We are all in this together. Some of the people of New Salem and Wendell, and counterparts in Shutesbury and Leverett, get that. They appreciate that as we age in retirement we can all use help from each other to stay in our homes and continue to enjoy independent living.
Re-shingling your house made sense at 40, but may not at 70 when those aging shingles need replacing. Time catches up with everyone, but not everyone wants to leave a home made comfortable from many years of use, especially in beautiful western Massachusetts. Yet, at some point, different for all of us, even household chores like mowing and raking can become difficult to manage.
So, the four towns, led by their councils on aging, have created a Village Neighbors nonprofit organization to provide volunteer services to people 60 and older.
Services include household upkeep like mowing, snow shoveling, gutter cleaning and wood stacking, as well as transportation to doctors appointments, the grocery store or to a friend’s house. Volunteers will perform a variety of tasks, and are matched with Village Neighbors-member senior citizens.
“Our mission is to help elders in the towns … as much as we can, so they can stay in their homes as long as possible,” explained 70-year-old David Dann, Village Neighbors board president who estimated about a third of the four towns’ 5,000 residents are seniors.
Village Neighbors, two and a half years in the planning, will begin providing services on Oct. 15. It’s a member of the Village to Village Network, a consortium of nonprofits providing volunteer services for seniors in 350 communities across the country.
This Village Neighbors is different, however, because both the seniors receiving services and the volunteers are considered “members,” rather than two distinct groups. Those who receive services can, in turn, help other seniors or join one of Village Neighbors’ committees, and people who normally only volunteer might some day find they need help with something, too.
“We kind of feel like we want to serve our own communities, keeping (elders) engaged in the community and finding ways that they develop more companionship with other people,” Dann said.
To cover costs, a membership with Village Neighbors is $75 for an individual or $125 for a household. Village Neighbors will provide services to any number of seniors in a home with a household membership. If the cost of a membership is a financial burden, the fee will be waived, Dann said.
We love the interest Wendell and New Salem and the others are displaying in helping others in their towns. We especially like that the program is structured to encourage seniors to help others in return, and we suspect they will be eager to help in that way. Most people –but not all – have informal networks of relatives and friends who can help with activities of daily life. Nonetheless, programs like Village Neighbors can fill in the gaps and augment what exists and expand those networks.
We would encourage other councils on aging throughout the North Quabbin Region to the east and Franklin County to the west to consider following the lead of Wendell and its neighbors.
In a good way, then, what goes around can come around.