It’s no surprise that the more connected and plugged in we are these days, the further we sometimes feel from one another. We’re spending more time behind screens and less time having the kind of face-to-face conversations that make us feel connected to the people around us.
SOAR Together, a local nonprofit organization, was founded in 2023 by Ginger Smith to address loneliness and social isolation through community-based and immersive programming. She held one of SOAR’s first youth Flower Power programs at McKinley School through Wakeman Boys & Girls Club. Before she even got home, she had received an email from Sophie Ferrante—a 10th grader at Fairfield Ludlowe High.
“Sophie essentially created the Young Leaders program by taking initiative and planting the seed in me,” Ginger says. “The program is youth designed, youth executed, and the results have been veritable social change in action. It has been a career and life honor to help create meaningful social connections alongside the next generation of community leaders.”
Heading into its third year, SOAR Together’s Young Leaders program gives young people the opportunity to identify something they care about, develop their own ideas, and actually do something about them. Through mentorship and hands-on experience, the program gives young people a chance to step into their roles as entrepreneurs, creators, and change agents.
Currently, there are six Young Leaders who have launched their own programs and projects: Christopher Caldwell, Cathryn Mills, Aidan and Adelle Reed, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Charley Tanana.
For Christopher Caldwell, a love of plants started at home. He grew up gardening with his mom, and what began as a family hobby eventually blossomed into a serious interest in horticulture.
At any given moment, Christopher has just shy of 100 plants in his room. Many are exotic and tropical, with colorful, spectacularly large leaves that continually captivate him. Some are permanent fixtures; others are temporary residents, waiting to be nursed back to health before finding a new home.
Christopher is the Plant Rescue Program Coordinator. His role centers around rescuing plants from local supermarkets and giving them a second chance. He met Ginger when he was in eighth grade through SOAR’s Flower Power program, and after conversations about his passion for botany, helping revive even the most withered specimens became a natural fit.
Now a junior at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Christopher is constantly learning about how to grow, propagate, and care for plants. By carefully providing rescued plants with the right amount of water, sunlight, and attention, he nurtures them back to life, keeping them out of the landfill and giving them another chance to thrive.
“I believe that plants have healing powers,” Christopher says. “There are so many healthy plants that get thrown away when all they really need is a little attention. If I can give those plants another chance to make someone happy, that’s something I want to do.”
Unsurprisingly, Christopher often crosses paths with a particularly persnickety plant: orchids. Though he would argue that they’re not finicky—they’re misunderstood.
“Orchids are tricky for a lot of people,” he says, laughing. “But they’re not regular potted plants. They’re tropical. Once you stop treating them like typical houseplants and give them the drainage and indirect light they need, they practically care for themselves.”
After spending some quality time under Christopher’s green thumb, the plants are donated to people and organizations in the local community who could use some uplifting. Recipients might include nursing homes, teachers, or nonprofits like Open Doors in Norwalk.
“I feel really lucky to work on this project,” he says. “I love sharing my passion for reviving plants with my community. It’s something tangible that I can pass along to help others.”
Christopher is equally passionate about baking, a hobby he picked up when he started high school. He’s now Co-President of the Baking Club and is pretty much a pro when it comes to getting creative with limited kitchen space.
“When we volunteer at a local senior center, there is a tiny oven we have to use with a single burner,” he tells us. “Sometimes, when the oven isn’t up to the task, we need to pivot and swap a traditional baked treat for a no-bake recipe.”
Looking ahead, Christopher hopes horticulture will play a role in his future—though he’s still figuring out exactly what that looks like. He may study biology in college, or perhaps take the plant and environmental science route instead.
“I’d like to keep exploring botany and horticulture and see where that takes me.”
For now, he’s continuing to care for his collection of exotic plants and his fosters, experiment, and find new ways to put the things he loves to work in his community—including baking with fellow members of the Barlow Baking Club for SOAR Young Leaders Aidan and Adelle’s upcoming event.
“We’re planning to make tea sandwiches, fruit salads, and mini quiches.”
Whether he’s reviving a struggling plant or making the most of a micro-kitchen, Christopher has found ways to turn the things he loves into something that benefits the community.
For Cathryn Mills, philanthropy has always been a family affair.
