Volunteers transform Joe's home

Joe, one of our clients, is confined to a wheelchair. He is very low income, living only on social security. His wife recently moved to a nursing home. Joe’s home was extremely cluttered. Possessions were stacked from floor to ceiling, and the doors would barely open. His garage was jam-packed with old, unused, or broken items.

Joe declared that he was ready to deal with this problem, and Faith in Action recruited a group of volunteers from Microsoft to help him sort through and discard most of these items. They also dusted, cleaned, and vacuumed.


Let's see what happened that day:

Bedroom "Before"

The Bedroom "After" - and two of the volunteers who worked on this room

Living Room "Before"

Volunteers hard at work - not just sorting through possessions, but also dealing with dust and debris on the floor

Living room "After"

Knick knacks "Before" - can you see the thick layer of dust?

Volunteer handwashing the knick knacks

Knick knacks "After" - they now sparkle!

Garage "before"

 

Reviewing items with Joe

Garage - almost "after" - just a few boxes left...!

Family Room "before"

Family Room "after"

The 20 yard container being filled

By the end of the day, fitting it all in is a challenge! We were lucky it did not rain, and we could use the driveway to sort and stage items into piles for keeping, donating, and discarding.

Our team of volunteers - and the extra truck Jim rented, as the 20 yard container was not large enough

Imagine being disabled, stuck in a wheelchair, and feeling overwhelmed by your dirty and cluttered home. Before the project, Joe said to me, “I’m kind of depressed these days, with my wife in the nursing home, and me left alone here”. You could believe him. His living environment was oppressive, unhealthy, and unsafe.

Now, things are different: our volunteers made an enormous difference in Joe's living environment. Joe's gratitude to our team of volunteers is immense. He has called repeatedly, telling us that their work has lifted his spirits, and inspired him to do additional work on his own, cleaning and tidying. He is no longer facing a project so huge, it was too overwhelming to even begin.

From here, Faith in Action's next steps are clear. First, the volunteers the day they worked found evidence of a rodent infestation. We already have a volunteer handyman scheduled to come in and install traps in the attic and other spaces next week.

Second, there's still work to be done to make the home safer and healthier. The carpet is torn, creating a tripping hazard - we need to find funds for replacement flooring. We still need to reduce dust and dirt. And then painting the most stained walls would make a huge difference in how the home feels. We are actively recruiting donors and another group to do additional heavy housework, and then make the most critical of the repairs and improvements that are required.

So, while this project is not complete, the work of the volunteers has still transformed Joe's living environment. We are proud of these volunteers, and join Joe in gratitude for the work that they did.And we want to thank Joe, for being willing to admit that the problem existed, being willing to deal with it, and allow strangers into his home to help.

Finally, we also want to express our gratitude to Faith in Action supporters Tracy Fitzsimmons, Lon Lindo, and Ruth Petersky who contributed funds to pay for a 20 yard container, dumping fees, and supplies. The Microsoft volunteers also donated to the project. Joe paid for some of the costs, too.

Thank you so much - donors, volunteers - you make such a difference in the lives of others.

Dolores

Two years ago, Dolores had cancer, and needed transportation to chemotherapy. The social worker at the hospital called Faith in Action to see if our volunteers could take Dolores three times a week for her treatment. Dolores was eventually matched with two volunteers - one who took her to her chemotherapy appointments and then later her radiation treatments; another did the light housekeeping that she could no longer manage.

 

Dolores survived her disease thanks to her treatment, and her matches with her Faith in Action volunteers came to an end. While Dolores recovered enough to do her own light housework, heavy housework is still hard for her. When Faith in Action had a group volunteer project last winter, staff contacted Dolores to see if she was interested in having a small group help her with the more difficult chores she can not manage on her own.  A group of older teenaged girls came to her house to make it sparkle, from scrubbing floors and baseboards, to getting on step ladders to dust the tops of her picture frames and ceiling light fixtures.

