When I clear the snow or do other outdoor chores at my mom’s house, I also clear the sidewalks at the house next door where another senior lives. That neighbor’s daughter frequently takes my mom’s garbage can to the curb while she’s doing chores for her elderly mom.
Another neighbor has struggled to keep his grass cut this summer. Neighbors who are still able to cut their grass pitch in to mow his yard after trimming their own lawns.
Tips are shared about available services and phone calls are made to check up on each other if something seems array in the neighborhood. Garage door left open? No lights or activity at usual times? A quick phone call is made to make certain all is well or lend a hand if a need is discovered.
Neighbor helping neighbor. It’s a key component of strong communities and a recipe for ensuring older adults are able to live and age safely and comfortably in the place they call home.
In 2002, a group of twelve residents in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood banded together to take the ‘neighbor helping neighbor’ concept to a level that has changed the face of aging in downtown Boston and in hundreds of other communities.
The Boston group, all aged 50+, wanted to live in their own homes as they age while staying engaged in social activities within their neighborhood. However, they recognized the eventual need for support and didn’t want to rely solely on existing solutions such as nursing homes and retirement communities.
“We wanted everything you’d find in a retirement community or assisted living—but we wanted these services in our own homes,” explains Susan McWhinney-Morse, one of the 12 residents. “We didn’t want to leave the neighborhood we love.”
The group formed a non-profit called Beacon Hill Village and inspired the Villages Movement across the county. This village concept, built on the idea that together we are all stronger, emphasizes peer-to-peer networking and the power of volunteers to promote an active lifestyle, improve health and reduce isolation with one shared goal – to grow older better in the homes and neighborhoods they love.
More than 20 years later, this Boston-born grassroots idea to reframe aging in community has spurred an international movement that now encompasses approximately 350 villages in the United States and around the world.
Villages are locally developed (often initiated within neighborhoods), self-governing non-profit organizations that recruit volunteers to meet the needs of its members. Volunteers include both members and non-members who help with everything from transportation to the doctor, grocery store or other community events to yard work and minor household repairs or chores. Villages also plan social and wellness activities and provide opportunities for members to volunteer in the greater community.
The Village model is gaining national attention as an affordable option for seniors who want to age-in- place. Villages are funded through membership fees and donations, and they operate with minimal overhead and paid staff.
While each Village is different and reflects the unique needs of its members and community, Villages share many common characteristics:
- Provide a strong, inclusive community that offers members new opportunities to age successfully
- Self-governing, membership-driven, nonprofit organizations run by volunteers and may have paid staff
- Coordinate access to affordable services, including transportation, health and wellness programs, technology support, home repairs, social and educational activities and offer access to vetted service providers (e.g., plumbers, electricians, painters)
- Positively impact isolation, interdependence, health and purpose, reducing their members’ overall cost of care
Andrew Scharlach, a UC Berkeley gerontologist who has conducted extensive academic research on the village movement concluded that “Villages represent a promising model, with the potential for positively affecting seniors in ways that may reduce social isolation, expand access to services, increase well-being, and increase seniors’ confidence in their ability to age in their homes.
While there are no Villages in southwest Michigan at present, the ‘neighbor helping neighbor’ concept is alive and well. If you would like to learn more about the Village movement and how your community might foster a grassroots approach to aging well in community, more information and resources — including a toolkit to start a local village — can be found at vtvnetowrk.org and beaconhillvillage.org.
As always, if you need information about available services and supports to help you age in the setting you call home, the local experts at the Aging and Disability Info Line are here to help. You can reach them Monday through Friday at 800-654-2810.
Christine Vanlandingham is CEO of Region IV Area Agency on Aging in Southwest Michigan. Questions on age or independence services? Call the Info-Line for Aging & Disability at 800-654-2810 or visit areaagencyonaging.org. The Generations column appears each weekend in The Herald-Palladium.