They got the call in the afternoon on the day before
Thanksgiving 2008. The man on the other end of the line — a veteran of World
War II — told them that his heat had gone out. He’d tried reaching his landlord
and the utility company with no luck. Everyone seemed to be gone for the
holiday, he said.
Staff at RSVP of Boulder County, still at work despite the
holiday, listened as the man explained that he didn’t like to have to ask for
help. His only experience in getting help from strangers came from his contact
with the Veterans Administration, he told them. It went against his grain to
have to rely on others, but he had no choice. He was cold.
RSVP contacted a volunteer, who went to the man’s home to
check his furnace.
“We found him trying to keep warm by burning things in a
coffee can,” says Maureen Ewing, RSVP’s executive director.
Soon, however, the volunteer was able to fix the man’s
furnace, restoring heat to his small trailer — and perhaps helping him to
regain some trust in people. And it didn’t cost him one red cent.
RSVP — an acronym for Retired Senior Volunteer Program — has
been providing free safety-net services to elders in Boulder County since 1972,
utilizing the time and skills of more than 1,000 volunteers. The goal of the
program is to help the elderly, as well as disabled adults, live more
independent, secure and comfortable lives, as well as to reduce the isolation
that darkens the days of people who can no longer get out to socialize.
It’s a big mission. Demand for RSVP’s services have grown
dramatically over the past year as aging Baby Boomers and economic troubles
combine, swelling the ranks of senior citizens who struggle to make ends meet.
At the same time, corporate donations are down.
But the staff and volunteers of RSVP are determined to
persevere, and they’re succeeding at doing just that. And it’s a good thing,
too. For many of Boulder County’s low-income elderly, the services that RSVP
provides not only make it possible for them to continue living in dignity in
their own homes, but may even save lives.
{::PAGEBREAK::}
Volunteer ‘angels’
The statistics concerning older residents in Boulder County
aren’t pretty. About 6 percent of those who live in poverty in the county are
seniors. About 8 percent of all seniors in Boulder County — more than 3,000
people — live on fewer than two meals a day and rarely have access to fresh
fruit and vegetables. Many struggle to remain independent, determined to live
on their own and yet challenged by activities that others take for granted. One
in five report suffering from depression and a sense of isolation. Nationwide,
the fastest growing rate of suicide is among older adults, particularly men
aged 75 and older.
A Nixon-era program, RSVP steps into that picture with a
range of programs designed to meet the specific needs of the elderly, including
transportation, help with household repairs, and support with food and
companionship.
Alamar Hernandez, 60, was managing her life fairly well —
until she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Faced with surgery and
chemotherapy, she found herself needing to get to numerous medical appointments
but was unable to drive. Although she has a big family — seven children and 13
grandchildren — she and her husband live in Boulder County, while the rest of
the family lives in Texas. Her husband wasn’t always available to help her.
At first she tried getting to her appointments using Special
Transit, but found that difficult to coordinate. Also, there were often people
on the Special Transit bus who were ill, and she couldn’t afford to get sick.
She turned to RSVP.
“I am so grateful for them,” she says. “They saw me through
my cancer. They were there for my appointments. They were there for me for everything
I needed. I am so happy for this program. I’ve been so sick and been
hospitalized. I have so many appointments. They came to my rescue because I
can’t drive.”
Volunteers not only drove her to her appointments and to the
pharmacy, but they also contacted her doctor’s office and kept up to date on
her appointments themselves to make sure she didn’t forget one.
“They’d call to remind me that they were coming the next
day,” she says.
As Alamar came to know the volunteers, they became a support
system for her during a difficult time, giving her less to worry about and
decreasing her sense of isolation during her illness and recovery.
“I’m so glad God has these angels watching over us,” she
says.
One of those angels is Eleanor Hoffman, 92, who has volunteered
for RSVP for about eight years. Hoffman answers the phones, does filing and
other office work.
“I don’t do windows, and I don’t do floors,” says Hoffman,
who also volunteers for Circle of Care, Community Table, the city’s senior
centers and the library.
Asked why she volunteers for RSVP, Hoffman says, “I’m with
people. I’m with young people all the time. I enjoy doing this. I enjoy coming
out of the house and being able to do what I’m doing, too. It’s nice because
everyone is so young and nice here.”
About 90 percent of RSVP’s volunteers are themselves above
the age of 55. Many are retired and have extra time on their hands — and lots
of experience solving problems. The too-often overlooked talents of seniors —
and their willingness to help — have played a key role in RSVP’s continued
presence in the community.
Doubling demand
Since its inception in 2007, the Medical Mobility program
that has been such a help to Hernandez has provided more than 2,000 car trips
for elders who couldn’t drive themselves. According to Ewing, the demand for
services has doubled since last year. Only about 20 percent of the clients who
receive these services can pay the $2 fare. Those who can’t pay are not
required to do so.
The Fix-It Program has seen a similar jump, Ewing says. In
October 2009, RSVP received some 1,000 calls for help. Ewing attributes this
increase in part to the economic situation and in part to the aging of Baby
Boomers.
“People aren’t able to afford professional services so
they’re coming to us,” she says.
Volunteers for the Fix-It Program are able to complete basic
household repairs and can also install railings and grab-bars, simple equipment
that can make a big difference for seniors who want to stay out of nursing
homes and live independently.
“Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths for
people over the age of 65,” Ewing says.
