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Tech-
Angels’ Impact Across the U.S.
Tech-Angels is striving to improve the lives of thousands of elderly individuals across the United States. See below to learn more about some of our recent donations.
USS Indianapolis Survivor Connects with his FamilyUSS Indianapolis Survivor Connects with his Family
In April of 2021, Tech-Angels visited Florence, Arizona for a donation to a legendary survivor of the USS Indianapolis, Harpo Celaya. The Indianapolis was the famed ship that delivered the atomic bomb, however, on its return journey it was tragically torpedoed on July 30, 1945. The massive ship took only 12 minutes to sink, and the survivors of the wreckage had to survive for five days in the hypothermic water and shark attacks. Sadly, of the 1,195 men on the ship, only 316 survived. Tech-Angels helped Mr. Celaya, one of five remaining survivors, connect to his family through facetime for the first time via a donated iPad. Mr. Celaya had previously only had a flip phone and had never seen someone through a screen. We taught him how to use the iPad and he soon made his first call to his daughter in San Jose, California. We were glad to help and the look on his face when he saw his daughter and grandchildren made us very proud.
Connecting Oklahoma Veterans in our Grandparents’ Hometown
On Christmas Eve 2021, Tech-Angels was able to visit the Veterans Nursing Home in Ardmore, Oklahoma where our grandparents live. We were able to donate devices to three war Veterans from Vietnam. These Veterans did not have access to technology devices, so they were overjoyed to be able to get on the internet, contact loved ones, find books to read and games to play. We helped these three heroes set up their new devices, get apps and discover all about the electronics in no time. As soon as we saw them smiling from joy, we knew that we had done our job well. They were grateful for our visit, and we were grateful to give back to our grandparents’ community in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
Helping the Nursing Home that Helps our Great-Grandmother
In 2021, after the height of the pandemic, Tech-Angels had the opportunity to visit Arista Care, an Indian Nursing Home in South Plainfield, New Jersey. The reason this visit was so special is because Arista Care is where our 98-year-old great grandmother, Prabha Parikh, lives. Our great grandmother (Moti Ba) was the inspiration for Tech-Angels, so we were grateful for the opportunity to visit her and donate over a dozen devices to this nursing home. Arista Care is part of a chain of over twelve different nursing homes around New Jersey and New York. Although we were not able to help the residents set up their devices due to Covid, we could only imagine their and their family members’ excitement when they are able to facetime each other. We were grateful for this wonderful opportunity to help the friends and acquaintances of our great-grandmother.
San Marcos Community Grant Fuels our Local Impact, Part I
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Through a grant awarded by the San Marcos Community Foundation (SMCF), Tech-Angels had the opportunity to donate several iPads to Village Square Nursing Home in San Marcos, California. While Village Square is home to approximately 100 residents, a group of residents were delighted to each receive their own personal device and eager to learn how to use them. We quickly learned from this experience the importance of preparation and setting the devices up in advance. One of the highlights of this donation was meeting a woman, named Nancy, who was living in the home along with her 90-year-old husband. They were thrilled when we were able to show them how to watch their favorite football team, the San Diego Chargers, on YouTube. We look forward to returning to Village Square along with the Activities director, Ms. Juanita, to see how the residents are doing and how they are using the tablets.
San Marcos Community Grant Fuels our Local Impact, Part II
Also through the grant awarded by the San Marcos Community Foundation, Tech-Angels was able to make a donation of nearly 10 iPads to Country Rose Memory Care in San Marcos, California. We had the opportunity to learn about memory care diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia, from the owner and director of the home, Mr. Val Paraiso. We learned that while many of the residents struggle to remember days and names, they can remember many details from their youth. We were able to play YouTube videos of one resident’s favorite jazz musician. Although she was over 90 years old, she shared with us all the details of her life when she heard that music. We were also able to set up her device with her daughter’s number so she could FaceTime her more frequently. Another woman who we spent time with was an elderly Filipino woman who had recently injured her back and just moved to Country Rose. Jaiden showed her how to play checkers and word games. She said that she would now be able to do things that would keep her mind sharp rather than watching movies or sitting around. We were so grateful to have this experience and see the joy that technology could bring to this home and these individuals’ lives.
