West Vancouver students launch CareQuest to pair seniors with youth volunteers
CareQuest matches West Vancouver seniors with student volunteers for weekly calls and visits. It has made 10 matches since November 2025.
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Four Grade 12 Mulgrave School students have launched CareQuest, a program that pairs youth volunteers with seniors who share similar interests to fight isolation. Alex Jin, Lucas Lin, Jeffrey Ren and Ben Ghandchi built it as a group project for the Young Entrepreneurship and Leadership Launchpad course.
Seniors and students submit requests on the CareQuest website listing their hobbies. The team makes a match, interviews the volunteer, and makes an introduction. Pairs then meet once or twice a week by phone, video call or in person.
Jin said the idea came from his grandmother. After his grandfather died she became more isolated and smiled less, but a few minutes on the phone lifted her mood. Later, while volunteering as a dishwasher at the West Vancouver Seniors' Activity Centre, he saw many older people eating alone. "Not because they couldn't make any friends, it was more that they outlived their friends," he said.
Since November 2025 the program has made 10 matches. One pair, Grade 11 student Vanessa Grdina and Kathy McKenzie, 91, have talked once or twice a week for nearly a year. They bond over healthcare, McKenzie's nursing career, and baked goods. McKenzie lives alone. "She brightens my life," she said.
The source does not state program costs, funding, or how many volunteers and seniors are enrolled.
