A Little Help, the organization created to help senior citizens remain in their homes well into their senior years, is expanding to Buena Vista.
“We desperately need assisted living facilities in rural counties,” said Marilyn Bouldin, who helped set up A Little Help in Salida. “We don’t have that, so we find that if people get a little help, they can remain at home.”
The group held an information session this past Wednesday at the Buena Vista Public Library to introduce their services to the community. Bouldin said the organization assists more than 30 seniors and has close to 70 active volunteers.
“We wish more people would come forward for help. When we started, there used to be a yearly fee to join to get services, but now we do a ‘pay what you can.’ We don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t come to us.”
Bouldin says the group does projects for seniors that they can no longer do, such as rake leaves, put on storm windows and run errands. On “Service Saturdays,” it connects seniors with younger volunteers from the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Crest Academy.
Unfortunately, Chaffee County seniors who can no longer live alone often have to undergo a major move because the closest assisted living facilities are in Alamosa and Cañon City. Chaffee County has only Columbine Nursing Home as an option.
“Seniors are very proud, and most don’t like to ask for help,” she added. “But there is such a need for this and we’re filling that gap. We make ‘warm welcome’ visits first, so they get to know us. Our part-time paid coordinator Nancy Powers sets up senior services.”
A Little Help began in Denver’s Washington Park area and expanded to Salida and then to Delta County in 2016. It is associated with the Village to Village Network, a nonprofit that connects senior villages around the country, and with Generations United, a nonprofit that improves the lives of children, youth and older adults through inter-generational collaboration, public policies and programs.
A Little Help is located at 7 Poncha Blvd. in Salida. Those interested in volunteering, or seniors in need of services, should contact A Little Help at 719-966-7366.
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