When Nancy McClendon (pictured above) was asked to sit outside in the middle of the town square in McKinney, Texas, and dispense wisdom to complete strangers, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. “I’m officially old now,” said the 71-year-old. “What’s the use of being old if you can’t share from your life experiences?” McClenon — a.k.a. Grandma Nancy — is a volunteer at the newly opened Grandma Stand. During the holidays, people can stop by the bright purple stand, sit across from Nancy or another real-life grandma, unload their problems, ask questions, or just have a little chit-chat. It’s a phenomenon that began over a decade ago in New York City, and has since taken off in other cities around the country. Grandma Stands are staffed by a volunteer network of grandmothers, but it started with just one — the late Eileen Wilkinson. Mike Matthews, the founder of Grandma Stands and the grandson of Wilkinson, was working in New York City when one of his colleagues walked into his office and closed the door. She told him she had just broken up with her boyfriend of five years and was having a hard time. It was an unexpected display of vulnerability from someone Matthews described as a cool Brooklyn hipster who didn’t usually let her guard down. Matthews had been missing his grandma at the time, and a strange idea struck him. He wrote down her number and handed it to his colleague. “You’ve never met her, but she’s just full of empathy, and she might be a nice one to talk to,” said Matthews. The woman did, indeed, call Wilkinson. The pair made an instant connection, and for months afterward had a standing call each week. Matthews bought a lemonade stand and set it up on the streets of New York City with a sign that read “Talk to my 95-year-old Grandma.” When Wilkinson died in 2018 at the age of 102, Matthews decided to keep the Grandma Stand going in her honor. Since then, people have set up Grandma Stands in Denver, Colo. and Omaha, Neb., and others are in the works across the country and even in Canada.
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| Eileen Wilkinson and her grandson Mike Matthews |
