He watched his grandparents fight their phones, then built a nonprofit around it
TechPals pairs teen volunteers with seniors who need tech help, and it has spread from one Nashua high school to chapters in multiple states.
The tech support line at Aadi Kulkarni’s house was staffed by his grandparents’ questions. During the pandemic, when more of daily life moved online, they needed help sending emails, making video calls to family in India, and sharing messages and photos.
The Boston Globe reports that it bothered him. “How could one generation just not have access, or the knowledge, to use these types of tools?” Kulkarni asked.
His answer, in 2022, was a club at Nashua High School South called TechPals. It has since become an award-winning nonprofit, and every service is free.
How a session works
TechPals runs regular workshops at assisted living facilities and libraries. Each one pairs an older person with a younger one for questions and tech support. The Globe says the work centers on three things: access to essential services such as online banking and telehealth, loneliness and isolation, and education about online fraud and scams.
It is a simple format, and the details matter. Nobody is lectured. A teenager sits next to a person with a phone and a question, which is how most people actually learn most things.
The numbers, with a caveat
The figures depend on the date. The Barron Prize, which honored Kulkarni in 2025 at age 17, lists more than 500 volunteers in nine chapters across seven states, more than 150 workshops and training sessions, and over 5,000 seniors helped. The Globe, reporting in December 2025, says the group has 25 chapters across 13 states and two foreign countries.
The Globe adds that the Barron Prize was worth $10,000 and that Kulkarni plans to spend most of it on cellphones and computers for workshops.
He also says the seniors taught him something. “They’ve even inspired me to go into and pursue engineering as a career in technology,” he told the paper.
