--- title: Nice L.A. Actor Becomes Roommate for 89-Year-Old Neighbor description: Chris Salvatore launched a GoFundMe campaign for his elderly neighbor's care—before deciding to become her caretaker altogether. canonical: https://time.com/4649375/89-year-old-roommate/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-25T21:59:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:28.249Z og:title: 89-Year-Old Woman's Neighbor Is Her New Caretaker og:description: They're unlikely roommates that have become fast friends. og:url: https://time.com/4649375/89-year-old-roommate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 89-Year-Old Woman's Neighbor Is Her New Caretaker twitter:description: They're unlikely roommates that have become fast friends. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This 89-Year-Old Couldn't Live Alone. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 25, 2017 9:59 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 25, 2017 9:59 PM UTC L.A. nice guy Chris Salvatore is a [self-described actor and singer,](https://www.instagram.com/chrissalvatore/?hl=en) but the world now knows him as the caring roommate of an 89-year-old woman named Norma Cook. Initially, Cook and Salvatore were neighbors across the hall in their apartment building—and fast friends for years. But when Cook became ill and faced mounting health bills, Salvatore stepped in with a highly-successful GoFundMe campaign. ([In a Medium post](https://medium.com/@gofundme/gofundme-profiles-chris-and-norma-aef3213a90a5#.m89ptoq05), GoFundMe notes that Cook had no family nearby and a Social Security check that “barely covered rent,” leaving her unable to pay the mounting bills or obtain necessary care.) Salvatore says he managed to raise $50,000 for Cook’s care. Ultimately, to make the money last longer, Cook moved into Salvatore’s own apartment (along with her cat Hermes) where he can be her primary caretaker, along with professional caregivers and nurse and doctor visits. “My life has changed forever because of Norma and what happened. It gave me hope again. I’m forever grateful for Norma because I feel like I’ll carry this with me for the rest of my life,” he said, calling her is “adopted grandma” in an Instagram post. They even celebrated New Year’s together. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4649375/89-year-old-roommate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4649375/89-year-old-roommate/"},"headline":"This 89-Year-Old Couldn't Live Alone. 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