Whenever he needed advice while growing up in Yakima, Wash., Doug Meckelson always turned to his grandmother and favorite mentor, Revay Meckelson. She died in 1987, but he found similar sage counsel when he volunteered five years ago at a senior center in San Francisco. "As I listened to these elders," recalls Meckelson, 45, "I thought how great it'd be to set up a website where cybergrandparents could share their life experiences to help others, just as my grandmother had done with me."
Thus was born Elder Wisdom Circle (EWC), a group of volunteers 60 and older who offer advice on a...