Long Beach 'adopts' 2020 graduates through Facebook group

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- If there's one thing we've learned during these tough times, it's that the kindness of strangers tends to spread.

Students across Long Beach are getting "adopted" by community members through the Adopt-a-Senior Long Beach Facebook group.

"It was a community-based group to acknowledge high school seniors, as well as graduating college students, fifth graders and eight graders that are promoting to their next school," said Lisa Kammel of Long Beach.

Kammel posted a few pictures of her daughter, Olivia, to the group, writing that the soon-to-be Long Beach Poly graduate has been making masks during her free time and plans to study pre-med at San Diego State in the fall.

"Her mom wrote just a really great little bio about how she's born on the Fourth of July and is a firecracker," said Heather Walker, the Long Beach mom who "adopted" Olivia.

Walker, a complete stranger to the Kammel's, surprised Olivia with a Fourth of July-themed gift basket, or what she called a "senior quarantine survival kit," on her doorstep.

"It was so heartwarming that someone would think of something like that to do or someone else just out of the kindness of their heart," Olivia said.

Over 400 students have been "adopted" through the Facebook group, which was created less than a month ago by Rhiannon Wilson.

"It was definitely a way to give the kids something to look forward to, but also for the parents," Wilson said.
Wilson's brother, Nick, is graduating from Millikan High School.

"Not being able to walk down the stage, I think, is going to hit my mom more," Wilson said.

Kammel, whose oldest child will miss out on a traditional graduation ceremony, could not agree more.

"I found a sense of community in this group," Kammel said. "Just the gesture of something that feels heartwarming is amazing."

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