Neighbors Who Care Inc

These are the words of those we serve:

 

“Thank you for coming to my rescue!”

“I know we couldn’t have made it without your help.”

“Thank you for the wonderful support you provided to my grandfather.”

“I can never thank you enough.”

“Without your help and kindness, I’d be in a home.”

 

Many businesses, schools, and community organizations participate in the annual “Make a Difference Day”, one day each year when volunteers gather to help their neighbors and their communities. At Neighbors Who Care every day is “Make a Difference Day”.

 

Founded in 1994, Neighbors Who Care (NWC) has assisted the homebound, disabled, and/or frail elderly in Sun Lakes and south Chandler for over seventeen years. The NWC mission is, “The comfort of home and the dignity of independence; the elderly are able to live at home for as long as feasible with pride, dignity and independence.”

 

NWC’s operational goal is to recruit, train, and manage community volunteers to provide quality non-medical assistive services to enrolled clients via a “neighbor helping neighbor” approach. NWC’s service area is comprised of 32 square miles and serves the communities of south Chandler and Sun Lakes. This geographic area, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, has the third highest population of elderly adults statewide, but lacks sufficient wraparound human services programs to address the population’s needs.

 

NWC serves a unique and distinct population of homebound and/or frail elderly, 100% of whom (either temporarily or permanently) meet the definition of “disabled” under current federal law. Approximately 80% of NWC’s clients are female with 75% being over the age of 75. Many are low-income (less than $20,000/year for an individual or $25,000 for a couple from all sources, including Social Security). A typical NWC client is a widowed female, over 75 years of age, lives alone, is homebound, and lacks extended family members or the financial resources to obtain other forms of assistance, specifically those that require payment.

Current NWC services (all at no charge to the client except for the discounted cost of delivered meals) include evening meal delivery, transportation to medical appointments, shopping/errand assistance, respite service for caregivers, daily reassurance calls, minor home repairs, personal business/benefits application assistance, and friendly visitation. NWC also provides case management activities and sponsors a weekly no-cost caregiver support group. In May 2012 NWC began providing free home-delivered meals to clients who cannot afford even the discounted meal delivery.

 

Clients involved in this type of “healthy aging in place” model are, on average, able to remain in their own homes for an additional four years. Without the support services provided by NWC, many would be forced to move in with family members or go into assisted living facilities or nursing homes, often at state expense.

 

NWC is an excellent investment in our community. Our volunteer-based operating model and low administrative overhead allow us to leverage the value of our tax-deductible donations to provide $3.01 worth of direct services for every $1.00 contributed.

 

In calendar year 2013, NWC assisted 593 clients through 466 volunteers who donated 18,744 hours and drove 139,127 miles across 18,751 occasions.

 

On October 29, 2012 Neighbors Who Care was honored to receive the inaugural Encore Prize from the Virginia G. Piper Trust for innovation and excellence in engaging people age 50+ in roles that combine personal meaning with social impact and fill pressing human resource needs. In October 2013 we received the 12 Who Care award from Channel 12 News.