Volunteer group ready to help seniors through winter
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- With fall and winter, there are plenty of things to do around the house, but it's not always easy for our seniors.
One local group of volunteers is ready to help.
Seniors are the fastest growing age group not just in Minnesota, but around the country, and Neighborhood Network for Seniors is gearing up for a busy season.
The group based in St. Paul is all volunteer-based, and for the past 30 years, they've helped seniors with many tasks, including raking leaves, shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn and many other household chores.
They also provide free rides for seniors to medical appointments or to do errands like grocery shopping.
There are roughly 75 volunteers who are helping upwards of 200 seniors in St. Paul a year.
The group's executive director, Alison Schaub, said they're the type of resource where you don't know you need it until you need it.
"You've had your kids there and they've all moved and started their own families and suddenly you're alone you don't think, 'Oh I need help to get a ride to the doctor's appointment,' because you've just been doing it yourself for forever so kind of things sneak up," she said.
She said the fall and winter are hard on seniors just because they don't necessarily want to risk doing their daily tasks with the added element of weather challenges.
Schaub said helping people age in their homes has many benefits.
"When people who are living in their home they save themselves money, they save kind of like the whole medical system money as well and people are generally happier staying in their home as long as it's safe to do so," she said.
The Neighborhood Network for Seniors also have a registered nurse on staff who makes home visits and does safety assessments to see what kind of help they can provide.
While the group works with primarily low income seniors, there's no income requirement. The only requirement is seniors must be over the age of 62 to receive their services.
Neighborhood Network for seniors only serves the St. Paul area, but there are more than a dozen groups that provide similar services in different communities across the metro and around the state.
For other Minnesota services available for seniors, click here.