Making A Difference in Your Community : Answering a Need Among Older People
They gathered at a Reseda senior center, a little nervous, a little unsure. Six women and one man had come to meet strangers and find out if a new program to match seniors with compatible roommates could help ease their loneliness.
Phyllis sat in a chair pushed a few feet back from the table, clutching her purse.
“I’m new to this. I’m scared,” she told the group. “I’m just lonesome.”
Less than two months after losing her husband, she was having trouble living in an empty, silent home.
“I’ve never had to do this,” said the 63-year-old Canoga Park woman. “I’ve lived in my house for 38 years with my husband.”
Loneliness, the need for emotional, physical or financial security brings people to the Share-a-Home program once a week at the Valley Senior Service & Resource Center in Reseda.
“The bulk of the people I’ve seen are seniors who need companions,” said Laura Simon, 62, a volunteer who has headed the program since November. “They don’t want to be alone.”
Share-a-Home is sponsored by the nonprofit Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, a group dedicated to helping seniors lead independent lives.
Simon takes applications from people who either have homes to share or those who are looking for roommates.
Some homeowners ask for help paying the utilities and rent, others ask for services, some just want a friend.
Or as Simon phrases it, “To have someone say ‘good morning’ and ‘good night.’ ”
Though the program is directed to helping seniors, applicants don’t have to be elderly. Anyone who has a home to offer or who would like to help an elderly person by moving in and becoming a companion are welcome to apply, Simon said.
Volunteers check the home offered and check references for the applicants, who pay a $5 membership fee, and then Simon studies each application to try to make a match.
It’s not a real estate service, Simon said, but a service to match seniors with compatible house mates. “We stress the fact that this is not a rental agency,” said Simon.
On a recent Tuesday, the day Simon volunteers at the center, the seven strangers came for different reasons. Phyllis came because of loneliness. Suzanne, a recent widow in her 40s, because she’d been displaced in the earthquake.
“I just want to get out of my apartment,” said a 65-year-old Reseda woman. “I hate living alone. I’m afraid.”
For more information about the Share-a-Home program, call the center at (818) 705-2345.
Other volunteering opportunities:
Women Helping Children needs tutors to work with Children Are Our Future, a residential treatment care facility with group homes throughout the San Fernando Valley. Tutors are needed to help with basic academic skills. Individuals with backgrounds in art, literature, music or crafts are also encouraged to call. For more information, call Fran Chalin or Anita Shaw at (213) 651-2930.
Volunteers are needed to help instruct classes at the Ryan Dyslexia Center in Studio City. The twice weekly classes are taught by a videotaped instructor and volunteers facilitate discussions and practice. For more information about volunteering at the center, call (818) 506-8866.
The American Red Cross Valley District is looking for volunteers to actively assist in the Health Education Services Department. Leaders in the community are encouraged to donate their time. For more information, call Charles James at (818) 376-1785.
Bet Tzedek, a nonprofit free legal services organization, seeks volunteers to greet clients and answer phones in its North Hollywood office. Volunteers are asked to commit four hours each week in shifts from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 1 to 5 p.m. Call Robin at (213) 939-0506, Ext. 814.
The Retired Senior Volunteer Program is looking for volunteers 55 or older to drive cancer patients to their medical treatments and to help escort hospital patients to their appointments. Call the Panorama City-based RSVP at (818) 908-5070.
Counselors, drivers and tutors are needed to help Cal State Northridge students affected by the earthquake. Call Yvonne at (818) 885-2393.
Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818 ) 772-3338.