“My mom has been involved in volunteering for as long as I can remember,” she says. “Growing up, serving the community in any way we can has been a family norm because of her.”
It was through her mom and the National Charity League (NCL) that Cathryn first crossed paths with SOAR. They were participating in a flower rescue and delivering the flowers to Ginger’s garage when Cathryn realized she was in the presence of someone special.
“Meeting her was all it took to know that she is a force for good,” Cathryn says. “Her passion and directness inspired me immediately to become more involved.”
Now a senior at RHS, Cathryn is working toward her Eagle Scout rank. She had been thinking about her Eagle project for several years but hadn’t found an idea that felt quite right. After several conversations with Ginger, she found one that aligned perfectly with both her interests and SOAR’s mission.
With Ginger’s support, Cathryn led fellow Scouts and other volunteers in building two substantial benches—“Chatty Benches.” Once construction was complete, Cathryn teamed up with local artist Robert Mars, the Scouts, and members of the Redding Boys & Girls Club to add personality to the benches.
The bright, colorful beacons, located at the Redding Boys & Girls Club and along Main Street in Georgetown, are designated places where people can sit, strike up a conversation, and connect with those around them.
“I wanted my project to directly support SOAR’s mission of ending the loneliness epidemic,” she says. “The Chatty Benches are a way to create opportunities for the kind of connection SOAR is trying to foster throughout the community.”
Looking back on a childhood shaped by her mom’s commitment to giving back, her time with SOAR, and especially her Chatty Benches project, Cathryn has come to understand that helping others doesn’t just benefit the person on the receiving end. It can lift up the person doing the giving, too.
“I am always amazed at how much helping other people also helps me to feel better,” she says. “Every time I am a part of one of SOAR’s programs, I know I am there to lift the spirits of others and make them feel seen—but I always come away feeling that same benefit.”
Next year, Cathryn will head off to college, but she knows what she has learned from Ginger and her time with SOAR will stay with her.
“Being a ‘young leader’ means doing what Ginger needs and asks of me because she is always doing good for our community and I want to be a part of that and learn from her,” Cathryn says. “I know that’s something I’ll carry with me.”
Aidan and Adelle Reed, identical twin sisters and seniors at Ridgefield High School, became involved in SOAR through NCL. They, too, have followed in the footsteps of their philanthropic mother and have been volunteering with SOAR since its early days.
“Ginger’s energy and passion are honestly infectious,” Adelle says. “When you see how much she cares and how much she’s been able to build, it makes you want to get involved, too!”
They knew they wanted to work with Ginger and were inspired by SOAR’s “Let’s Chat” events. While Ridgefield has excellent resources for seniors, there aren’t many opportunities specifically designed to bring older and younger generations together. Enter: Across the Ages (ATA), designed to meaningfully connect seniors with teens.
Aidan and Adelle launched ATA just over a year ago at Ballard Green. The program creates monthly intergenerational social events where people of different generations can spend time together in an easygoing environment. Through games, crafts, snacks, and flower exchanges, the events give everyone a chance to chat and get to know one another.
“We were nervous that the teens would just stick to their own age group,” Adelle says. “But pretty quickly, people were laughing, talking, and getting involved together. By the end, it felt really natural. I remember thinking, ‘Okay, this actually works!’”
The sisters have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly ATA caught on—not only with the seniors, but with the young volunteers, too. Many of the teens keep coming back month after month—not because they have to, but because they genuinely enjoy being there.
More unexpectedly, the sisters have formed genuine relationships with many of the residents at Ballard Green.
“When we started, I thought ATA was going to be organizing fun events to make people happy for a couple of hours,” Adelle says. “I never expected to form real relationships. Now people know us by name—and we know them. Honestly, I consider a lot of these women my grandmas now. I feel really protective of them.”
The sisters have also discovered that intergenerational connection doesn’t have to be complicated. At one ATA event, a teen was nervous about coming up with a topic of conversation.
“We told her to keep it simple, to talk about herself,” Adelle recalls. “She thought about it for a second and said, ‘So I can tell them about the huge argument I had with my brother today?’ We were like, ‘Yes! Definitely!’”
That moment captured something of the essence of Across the Ages: sometimes, all it takes to make someone feel seen is a little time and a willingness to talk.
