Hello! My name is Lauren Korsun. I am a Junior at Emory University, and I'm a summer intern with DOROT’s Impact and Evaluation Department.
Last week, I had the chance to accompany an older adult to the grave of her loved one through DOROT’s Cemetery Visit program. This program gives older adults the opportunity to visit the cemeteries with a DOROT volunteer—pre-arranged car service included! It was a very meaningful and thought-provoking experience.
(Photo: Cemetery Visit volunteers at orientation.)
During the visit, I began thinking about the impact this experience had on my own life and development as a person. There’s something really powerful about showing up for others with no expectations, just being present and kind because it matters. Not everything has to be a grand gesture. By just accompanying the older adult and providing a means for her to visit her loved one, I was performing a small, but loud, act of service.
At the gravesite, the woman I was accompanying began collecting as many rocks as she could find on the ground near her. From the Cemetery Visit orientation, I learned that the Jewish tradition of placing rocks was meant to mark remembrance, and that someone had been there. The woman I was with used the rocks to write the word “LOVE” on the grave. Hearing about what one might do at the grave of their loved one in orientation and witnessing it in person was vastly different.
Acts of love and kindness aren’t just things we express when someone is around to see or hear them. This experience made me think about how appreciation, whether for people or the world around us, is personal and shouldn’t be performative. For the older adult I was with, placing a rock was simply not enough. Being there gave her a chance to express her love in a way that felt meaningful to her, which DOROT makes possible by creating these deeply personal moments of connection.