Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Dhilan Patel. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.
Dhilan Patel saw his grandparents struggling to connect with others during COVID, and realized he could make a change. As the world began to open up more in 2023, Dhilan started volunteering at his local church, providing one-on-one technology assistance to seniors struggling with smartphones, email, telehealth, and online services. He realized that being a digital native could help him recognize the impact of digital isolation, and decided to use his youth to empower others. Dhilan established Support for Seniors, an organization focused on empowering seniors to live fuller lives through technology support, active engagement, and community connection. Dhilan hosts technology classes, workshops, and outreach programs, empowering thousands of seniors to gain confidence, maintain independence, and strengthen their connections with family and friends. He has expanded his efforts, launching companion walking groups and fitness programs to promote healthy aging and social connection. The organization even grew to include work at food distributions and community markets, taking on the issues of senior isolation from several perspectives.
Now a junior in high school, Dhilan has grown the organization’s reach by recruiting over 25 volunteers who enjoy the volunteer work just as much as he does. Since founding the program, he has worked directly with over 8,000 seniors across Orange County. But he’s also worked hard to balance his volunteer work with his busy high school workload. He emphasizes setting aside time off to work on his own health, making sure he doesn’t let his busy schedule get the best of him. Looking toward the future, Dhilan is excited to pursue a college education. But he’s also hoping to fuse his college education into his future career. He’s interested in pursuing technology from a public health advocacy perspective, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence. What started as a desire to connect with his own grandparents during a time of struggle has grown to become an entire volunteer movement. Dhilan’s example shows that young people have the capacity to change the world, no matter their age.
What inspired you to get started with this initiative?
I started this mostly because of my grandparents. I saw a gap in technical knowledge with my own grandparents. They live across the country in New Jersey. They were struggling, especially with communication, and especially during COVID and the lockdown. They were really isolated, and their generation isn’t as familiar with technology as we are. During COVID, I realized I’m now at the age where I can start helping out my community and volunteering.
What inspires you to volunteer?
I think it goes back to how I was raised by my parents. I’ve always been instilled with the values of helping others. If you have the opportunities and the resources to develop something that will help others, you should. I think that’s something I was always raised with.
Tell us about your volunteer role with Support for Seniors.
We do a lot of different events. Sometimes we’re at farmers’ markets. Sometimes we’re at the senior center. Before, we did smaller classes at churches and stuff like that, but normally we do a lot of well-being programming centered around technology, and it’s expanded. I’m normally the one leading these sessions or well-being workshops. We’ve also had tours walking around the town center, workshops on technology, and then a lot of different fairs that are mental health-based. We’re a resource there, and we use technology for that gap in isolation and technology.
What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?
For the organization, I think it’s just really expanding our reach and getting more known in the community, and being able to extend our resources. We’ve expanded to Tustin, Irvine, Costa Mesa, and that area, but maybe even further. We’re developing a website right now. We just want to be able to give resources to a larger number of people.
What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?
I think it’s the small interactions that you see on a day-to-day basis. Not necessarily helping them with the technology aspect, but a lot of these seniors don’t have daily interactions where they’re able to connect with volunteers and people like me. They don’t really get that connection so often outside of their family. I think it’s really nice to connect with different types of people and brighten their day, aside from the technology help aspect.
What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?
The importance of patience. We all come from different backgrounds, and we all deal with problems differently. Being able to take a step back and put yourself in the senior’s shoes really helps us as well as it does for the seniors.
Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?
I think everyone has their own set of skills, and I feel like everyone can bring something to the table. As a society, if everyone puts their heads together, being able to volunteer your time and do something that you’re really passionate about is what makes our community so great.
What do you want people to learn from your story?
I think it’s a call to action. If you can identify a problem in your community, taking action, going out there, and actually trying to solve it and make an impact on the people in your community is something I would tell them to do.
Do you want to make a difference in your community like Dhilan? Find local volunteer opportunities.