The high school senior project that is making a huge difference in the lives of senior citizens

Cutler Edmundson’s senior project was simple, help seniors with tasks like chopping wood and shoveling snow, and then it all went wrong in the best way possible.  

“I wanted to help all the folks that lived here. There were some older folks in town that needed help with really basic stuff, like getting their snow pushed, or their lawns mowed or fence fixed and I wanted my senior project to be about helping those guys,” said Edmunson, who lives in Harrison and will graduate from Manhattan Christian High School this Spring. 

“The first time I went up to the Senior Center I ran into this senior citizen lady and she was like, ‘Oh, I'm so glad you're up here and you're doing this. My husband, he can’t really work anymore. He's just kind of that age now.’ She said ‘Man, I really could use your help.’ Then she asked, ‘Can you do plumbing?’ And I thought, oh, boy. I didn't say that out loud, but that's how the nonprofit part got started. That was kind of like the beginning, because I slowly began to realize that there was a lot more than that, like they needed help with more than what I could do.”

“My aunt actually came up with the idea for the non-profit,” explained Edmundson. “I had a lot of help with that part, because it was a lot of paperwork. Two of my aunts, and then my mom helped a ton with it and it just got approved by the IRS about a month ago.” 

The 501(c)3 designation from the IRS allowed Edmundson and his team to expand their mission and begin to raise funds that will connect seniors with contractors or handyman services that can do the work they need done. 

“It's called SOS, [which stands for] Serve Our Seniors,” he explained. “Basically any senior citizen that can't live in their home comfortably, maybe they have broken windows or there’s cold air getting in, or their deck is broken really bad or maybe their stove doesn't work, they can fill out an application. We have a couple of board people that live here in the community, and we'll review the applications, and then we'll try to help them at little to no cost, using the money we raised through the nonprofit.”

As Edmundson dove deeper into the project, he realized the need was larger than he originally imagined. 

“I'm in Harrison, and here and in Pony there's so much poverty,” he explained. “I mean, it's hard for a lot of those guys. There are a lot of senior citizens that live around here on a fixed income.”

Having identified a serious need, Edmundson and his team went to work fundraising so that they could help as many seniors as possible get the help they needed. Their initial efforts can only be described as an astounding success. According to Edmundson, the group has raised nearly $10,000 through an online campaign and a bingo night fundraiser. 

“At bingo night, I ran into some distant family,” said Edmunson. “They drove all the way over from Sheridan and they're older folks. They were the last people I thought I would show up for that deal and they were just so kind and polite to me. They handed me a letter and they donated 500 bucks. I just thought it was pretty neat.  These people didn't even get invited and they donated so, so much, and it just kind of stuck with me.”

As the project grew, so did the amount of work. Hard work is nothing new to Edmundson, who also runs a 350 bird egg production operation with his grandpa. His concern now is that as he moves on to the next chapter in his life, which is a year living and working in Australia, he’s not going to be able to find people to keep up with S.O.S or his egg business. 

“What I think is going to happen is  that I'm just going to review applications and do some Zoom calls when I'm gone in Australia. I’ll try to help the best I can from there. But otherwise, I mean, I hope that there's maybe a senior at Manhattan Christian, or maybe my younger brother, something, hopefully will help out with it,” Edmundson explained. 

More information and applications for the program are available at www.serveourseniorsmt.org.