In 2012, on a beautiful day in NYC, a hipster co-worker walked into Mike Matthews' office and broke down in tears over a recent break-up. Mike was completely caught off guard as he'd never seen this cool co-worker so vulnerable.

 

Struggling to say the right things, Mike had an impression to connect her with his 96 year-old grandma, Eileen, who lived in Samammish, WA.

 

Mike slid a piece of paper across his desk and said, "I know this sounds crazy, but here's my grandma's landline number. If you feel up to it, she's pretty incredible to talk to." 

 

The co-worker replied, "yes, that IS crazy! You want me to call your grandma whom I've never met, and talk about a breakup?". However, she accepted the pieced of paper. 

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Mike knew from past experiences that Grandma Eileen could talk to anybody from NYC teenagers to college professors. She was full of love and empathy that completely disarmed you.

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The following week, the same co-worker came bouncing into Mike's office, shut the door and said, "Grandma Eileen is incredible. I feel lifted. I can't explain it, but she just made me feel like everything was going to be ok."

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For the next several months, a 26 year-old hipster and a 96 year-old grandma spoke every week and became best friends.

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It gave Mike a simple, but crazy, idea. He could literally buy a lemonade stand, put it on any NYC street corner with a laptop to video conference, headphones and a chair for Grandma Eileen to meet anyone walking from the comfort of her brown leather chair in Washington state.

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It worked. From 2012 until she passed away in 2018 at near 102 years-old, Grandma Eileen lifted thousands of New Yorkers each week from inside Central Park to people waiting on subway platforms.

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After her passing, Mike retired the stand.

 

But, one afternoon in early 2014, Mike thought about how almost every friend he had was struggling some level of disruption in their family or with job insecurity, political division, loneliness, mental health, the list went on. It was time to bring back the Grandma Stand.

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To honor Grandma Eileen, Mike painted the portable stand purple (her favorite color) and ensure's her face is always present on the stand itself.

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Today, every week there's a rotation of grandmas, discussion prompts and locations where the Grandma Stand pops-up. So, anybody passing by can spend a couple minutes with an anonymous, non-judgemental grandma who is there to listen.​​​​​