On a Sunday in June, two Indianapolis teenagers walked up to Discovery Commons, a senior living center in the College Park neighborhood. 

Siblings Sam and Rikki Fogelson, 17 and 15, respectively, weren't there to visit a grandparent or family friend. They instead came equipped with art canvasses, bottles of paint and step-by-step instructions for how to paint a mountain landscape. 

"It was amazing… felt emotionally satisfying," Sam said. "To see the seniors’ reactions to the class and social interactions, it made me realize this was a very good thing I was doing."

By the time the teens left that afternoon, the residents at Discovery gave them a standing ovation, said Sam, who finished his junior year this spring at University High School, a private school in Carmel.

That first art class, which Rikki taught and Sam funded through his job scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins near St. Vincent Hospital on the north side, has since grown into a volunteer initiative appropriately named Teens Painting for Seniors. A group of about 16 high school students from the Indianapolis area organizes and executes art classes at senior living centers in the area. 

Continue reading at Indy Star.