OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Ken McLouth lost his father to dementia last year. He said his father was quite the bird whisperer so he decided every resident at Westlake Health Campus needed their own bird feeder.
Ken told FOX 2 he couldn't spend enough time with his father in his last days and thought about how lonely some of the people in elderly homes must feel during the pandemic.
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Oakland County man starts drive to install bird feeders outside elderly home
An Oakland County man noticed early in the pandemic that there needed to be more natural beauty for elderly people near him - so he decided to raise money to install bird feeders outside every window.
"Just from my time with my dad in his nursing home I knew that was gonna be pretty tough on the day-to-day life with the residents," Ken.
While out for his daily jogs, he noticed that only some of the windows had bird feeders outside the windows.
So he decided every resident needed to have their own bit of joy.
"I think they just wanna know that people are thinking about them and hopefully it provides some form of nature entertainment," he said.
He founded Caring Cardinals of the Villas of Westlake and started a GoFundMe page to make it happen. He received cash and product donations but the big one was 78 feeders from Wood Stream Corporation.
"Within a week I had a semi-truck literally outside my house and a great good portion of my garage filled up with birdfeeders," Ken said.
Several months later, 110 feeders and he's going through about 160 pounds of birdseed each with.
Susan Voydanoff, Enrichment Director at the campus, says the residents light up when they look out their window.
"We look out the window and see these feeders full of birds. All different kinds. It's an opportunity to be together and talk. Their days are long and this breaks it up."
Each smile or wave brings McLouth a simple sense of joy and a tranquil feeling that his father is still nearby.
"Every time I'm filling feeders I'm thinking of him and remembering how much I love him," Ken said.
To learn more about Caring Cardinals' GoFundMe, go here.