Katy Student Led Nonprofit Supports Local Seniors
KATY MAGAZINE NEWS
November 4, 2026
By Natalie Cook Clark
A Seven Lakes High School student co-founded Hearts for Elders, a a Katy-based 501(c)(3) that fights senior isolation through companionship visits, letter-writing, and care packages. The organization is now partnered with 14 senior care facilities across Katy.
Angel Owens, a Seven Lakes High School junior, was inspired to help the elderly because of her experiences with her grandmother.
“She lives in New York and was put into senior care when she could no longer live by herself,” explains Owens. “Due to this distance, I didn't ever get the time to go visit her in senior care before she passed away, and I had to hear firsthand the detrimental effects of loneliness on her health via stories from my relatives.”
Through her experience, Owens saw how big an issue this is around the nation and beyond and wanted to find ways to mitigate as many situations as her grandma’s as possible.
She worked with a friend, Devon, and Hearts for Elders was founded December 2025.
The group works with local sponsors and groups to put together care packages and letter for Katy area seniors and they are expanding. As of now they have raised $15,000 and grown to 20 student-led chapters on 6 continents with chapters in California, Kenya, Spain, and Japan.
“Hearts for Elders taught me that starting something is the easy part; keeping it going and doing it right is when you gain irreplaceable experience,” says Owens. “I've had to learn things I never expected at my age, like how to support and build trust with chapter leaders around the world, spending hours on end sending cold emails and calls, researching ways to scale, managing a group of 15 local officers, and attending networking events with people who've been running businesses for 2 times longer than I've lived.”
At the beginning Angel and Devon would scrape together what money they had to assemble care packages. Now with over $15,000 the can host events that bring people together from all around Katy to make over a thousand care packages.
“The moments that matter most are the little ones: seniors crying when they open our gifts, and the way their faces light up when we walk in,” says Owens. “Those moments remind me why we do this, and they've taught me how much a small act of showing up can mean to someone.”
When Angel and Devon go to college, they will pass their officer positions to younger students to keep the organization thriving while maintaining their founding positions. Angel plans to pursue Business while Devon plans to pursue Engineering.
Learn more about Hearts for Elders and upcoming events at their website. You can also follow them on Instagram @hearts.forelders.
Owens hopes to continue to see this organization grow and help Katy seniors and beyond.
