---
title: "West Vancouver students launch program to connect youth with seniors"
description: "Four Mulgrave School students created CareQuest, a program that matches youth volunteers with seniors to reduce social isolation, and have made 10 matches since November 2025."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/west-vancouver-2026/news/west-vancouver-students-carequest-senior-loneliness-program-october-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-29T13:45:32.323Z"
---

Four Mulgrave School students in West Vancouver have created a program that pairs youth volunteers with older residents to reduce social isolation among seniors. North Shore News reported on 27 October 2026 that the program, called CareQuest, has made 10 matches since it launched in November 2025.

The students, Alex Jin, Lucas Lin, Jeffrey Ren and Ben Ghandchi, built CareQuest as part of a project for the Young Entrepreneurship and Leadership Launchpad (YELL) program, a course that teaches entrepreneurship. They were all in Grade 12 at Mulgrave School when they started.

The program works by matching participants based on shared interests. Students and seniors each submit a request on the CareQuest website, listing their hobbies. The team then makes a match, interviews the volunteer, and introduces the two. From there they meet once or twice a week by phone, video call or in person.

Jin told the North Shore News that the idea came partly from watching seniors at the West Vancouver Seniors' Activity Centre eating alone, and partly from seeing the difference a short phone call could make to his own grandmother after his grandfather died.

One match that started through CareQuest connected Grade 11 student Vanessa Grdina with 91-year-old West Van resident Kathy McKenzie. The two have spoken once or twice a week for close to a year, the North Shore News reported. They bonded over a shared interest in healthcare: McKenzie was a nurse, and Grdina plans to study dentistry. McKenzie said the connection brightens her life and that she looks forward to Grdina's visits. Grdina told the North Shore News that the conversations have made her more excited about university and about following a path in the medical field.

The students said they are looking to expand the program to other sites in West Vancouver, including the Inglewood Care Centre, and eventually to Vancouver.

West Vancouver residents who want to volunteer or be matched as a senior can find more information and sign up at [carequest.info](https://carequest.info/).

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