Dear Friends,
We hope that when this letter finds you, you and your family are well. This year has been filled with challenges for all of us. Our hearts and prayers are with all those who have lost a loved one as well as those that are ill and have been deeply affected by the pandemic. (To view PDF version of Annual Appeal, please click here.)
Though the past few months have been difficult, our agency never stopped serving. Within a day of the shelter in place order mandate, we launched a volunteer recruitment campaign that, to date, has brought almost 100 new volunteers to our agency. We also negotiated services with a private medical transport company so that medically necessary rides could be fulfilled while we re-organized. Over subsequent weeks, we completely overhauled our volunteer onboarding process, creating an online version aided by video conferencing. We created a streamlined process so that 2- 1-1 could connect isolated seniors to our agency, implemented safety protocols for staff, volunteers, and seniors established a collaboration with the Food Bank, restaurants, farmers, grocery stores, other nonprofits… and more. We pivoted services to match emerging new needs: delivery of groceries, free food, other essentials; reassurance calls, health/wellness check-in calls, connection to resources, and safe rides to medically necessary appointments. We are proud to say we never stopped serving.
Who has benefited from our program?
Seniors age 62+ and disabled individuals of any age living with mobility challenges and/or a debilitating illness that has caused them to lose their independence and become homebound. All lack a support network and don’t have the financial resources to hire people to help them.
Your help is needed now more than ever. Due to the pandemic, the number of seniors enrolled for services has more than doubled: 855 are enrolled county-wide. Your generous gift will help support the recruitment, screening, and management of volunteers to provide free services to more people.
Thanks to committed volunteers and donors, last fiscal year:
- Volunteers made 6,935 service trips. That’s over 2,000 more services as compared to the previous year. They volunteered 4,505 hours and drove 46,133 miles. The pandemic didn’t slow us down; it ramped us up.
- Prior to the pandemic, 80% of all service calls were for free rides to medical appointments, the grocery store, hot meal sites, and food distribution centers; 20% were for auxiliary services, including shopping/errands, friendly visits, reassurance calls, yard clean-up, technology training, and connections to area resources.
- After the pandemic, auxiliary services rose sharply with an increased need for the delivery of groceries, free food, and other essentials, as well as reassurance/check-in calls.
- Toward the end of the fiscal year, we began to experience an ebb and flow in volunteerism due to COVID-19 fears, but we doubled our efforts and recruited more volunteers.
- We recruited 64 new adult volunteers – almost double the number recruited last fiscal year. Of that, 34 were recruited/onboarded within two months of the pandemic.
- Services under our Intergenerational Project, Break the Barrier, rose considerably. Over 70 student volunteers participated in yard cleanups or technology training, and 35 were engaged in preparing Christmas cards for seniors.
Despite the pandemic, we made significant progress last fiscal year. This fiscal year, we plan to onboard 60 new adult volunteers bringing our total to 200 active adult volunteers who will provide a variety of non-medical free support services. At the rate we’re going, we estimate volunteers will provide 7,000 services before the fiscal year is over. We can’t do this without you.
Your gift will enable us to recruit, screen, train volunteers; coordinate services; and help support the unplanned rise in enrollment so that Community Partners in Caring Volunteers can effectively support the health, well-being, dignity, and independence of seniors throughout our community.
With your support, we can help hundreds of seniors have someone to talk to, someone to trust, someone to help them feel less alone, and help them age in place with dignity. Please make your generous contribution today by using the enclosed addressed envelope or by going online to www.partnersincaring.org/donate.
P.S. Your gift will count in the current tax year if you send it in by December 31, 2020.
With warmth and gratitude,
Vilma P. Contreras- Executive President
Chuen NG- Board President
