Brothers Prince and Krish Patel made some new friends over the summer.
The Patel brothers — Prince, 16, and Krish, 9 — didn’t meet their new pals at a summer camp or youth activity, but rather they met them when, on a whim, they decided to stop by Indywood Glen Personal Care Home while on an evening bicycle ride near their neighborhood.
“It was something to do. We just started coming here over the summer,” said Prince during a recent trip to Indywood, a retirement and assisted living facility. “We just met everybody and got to know them. We just talked and asked them how their day was.”
Prince and Krish, the sons of Jay and Pinkie Patel of Greenwood, live just down the road from Indywood.
“I have been here since January, and I think we waved at them at first. I think that was in the spring,” said Alice Kealhofer, an Indywood resident. “Then, they got to where they would come by and speak, and they were just the nicest young people.”
The brothers began visiting Indywood regularly.
“They saw us on the porch and would ride up on their bikes, visit for a while and leave saying, ‘We’ll be back,’” said Virginia Terry, who resides at Indywood. “Sometimes Prince would be running since he is on the cross country track team. Krish would keep up with him on his bike.
“We all loved talking to them about what they were doing in the summer and what they were going to do this school year.”
Both Prince and Krish came up with the idea to begin visiting the residents at Indywood, said their mother, Pinkie. She said she thought her sons’ idea was great and began encouraging them.
“I liked it. I said, ‘OK, go and help them out if they need some help and visit with them,’” Pinkie said.
One of the residents Prince enjoys visiting is Hugh Warren. Their favorite topic of discussion is Ole Miss football.
“They are real nice and well-mannered young men, and I enjoy their visits,” said Warren, who keeps his refrigerator stocked with ice cream bars for the Patel brothers when they stop by. “They say, ‘Hi,’ and see how I’m doing. They are very kind to do that.”
When Krish visited Kealhofer one day, the Indywood resident noticed he was wearing an interesting T-shirt.
“He hadn’t been coming very long, and he had this little T-shirt on. It had some squirrels and little things on it,” she said.
Then, Kealhofer read the writing on his shirt.
“It said, “Help! I need help. All of my family is nuts,’” she said. “I’ve been teasing him ever since then and saying, ‘I want to borrow your T-shirt.’ I just thought that was real, real funny.”
Pinkie said she hears about some of their visits when they return home.
“(Krish) tells me everything they talk about when he comes back,” she said. “They visit, talk and tell different stories.”
The residents enjoyed hearing Prince talk about his summer job. He worked at a Ruleville Subway, which is one of many of the sandwich shop franchises that his parents own throughout the state, including the one on Mississippi 7 in Greenwood.
Prince said he and his brother usually come, talk and leave, and then they go on a bike ride and come back, about 30 minutes later.
“They come in and stay a little while,” said Terry. “Then visit, and then they will say, ‘We’re going to leave. We’ll be right back.’”
Terry said she was “just amazed” that the young brothers would come visit the Indywood residents on a regular basis.
“Nobody had brought them. They enjoyed seeing us and talking to us,” she said. “We look forward to it. ... We sit out there on the porch and wait for them to come late in the afternoon. We expect it. If they don’t show up, we say, ‘Where are the boys?’”
In August, the Patel brothers returned to school for the 2019-20 academic year at Pillow Academy, where Prince is in the 11th grade and Krish is in the fourth grade.
During the first couple of weeks of school, the brothers were busy and couldn’t make their usual trips to Indywood. One day, immediately after coming home from school, Krish dropped his backpack and headed outside and then rode his bike to Indywood.
“He said he was going to the mailbox,” said Pinkie, who was worried when Krish didn’t come back home after checking the mail.
Pinkie started looking for him.
“He always comes to (Indywood), so I knew he may be there,” she said. “So I hurried up to come see, and I found him.”
Pinkie located Krish in the room of an Indywood resident chatting.
Krish said he went to see the residents “because I hadn’t seen them in a while.”
The brothers say what they enjoy most is visiting and talking with residents.
Pinkie said it makes her feel good that her sons care about other people and take the time to visit the residents at Indywood Glen.
“I like that they come here and visit. It’s nice,” she said.
The visits also make the Indywood residents feel good, too.
“They are so nice, and they seem to enjoy talking to us or they wouldn’t stop,” said Kealhofer. “It means a lot to me. ... We certainly enjoy it, and we certainly appreciate it. We are glad to know young people still notice us.”
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