The program expanded last year to include Elder Energy, a
program designed to help decrease seniors’ utility bills by, among other
things, replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights and
installing low-flow showerheads. The materials used by volunteers were donated
by Longs Peak Energy Conservation and are available to RSVP clients on request.
This year, RSVP is taking over the city of Boulder’s Ice
Busters program. Ice Busters provides senior citizens and physically disabled
people who are unable to clear snow from their sidewalks assistance to meet the
city’s snow removal ordinance. This winter, while the city will remain active
in the program through city communication resources, RSVP is taking over the
logistics and management of the program. The transition will save the city
money and is expected to provide greater reach for those needing assistance
through RSVP’s volunteers.
While demand for the Fix-It and Medical Mobility programs
has surged, the number of clients participating in RSVP’s Carry-Out Caravan,
which brings groceries to house-bound clients, has dropped by 6 percent. When
RSVP looked into this, they discovered that people still had the same need for
help grocery shopping, but they were running out of money and were unable to
afford groceries. They were going hungry instead.
“At the end of the month is the most heartbreaking time
because that’s when the Social Security checks are drying up,” Ewing says. “So
we might be serving 150 clients the first couple weeks of the month, then at
the end of the month it might drop down to between 75 to 100.”
RSVP has been working with other county agencies to get
emergency food boxes to those who need food assistance and to help them sign up
for food stamps, a process that can be a confusing “nightmare” for seniors with
impaired vision or who are unfamiliar with navigating their way through the
system, Ewing says.
During the holiday season, RSVP partners with an array of
county agencies, including ElderShare and Boulder Housing Authority, to deliver
900 baskets of fresh fruit to low-income seniors. The baskets, which are
donated by Denver-based Volunteers of America, are delivered by volunteers over
the course of a single Saturday. This year’s Holiday Fruit Basket Drive will
take place on Dec. 12.
While these programs address the specific needs of RSVP’s
clients, they also help to combat an insidious, debilitating problem that
afflicts in particular the elderly and disabled — isolation.
Volunteers are encouraged to offer a kind word and a
friendly smile to the clients they’re helping, whether they’ve stopped off with
a fruit basket or have come to tighten the screws on a loose railing. The
benefits go both ways, volunteers say. Many volunteers end up building enduring
friendships with RSVP clients.
Although most volunteers are seniors, Ewing says RSVP has
volunteers as young as 9, and that its programs often bring generations
together. Hoffman and Ewing agree that it’s important for seniors to spend time
with people of all ages. It’s also important for younger people to learn from
their elders and to experience the world through their eyes.
“Most of my friends are younger than me,” Hoffman says,
adding, “Of course, anybody could be younger than me.”
Though RSVP once had a companionship program, Boulder County
Aging Services now heads that effort, working in cooperation with RSVP to
arrange social visits between volunteers and seniors who can’t get out. Volunteers
spend a few hours a week playing cards, drinking coffee or just talking with
clients who need that most basic of all requirements — human contact
The feeling of isolation that many seniors experience gets
worse during the holiday season, Ewing says.
She recalls getting a call from an elderly woman in Boulder
County who had no surviving family.
“She said, ‘I just want a Thanksgiving dinner, and I can’t
find anyone to bring it to me,’” Ewing recalls. “That just broke my heart.”
Ewing brought her Thanksgiving dinner, and the two became
friends. The woman is now 96. Ewing brings her KFC — her favorite — and pops in
to visit from time to time.
“She’s alone every day, not just Thanksgiving, but that
feeling of loneliness intensifies during the holidays,” Ewing says.
{::PAGEBREAK::}
Tightening the belt
Although demand for RSVP services continues to increase,
funding hasn’t. After last fall’s economic meltdown, the nonprofit saw a drop
in donations from corporations and smaller foundations. Corporate donations
alone dropped by 25 percent. RSVP ended last year $30,000 in the red.
“Even though we have the same budget, we’re serving double
the amount of clients,” Ewing says.
Faced with cutting services that mean so much to their
clients, staff decided instead to freeze hiring and salaries and to make some
tough cuts.
“We discontinued our janitorial service,” Ewing says. “So
the staff are in here vacuuming, taking out the trash and cleaning toilets. We
just decided to cut back on luxuries like that. We were able to not cut any
services.”
Ewing, who started working with seniors when she was 22 and
got a job in a nursing home, says she never thought she’d devote her career to
working with seniors.
“I was a little apprehensive at first coming on,” she says.
“I thought maybe it would be really sad. Then you meet all these characters.”
Instead of finding the experience depressing, Ewing found it
uplifting. She’s worked with seniors ever since and finds herself inspired by
them.
“What’s most inspiring to me is that they’ve seen their
children die. They’ve seen their spouses die. They’ve had really traumatic
things happen to them,” she says, “and they’re still so full of joy.”
info.
RSVP of Boulder County
is currently seeking volunteers for the Holiday Fruit Basket Drive on Dec. 12.
There will be two volunteer sites — one in Boulder at Calvary Bible Church,
3245 Kalmia Ave., and the other in Longmont at the Longmont Senior Center, 910
Longs Peak Ave. To participate or learn more about the program, call
303-772-2262 for more information.
To learn more about RSVP, to make a donation, for services
or to volunteer, call the Boulder office at 303-443-1933 or the Longmont office at 303-772-2262. Or go to www.RSVPBoulder.org
