TLDR: A Winnipeg care home launched a phone-in advice line staffed by senior residents on September 3, 2025, and thousands have called since. The Misericordia Place Life Advice Line offers wisdom on everything from dating (“Most guys out there are hopeless,” advises Susan) to practical fashion tips from Geraldine. In a country where 39% of seniors report feeling lonely—per the 2023 Canadian Social Survey—this analog experiment is proving that the most valuable life advice doesn’t come from an influencer. It comes from someone who’s actually lived it.
How a Care Home Art Project Became a Viral Phenomenon
The Misericordia Place Life Advice Line wasn’t designed to go viral. It emerged from a 14-year artists-in-residence program led by Francesca Carella Arfinengo, Natalie Baird, and Toby Gillies at the personal care home on Winnipeg’s Furby Street. Through creative workshops, they transformed residents’ lived experiences into 10 recorded messages covering love, surviving brutal Winnipeg winters, following your dreams, and even moose hunting wisdom.
The timing proved perfect. The hotline launched against a backdrop of crushing isolation: 41% of Canadians over 50 experience social isolation, according to the National Seniors Council, while only 6.5% live in multigenerational homes. In urban centers like Winnipeg, where 37% of seniors face weakened social networks, the natural bridges between generations have crumbled. This modest project—funded by the Misericordia Health Centre Foundation, Manitoba Arts Council, and Winnipeg Foundation—became an accidental antidote to a deeply modern problem.
The Voices That Made Strangers Listen
These aren’t polished soundbites. They’re unfiltered windows into lives that callers are discovering they desperately want to hear.
Geraldine delivers fashion advice with brutal specificity: “Don’t wear a sleeveless blouse. The men can look down your armpit.” It’s a masterclass in pragmatic self-possession, delivered with a knowing wink. This isn’t about Instagram-worthy style—it’s about navigating the world with dignity intact.
Susan cuts through modern dating’s noise with a directive that would never survive an algorithm: “Most guys out there are hopeless. Follow your interests and they’ll lead you to the one you love.” In an era of endless swiping, she champions passion over pursuit. Her message is radical in its simplicity: build a life worth living, and love will find its way in.
Then there’s 97-year-old Nina, whose reflections on life and relationships carry nearly a century of lived wisdom. During the recording sessions, artist Carella Arfinengo called one unmarried senior’s interview “gold”—a recognition that these voices hold something irreplaceable. Residents like Elaine Clifton, who displays anniversary cards on her bulletin board, embody the enduring connections that many callers are searching for.
The Unexpected Ripple Effect
While Misericordia Place doesn’t track exact call numbers, they report thousands since launch, according to October 2025 media coverage including ABC News. The ripple extends far beyond Winnipeg. The Drew Barrymore Show called to inquire. Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham requested a reverse-advice option where citizens could counsel him on running the city.
“The people who live here are our neighbours,” Baird explained to reporters, “and I think the project has often been about how do we get to know people and develop friendships and then share what excites them with the larger community.”
That community responded. Not for novelty, but for genuine connection.
Why Elder Wisdom Resonates Right Now
Gerontology experts point to “radical relationality“—the idea that meaningful cross-generational bonds are essential for social health—discussed at the 2025 Canadian Association on Gerontology conference. Loneliness among older Canadians carries health risks equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes daily, including increased rates of depression, dementia, and cardiovascular disease.
The #ElderWisdom initiative’s 2023 survey found that 70.2% of seniors haven’t made a new friend in three months. The hotline addresses both sides of this equation: it gives isolated seniors purpose and voice while offering younger generations access to hard-won wisdom.
“You have to find new ways to engage with people all the time and it has helped me grow a lot,” Baird reflected on advice from resident Randy Jestin about personal growth—a reminder that these exchanges transform everyone involved.
In a culture that often renders seniors invisible, projects like this reposition elders not as relics but as vital guides. Their wisdom carries weight precisely because it’s anchored in decades of actual experience, not curated for maximum engagement.
Part of Something Bigger
This hotline sits within a quiet cultural shift. As multigenerational living declines and urban isolation grows, people are actively seeking the intergenerational bonds that were once woven naturally into community life. Similar initiatives, like the #ElderWisdom project celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025, report that structured wisdom-sharing platforms boost both seniors’ life satisfaction and younger participants’ emotional well-being.
The cultural appetite is real. In a world saturated with fleeting digital advice, the permanence of lived experience feels increasingly valuable. We’re recognizing what we’ve lost—and scrambling to build it back, one phone call at a time.
A Simple Act Worth Dialing In For
As calls continue pouring into the modest care home on Furby Street, the project reveals something fundamental: our deep need not just to consume advice, but to genuinely listen and be heard across generations. The solution wasn’t new technology or a slick app—it was picking up a phone and asking someone who’s actually lived through heartbreak, harsh winters, and everything in between.
The hotline proves that a life’s worth of wisdom, delivered with all its quirks and candor, remains the story we’re most hungry to hear. The number is 204-788-8060. Just be ready for unfiltered truth—whether it’s about armpits, moose hunting, or matters of the heart.