“We’ve witnessed how much people enjoy having that time together,” Adelle says. “ATA is a simple idea—but it’s having a real impact. People are connecting across generations, one conversation at a time. In turn, everyone is feeling more connected to their community.”
But the experience has also shaped the sisters’ understanding of what it means to be a young leader—recognizing something that could be better, coming up with an idea, and putting it in motion.
“You don’t need a big title or a ton of experience to be a Young Leader,” Aidan says. “If you see something that can be changed, you can make it happen.”
As they prepare for their final stretch at RHS, Aidan and Adelle are already thinking about how to keep ATA going after they leave Ridgefield behind. They’ve created a handbook with everything needed to run the program and have started training younger students to take over.
The sisters aren’t sure where they’ll be attending college next year—and whether they will be together for their next chapter. But they do know they hope to bring ATA with them wherever they may land.
“Ginger gave us the opportunity to get involved,” Adelle says. “She trusted us to come up with our own idea—and she’s been there to help us along the way. We’ve learned so much from her, and it would be incredible to take what she taught us to college.”
Kelly Fitzpatrick first met Charley Tanana in fourth grade at Farmingville Elementary School. Charley had just moved to Ridgefield, and the two quickly became friends, bonding over, among other things, their shared love of the arts.
Their interest in philanthropy dates back to those elementary school days. The girls, along with their friend, once created their own “charity” to clean up garbage on the school playground. So perhaps it’s not surprising that, years later, the two would find themselves combining their love of the arts with their desire to give back to the community.
Kelly and Charley became involved with SOAR Together through programs like Flower Power and Let’s Chat. This past summer, Ginger invited them to join SOAR’s Young Leaders program, giving the friends an opportunity to develop a project of their own.
When it came to what type of project the girls wanted to work on, they landed on something they both love: the arts.
[Cue the overture and dim the house lights:] The Young Artists Project has officially stepped into the spotlight.
“The arts connect everyone,” Kelly shares. “We hope to help create opportunities for younger kids to enjoy the theater.”
Still in its early stages, Kelly and Charley are aiming to introduce younger children to the arts through theater programs and artistic classes, creating a safe, welcoming space for kids to explore their creativity.
Of course, turning an idea into an actual program is more complicated than it sounds. The girls have quickly discovered that there are countless details to consider—right down to choosing the perfect logo.
“Once we started planning, I realized how much time, organization, and hard work goes into creating something that can really benefit the community,” Charley says.
That process has also given both girls a new appreciation for what it takes to see an idea through. Rather than volunteering at individual events, they’re learning what it means to commit to an idea over the long term and apply their own interests and skills along the way.
“Working on a project over a longer period of time has given me a chance to apply my interests and skills while giving back to my community,” Charley says.
For Kelly, one of the most rewarding parts of being a Young Leader has been the opportunity to connect with people from different ages, backgrounds, and walks of life—and to see how those connections can make a difference close to home.
The girls are still figuring out exactly what the Young Artists Project will become, but their vision is already bigger than the program’s first events.
Charley hopes that every kid who is interested in the arts has the opportunity to participate, and she would love to eventually put on a larger performance that brings together everything the kids have learned and created.
Kelly has Broadway-sized hopes for the program. She would love to take a group of children to experience their first performance on the Great White Way.
“I still remember my first Broadway show,” Kelly says. “It was so incredible and eye-opening. I would love to share that experience with these kids.”
Ginger, who has spent more than three decades immersed in social work—from directing the Children’s Aid Society’s 9/11 Relief Program for undocumented workers’ families to years of fundraising for cancer patients—says that watching the Young Leaders bring their own visions to life has been exceptionally moving.
“I have never been as palpably and passionately moved as I have bearing witness to the light, love, and visionary leadership of the Young Leaders and youth groups with whom I have worked through SOAR,” she says.
With five additional Young Leaders helping support and grow existing programs from the wings—Elaine Mann, Juliette Lisk, Cecilia Saltus, Emily Buther, and Ryason Waynat—Ginger says it’s their commitment to inclusion and belonging that fuels SOAR.
“The world as it is is challenging us to rise above the division and darkness, and it is the unwavering commitment and creative approaches to inclusion and belonging which drive the passion that fuels SOAR’s engine.”
Visit soartogetherct.org to learn more and follow @soartogetherct on social media to see recent goings-on.