On a recent cold and windy day in Kingsbridge Heights, children and senior adults alike were keeping their bodies and their hearts warm at the New Jewish Home, Kittay Senior Apartments.
The third grade class of P.S. 340 visited the senior apartments — located at at 2550 Webb Ave. — on Dec. 19, as part of their holiday festivities. Together, they played bingo, sang Christmas carols, learned about different holidays — ranging from Hanukkah to Three Kings Day — and ate chocolate coins to spread cheer and teach kindness.
“Tom reached out to our school as part of the Kindness Club,” said Colleen Orth, the teacher of the smiling third grade students in attendance. “This time of year, we wanted to make a connection with the children and bring joy to them.”
Although the Kindness Club has been around for years and has a global network of 138 schools and more than 90,000 members, Porton was unaware of its existence. When he created the Kindness Club at the Kittay apartments, it came purely from the kindness of his heart. And while the official Kindness Club is designed around students and operates in schools, Porton’s club is composed of senior citizens.
“I noticed there was a lot of anger and unhappiness among a number of seniors,” he said of the residents there. “Myself included.”
Porton moved into the Kittay apartments — an independent living senior facility — in March 2023, where he receives three meals a day, cleaning services and a health aide, but prior to that, Porton lived at the Wayne Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in the Bronx, where he had to spend more than $100,000 of his own money to pay for his two-year stay following a traumatic surgery.
In 2021, his doctor diagnosed him with having 10% heart function, according to Porton. He underwent open heart surgery, but his recovery was complicated and the issue was not corrected. Following the surgery, Porton was in a coma for a month, awoke to find he had a paralyzed…
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