As 80-something Riva Goldberg enters the sitting area, she says quietly to 13-year-old Zachary Kessel, "I'm so happy you came. Let me give you a kiss. I'm so happy you came."

Riva's eyes are teary, and not everything she says is lucid. Struggling with Alzheimer's, she can't remember Zachary's bar mitzva at the West Orange nursing home in June, although she knows she must have been there.

Zachary is Riva's buddy in Smile on Seniors, or SOS, launched by the Lubavitch Outreach Center in West Orange last June.

Volunteers are assigned a buddy at a nearby nursing home or assisted living facility. They are expected to visit their buddies at least once each week and spend half an hour together.

Among the first of the 50 volunteers to sign up was Julie Levine, 51, of West Orange. She visits her buddy Jean Griff three-four times each week and said Griff has become like family. "My sister lives in Georgia, and she's really all the family I have. Jean has become my family." Like other volunteers, Levine was already involved in a seniors visitation program at the Cooperman JCC in West Orange when SOS began.

Zachary, at 13, is neither awkward nor forceful with his elderly, frail friend on a recent Sunday at Brighton Gardens. He gives her a kiss, holds her hand, tells her a few jokes, and when she expresses fear or unhappiness, he tries to calm her by reciting the Sh'ma with her. She does not recognize the words, but enjoys following his lead.

The West Orange teen, who attends Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston, was a fixture at Brighton Gardens long before SOS began. He starting visiting on Shabbat in February 2006 and hasn't missed a week.

"I thought it would be interesting. I look forward to it every week. It gives me hizuk [strength] coming here. It's a great thing to do," he said, sitting on a sofa in a lounge of the nursing home, surrounded by dozens of senior citizens. As he considers his friends here, a bright smile crosses his face.

Every week, mid-afternoon, he leads the seniors in a Shabbat program of singing and prayer. Devorah Klar of the Lubavitch Outreach Center started the program four years ago, but since she invited Zachary to join her, he has embraced the project as his own and added his own touches. He often arrives before Klar these days, and if she's delayed, he forges ahead without her. In June, when he became a bar mitzva, he chose to celebrate the occasion at Brighton Gardens and was called to the Torah for his first aliya there.

Zachary's relationship with Riva began with SOS, and she always gets her own separate visit from him. Before seeing her on this particular day, a Sunday, he tells a visitor, "I felt a connection between us. She reminds me of my safta, zihrona l'vracha," he says, blessing the memory of his late grandmother.

The SOS visits take place at five area facilities. When the project was launched, Altie Kasowitz of the Lubavitch Outreach Center said she called about 200 facilities across New Jersey, and each asked how quickly the center could start sending volunteers.

Kasowitz and her husband, Rabbi Mendy Kasowitz, who began volunteering at the JCC senior visitation program about four years ago, are also behind the SOS effort. They provide items to enrich holiday celebrations, like apples and honey for Rosh Hashana and a lulav and etrog for Sukkot; host Friday night Shabbat dinners at the facilities; and provide volunteers with information about each week's Torah portion that they can share with their buddies.

Mostly, however, Kasowitz said, she hopes people will make a connection by encouraging seniors to share stories about how they lived and celebrated holidays when they were young.

Levine said she has learned from Griff, now in her late 90s, what Brooklyn looked like "when it was farmland."

Before Zach's visit with Riva came to an end on this particular day, she says, "I'm so happy you came. God sent me angels."

For more information about SOS, contact or call (973) 251-1198.