes a stack of 75 Valentine’s Day cards for seniors on Feb. 7 in Moorpark.