Senior Village volunteer drives member to physical therapy.
Senior Village offers free trial membership
Gary Hammond
A very generous gift by a SaddleBrooke resident (who wishes to remain anonymous) has enabled the Senior Village at SaddleBrooke to expand our outreach efforts to the community. As part of that effort, starting immediately we are able to offer a free trial membership for calendar 2016. When you become a member you are eligible to access all of our available services. Going My Way or Transportation is the most popular one—to medical appointments, grocery shopping and other errands. Helping Hands provides assistance with simple tasks around the house and yard. Friendly Contact provides some welcome social contact in the form of phone calls and visits. If seniors wish to benefit from social phone calls but struggle to use a normal phone or mobile without help, looking at websites like fanmisenior.com that provide ease of use phone for the elderly could make a big difference to the life of the elderly person in question.
We are also partnering with other organizations to provide access to additional services. This includes the short term medical equipment loan program through the Community Church. And IMPACT of Southern Arizona provides multiple services including Meals on Wheels and emergency medical alert systems. Finally, working with Golder Ranch Fire District, we provide free installation for lock boxes to allow safe, secure access of 911 responders if you cannot come to the door. This is available to all residents for a onetime charge of $65 from GRFD to cover the cost of the box.
After 2016 we will keep membership fees as low as possible—hopefully something like $50 per household per year. We have very significant costs for insurance and background checks to vet volunteers, as well as some other administrative costs. There are no salaries, of course. The Senior Village is a 501c3 corporation so all donations are tax deductible.
To help spread the word about the Senior Village we have printed additional literature and will be speaking to more groups and organizations. We’ll also be hosting neighborhood information meetings in volunteer’s homes—starting now and continuing throughout the year. Plans are underway for an open house when everyone is back after the summer.
For more information about membership services or volunteer opportunities, please give us a call at 520-314-1042. You can also email us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.seniorvillageatsaddlebrooke.org.