SOAR's mission is to help end epidemic levels of loneliness and social isolation through unique programs and community collaborations.
SOAR's mission is to help end epidemic levels of loneliness and social isolation through unique programs and community collaborations.
SOAR Together, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Grounded in research that a direct correlation exists between positive social connections, increased levels of individual and community contentment, and improved health outcomes, the goal of SOAR’s unique programs is to create a reverberative effect such that an exponential number of lives are touched than the number of program participants. SOAR exists to help people find their own contented place of social connection.
SOAR is an acronym which stands for the four interrelated categories of needs the organization and its specific programmatic designs meet: Social, Occupational, Artistic, and Recreational.
Our Programs
FLOWER POWER: SOAR Together's Flower Rescue Program is an intergenerational program through which rescued for those at-risk of loneliness and social isolation. The SOAR Together team immerses participants in the colorful world of flower arranging through a creative service project making individualized arrangements for those at-risk of loneliness and social isolation while seamlessly guiding them through a program to heighten their social connection skills in the ultimate win-win. The flower arrangements are gifted to a nonprofit of the group’s choosing, providing the added benefit of serving together to support their local community.
The operational model for SOAR's Flower Rescue Program is an environmentally-responsible one which helps reduce carbon footprint and waste by transporting surplus, salvageable flowers from grocers, florists, and farms to individuals, agencies, and communities in need of uplifting and social connection. SOAR fills a gap in the supply chain of flower exchange, ensuring flowers and their packaging are cleaned, arranged, and circulated to those at-risk of loneliness and social isolation (and their often devastating health impacts).
SOCIAL SEATS: SOAR Together's Social Seats program is a supportive dining-out experience primarily for those contending with social isolation. Companies and individuals sponsor seats at the table, providing opportunities for social connection to those in-need of engagement at no cost to the attendees. SOAR provides trained staff/volunteers (SOAR Social Sparks) to ensure conversation flows and the time together uplifts moods and raises levels of social interaction.
SOAR STROLLS: A therapeutic model of caregiver respite, as well as time spent in a cathartic setting along the ocean, SOAR Strolls is a weekly Sunday spring/summer/fall walk program at Sherwood Island State Park. Far more about the "social" than the "stroll," conversation always flows with a stunning ocean backdrop and attendees leave refreshed and renewed for the start of a new week. In 2024, we are going to introduce some Flower Power time by the ocean as well, thus attendees can choose to walk some and do some cathartic flower arranging as well.