Punta Gorda Caregiver Gets Boost from Season of Sharing After Decades Helping Others

Editor's Note: This story was originally published by the Herald-Tribune and comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

When Craig Kenny was growing up in a small town in Michigan, he sought escape from the tensions in his house by keeping company with older neighbors on his block.

Sometimes, he’d walk their dogs for them, but most of the time, the 9- and 10-year-old Craig would sit on their stoops or living room couches, asking questions about their lives.

“If you listen to your elders and people older than you, they have quite amazing stories,” he recalled of those days.

While he could tell it meant a lot to them to have someone care about their lives, Craig felt a genuine interest in their tales about both World Wars, the Great Depression, and the terrible working conditions in Michigan’s old factories.

“I would listen to them and learn a little bit of history and their trials and tribulations,” he remembered.

Craig would connect his nurturing listening skills to a calling many years later, and after a lifetime of helping older residents, one day, he found that he needed some help himself...

Read the full story on the Herald-Tribune.