An 11-year-old girl and her pony are cheering up nursing home residents by visiting them at their windows

• 11-year-old Jorja Boller lives in Beatrice, Nebraska, and has a pony named Peanut.
• Boller has been volunteering at a local nursing home, Good Samaritan Society, for the past five years.
• When she heard that residents there were under lockdown, she decided to cheer them up by bringing Peanut to their windows.
• Residents were overjoyed to see the pair, adding some much-needed fun to their trying time in isolation.
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An 11-year-old girl from Nebraska has been cheering up local care home residents with a very special friend in tow — Peanut the pony.

Jorja Boller, from Beatrice, has been a volunteer at her local nursing home, Good Samaritan Society, for the past five years, and when she heard the residents were stuck in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, she wanted to do something to brighten their days.

"Jorja and her mom were talking about how Peanut always cheers them up so they thought, 'Maybe he could cheer up my people at Good Sam,'" Robin Gascon, the director of marketing and resource development at Good Samaritan, told Insider.

So they decided to drop by for a visit.

At the care home, Jorja brought Peanut to the window so the residents could see her. Gascon said they were "so excited."

"They would see the staff come to the window and they would wave and you could tell right when their eyes saw the pony because they instantly lit up with smiles from ear to ear!" she said.

Boller also visited two other nursing homes with Peanut. While the lockdown continues, she will keep visiting residents' windows with Peanut. When the residents are let out of isolation, Boller plans to let them brush Peanut's hair and pet him.

It's not the first time the 11-year-old has helped out the nursing home residents. A few years ago, she started "Gifts for Grands," an annual fundraiser for Christmas gifts for residents of Good Samaritan. Last year, her efforts raised enough to give out 550 presents.

• Read more:
• In an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes, Connecticut has taken an unlikely approach of opening a COVID-19 only nursing home
• Cuomo unveiled new steps to protect nursing home residents after more than 5,300 die
• A grandmother in isolation at a care facility got to see her granddaughter on her wedding day through a window