Friendly Visiting and Shop & Escort
Volunteers are matched with seniors based on mutual interests, hobbies, needs, etc. to spend a couple of hours a week providing companionship and to make a friend, or just to sit and chat over a cup of tea. Volunteers take seniors to and from important medical appointments, pick up seniors after medical procedures, take them to and from physical therapy, accompany them on walks, help with errands (such as shopping to get access to food and vital supplies, escorts to/from banks, helping read mail, hair salons, social programs, physical therapy, cemetery visits etc.)
Volunteers have also accompanied seniors with pets get to vets. Our staff also encouraged seniors to vote, including helping seniors mail absentee ballots when they couldn’t get out. Volunteers escort seniors who want to vote in person and we were promoting seniors using absentee ballots.
During the pandemic, We have focused on doing shopping and vital errands for seniors, though we are now doing it in different ways – rather than our usual going with seniors to encourage them to go out, we go for our clients and have been constantly updating volunteer protocols to keep everyone as safe as possible.
