[[link removed]]Dear John,
New Yorkers come together to help each other during a crisis. Just as we did after the devastation on 9/11, which we remembered and honored yesterday, so have we throughout this pandemic. Since early March, our office has been working with Heights and Hills to organize volunteers to help isolated older New Yorkers get food, medicine, and social connection. I'm passing along a message from Heights and Hills below, they need more volunteers to make regular wellness calls to older neighbors in Brooklyn. Can you help by signing up for a training [[link removed]] ?
Brad
Dear neighbors,
My name is Betsy Smulyan, I am the new Interim Executive Director at Heights and Hills, a Brooklyn based nonprofit that has been promoting successful aging in our community for the last 50 years. Today, we annually serve 5,000+ older adults age 60 and better in 19+ diverse Brooklyn neighborhoods through four core programs: Case Management for individuals, Caregiver Support for those caring for older adults, Volunteer Programs engaging community of all ages, and the Park Slope Center for Successful Aging, a vibrant hub for older community members to gather for classes and social supports. Together, our programs help older adults live independently in their own homes and communities, on their own terms, and with dignity.
In the first weeks of March as older people were encouraged to self-isolate at home due to increased risk from the coronavirus, we quickly saw a steep increase in the need for our services. Without any boost in resources or funding, the waiting list for our Case Management program tripled in size (waitlists citywide have more than doubled), with many older people in need of basic food and supplies. Put simply, without additional funding we simply did not have the manpower to respond to this tidal wave of new need.
Thankfully, with help from Council Member Lander’s office - and many of you! - we were able to mobilize another kind of tidal wave: the good will of community members who came forward in droves to respond to the crisis. Since our first volunteer training in mid-March, hundreds of volunteers have made calls on a regular basis, helping to triage emergency needs and stave off pandemic isolation through friendly conversation. This important volunteer effort is bolstering our limited staff resources as we continue to meet the ongoing challenge of this pandemic.
Sign up to make regular calls to older New Yorkers and help us take care of our community. [[link removed]]
Our team worked closely with the Council Member’s office to develop a unique online platform - The Neighbor Network [[link removed]] . The platform provides a supported user experience for volunteers, protects the privacy of the older adults receiving calls, and allows us to closely monitor and respond to information reported by volunteers. Heights and Hills and the Neighbor Network, which now has two full time staff, continue to collaborate to provide volunteer training and support. And most importantly, this collaboration is helping the most vulnerable isolated older adults on our waitlist to get critical support.
We need 100 more volunteers to reach out to the vulnerable older people on our waitlist. Can you sign up to become a Neighbor Network Wellness Caller? [[link removed]]
The process is simple. Sign up to attend an online training to learn more about Heights and Hills and the Neighbor Network call system. Then we will pair you with up to three people from our waitlist to call, using a simple script. At the close of each call, you will ask if the older adult wants to be called again, and if you are both up for it, you’ll call them weekly. We use a script to make sure we capture information on basic needs, but once you make a connection, you can also go off-script and get to know each other. We have heard many lovely stories of these intergenerational connections from our regular callers and know that the emotional benefits of a neighborly call go both ways.
For those of you who have been making these calls for months, thank you for helping our older neighbors feel connected to their community. I look forward our continued partnership!
Betsy Smulyan
Interim Executive Director
PS - If you would like more information about Heights and Hills Volunteer Programs or to support our work, visit our website heightsandhills.org [[link removed]] .
456 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215
718-499-1090
[email protected]
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