Partnering with Teen Athlete Volunteers
In the fall of 2022, Tech-Angels had the opportunity to partner with Teen Athlete Volunteers (TAV) to collect devices and donate them to Silverado Memory Care in Escondido. We collected and donated nearly 10 devices, including a Mac desktop. We met with a lovely group of elderly women, all of whom had memory-related diseases. We were able to find and play art apps, word games, checkers, and music with these women and learn their life stories. One of the women grew up on a farm in Oklahoma just like our grandparents. She had been a secretary and was eager to practice her typing skills on the new Mac desktop. We were grateful to spend time with this amazing group of seniors and look forward to visiting them again soon!
Tech-Angels Visits North County Nursing Home, Active Care Bressi Ranch
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During Tech-Angel's visit to Active Care Bressi Ranch, we were able to help and meet over 20 different people. The Tech-Angels talked and helped a diverse group of elders who ranged from veterans to singers to authors. They were interested and filled with joy to see some young kids take a leap of faith out there with them and try their best to help them. They wanted to watch Netflix. message their loved ones on Skype, and Facetime. These elders were anxious to learn more about us, know what sports we played, and know why we are taking the time to help them. A memory vivid to the Tech-Angels was when we showed a video to one of one of the residents Dora, who was over 90 years old, of a girl singing the same song that she used to sing at her earlier job. She started singing along with the video playing on the iPad. This moment was really special to the team of Tech Angels.
Tech-Angels Helps Residents at North County Nursing Home, La Marea
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In spring of 2023, Tech-Angels had the chance to go out and visit a beautiful nursing home in Carlsbad called La Marea. At La Marea, we were given the chance to donate devices as well as assist the nursing home residents with their technology questions. We met a women who was an illustrator of several children’s books and we were able to show her online pictures from her books.. During our visit, we donated a device to the home, Keanu helped a lady text her friends and learn how to take photos on her flip phone. Milaan and Ben helped a lady learn how to play Blackjack and how to download pictures. Jaiden helped a lady change the wallpaper on her phone to one of her daughter and gave her a device. Another special thing about this visit was that we brought along another member of the team, Benjamin Allen. Ben has been our friend since Kindergarten and we’re excited to have him as part of Tech-Angels.
Tech-Angels Launches Tech Tutoring for Seniors
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Tech-Angels is not only donating devices, but we are now also doing tech tutoring where we help any senior citizens looking for help with technology. This was one of the first of the many sessions that they will be doing in the future. Through our friend’s grandparents, we organized a gathering of seniors from the community of Auberge who brought all their toughest tech questions for the Tech-Angels. In addition to Jaiden, Keanu and Milaan, Benjamin Allen and our friend, Asa Yonemitsu, were also on hand to solve everyone's questions and problems. The seniors’ questions ranged from how to create attachments to emails to creating a Skype account to setting up a group chats to fixing a router problem (that was a first)! A special part of this event is that we and the seniors we helped were able to share our story and work with CBS8. It was a very unique and rewarding day for both the seniors and Tech-Angels.
Tech-Angels Visits Sharp Chula Vista, One of San Diego’s Largest Healthcare Facilities
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In May 2023, Tech-Angels had the opportunity to meet with several of the residents of Sharp Chula Vista’s Skilled Nursing home. Sharp is one of San Diego’s largest healthcare systems, so we were thrilled to have this opportunity. This visit was unique for us as many of the residents were Spanish speakers. Despite the language barriers, the fifteen or so residents we met with greeted us with kind smiles and eager eyes. During our time at Sharp, we worked with several residents on technology questions they had like setting up their Facebook accounts, downloading games, and entering contacts. We also donated 3 ipads for the Activities Directors to check-out to the residents. A truly special person that stuck out to us was Stella. Stella had a stroke a few years ago but was very mentally alert. We loved listening to her stories and hearing her laugh as well as her making us laugh. We hope Stella is able to keep herself mentally active and busy through one of the devices that Tech-Angels donated.
