‘Adopt-A-Grandparent’ campaign is one woman’s quest to make seniors smile
Michelle Tibble first realized how miserable living in a nursing home during a pandemic can be when she visited her 71-year-old Aunt Judy Metrovich at ManorCare Health Services in Peters last July.
Ms. Tibble, 40, a native of Finleyville, had made the trek from her home in Chicago to see her mother,
Audrey Weisgerber, and her Aunt Judy, but ManorCare was on full COVID-19l ockdown at the time, and the two couldn’t see Ms. Metrovich because she had to stay in her room and wasn’t close enough to a window for that kind of visit, either.
“I didn’t realize that she had been in her room since March, only allowed out to go to doctors’ appointments,” Ms. Tibble said. “All her activities and visitations were taken away. She was sitting in this tiny room with no interaction. ... She was just super upset about that.
“It got me thinking: What can we do for these people?”
It wasn’t too hard for Ms. Tibble to realize she was sitting on a goldmine of joy via the company she
founded and owns, Awesome Balloon Creations. Her experience with her aunt inspired her to start an “Adopt-A-Grandparent” campaign where anyone can sponsor balloons that will be delivered to hundreds of nursing homebound seniors.
As of mid-March, Ms. Tibble had delivered 800 “balloon buddies” to 800 grateful seniors — including a dropoff at her Aunt Judy’s facility in Pittsburgh on March 12. Her goal is to provide 1,000 seniors with balloons this year and to make “Adopt-A-Grandparent” an annual winter campaign going forward.
“It’s been pretty awesome,” she said. “I can’t go past the lobby, but the nursing staff that I have talked to have all been so overwhelmed with joy and appreciation. I don’t think they realize what I’m doing until the truck pulls up and they have a mountain of balloons in a lobby. There’s something magical about it in person.”
She said that ManorCare staff was a little taken aback by the sheer number of balloons she was able to fit in one U-haul truck, but otherwise everything went smoothly. Rebecca Reese, ManorCare’s activities director, confirmed that assessment.
“They were in awe,” Ms. Reese said. “It put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces that haven’t had smiles for a while with all the COVID stuff.”
The delivery was
certainly a much-needed tonic for Ms. Metrovich, who
has trouble getting around because she has diabetes
and had to have one of her legs amputated due to an infection. She said it’s been a “crappy” year with almost nothing to do thanks to the pandemic, but the balloons did provide at least a brief bit of solace for her and fellow ManorCare residents.
“They really liked it,” Ms. Metrovich said. “Some of them had window visits. They showed it to their relatives and family. They loved them.”
Though she’s based in the Windy City now, “my heart is still in Pittsburgh,” Ms. Tibble said. She studied musical theater at Point Park University and, one summer, took a performance job with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield where she had to paint herself blue. It was there that she met a few variety artists who taught her how to make balloon designs, and that ability helped her pick up some extra money as she pursued acting.
She moved to Chicago in 2003 to continue acting, performing with legendary Chicago improv theater group Second City and even touring with the stage musical “Mamma Mia!” while simultaneously growing her balloon business, then called Chicago Balloon Twister, as a side hustle. Eventually, her client base grew to the point that she was able to make balloons her primary source of income.
To her, balloons are “nothing but a fun cartoon” that can be transformed into everything from animals to Disney princesses to large-scale decorations for just about any event. They proved to be fairly lucrative for her as well ... until the pandemic hit and she lost $30,000 worth of business in 24 hours. Things have picked up again recently, though, thanks to the slow return of live entertainment and the balloon artists themselves getting vaccinated.
“Like any art form, it’s always better in person,” she said.
Just like, say, receiving a balloon after being confined to a nursing home for a year plus. It’s a small gesture, but one Ms. Tibble hopes reminds seniors that someone has their backs.
“It might seem like you’re by yourself in a room, but people are thinking about your situation and hoping that you’re finding positivity in as many places as you can,” she said. “I just want to lift everybody up and give them a smile, even if it’s just for a day or two.”