 

I visited Dolores when the teens were there, and I noticed that she had a computer. I asked her if she used it very much. She said that she occasionally had her granddaughter over, and would pay her to give her computer lessons. But these visits were few and far between, and Dolores would forget what she had learned. Back at the office, I found out that Dolores had mentioned wanting a volunteer to help with using the computer in her initial home visit, even when she was so ill with cancer.

 

Now, computer assistance is not a priority service for Faith in Action. We want to make sure that our elderly clients first have access to medical services, have the ability to get to the grocery store and other essential errands, and have a safe and hygienic home. Preventing social isolation is another priority. So, while we would not make it a focus to recruit a volunteer for Dolores, if one happened along, we'd make a match.

 

Five months later, a volunteer did happen along. Jack is in his early 20s, and well, maybe he's figuring out what he's doing with himself - he had dropped out of school, had moved back in with his parents, and was working at a pizza parlor at night. He felt like he should be doing more with his life. He found Faith in Action's program through a google search.

 

Faith in Action matched Jack with Dolores as her computer mentor. We got a call spontaneously from Dolores a couple of weeks ago - she just wanted us to know that she was thrilled with him. Jack emailed us even more recently - he wants to get cleared so he can drive Dolores, too.

Sometimes we have matches between clients and volunteers that feel like they're just as much for the volunteers - maybe even more for the volunteers - as for the clients. This is one of them. Will Jack find the direction that he seems to never have had, through helping Dolores? As Jack reflected in his email, "I believe that one of the few things that actually matters in this world is the effects that we have on others and what better way than to help those truly in need."

Harriet and Alfred

If you read last week's blog post, you know about how the Care-a-Van program of Hebrew High at the Jewish Community Center in Phoenix came to help Faith in Action clients June 22. Last week's entry was about one of the clients they helped and the service they did. This week's will highlight their work with our clients, Alfred and Harriet.

Alfred and Harriet have lived on a 2.5 acre property on lower slope of Squak Mountain for about 25 years. When they were younger, Alfred was quite handy in fixing up the out-buildings and maintaining the property; Harriet loved gardening, and enjoyed having enough room for growing lots of flowers and vegetables.

Age has taken its toll, however, on both of them. Alfred, now in his early 80s, has dementia; Harriet, a few years younger, has been acting as his caregiver. As Alfred's condition worsened, Harriet was rapidly becoming overwhelmed. Over several months, Faith in Action worked with Harriet, helping her connect to resources in the community so not only could he get the care he required, but her own needs could be met, too.

Their situation has now stabilized - while Alfred's dementia is severe, a professional caretaker now comes in and helps Harriet with her husband. Harriet, who walks with a cane, has qualified for ACCESS, and she can use that service to get out of the house, to shopping and other services. The couple can continue to live in the home they've been in for so many years.

The only piece missing for Harriet was her garden. While she can't do the same work outdoors like she used to, she still enjoys her flowers. A Faith in Action volunteer who loves gardening was assigned to the couple, only doing work outside. But with such a large property, a single yardwork volunteer is not quite enough, and staff identified the Twitchells as being folks who also could use the help of the Arizona teens when they were here.

The 28 teenagers divided into small groups to tackle different projects at the Twitchells'. Some washed windows. A few others powered up the pressure washer and hosed down the walk. More washed the Twitchells' old pick-up truck - while no one drives it any more, by keeping it looking clean, it appears that someone is using it regularly, and makes the couple less vulnerable as a target for crime. Other teens weeded and clipped down overgrown grass. Another set rebuilt the scarecrow. Alfred's dementia is such that he is often suspicious of strangers, but while he was seated outside, drinking lemonade, he enjoyed the teens that stopped by to chat.

It was a splendid day, with gorgeous weather, and after their hard work, the teens scattered over the grass to eat a picnic lunch. They then packed up, loaded back in their motor coach, and headed into Seattle for fun.

 
Harriet was thrilled with the work the kids did. But I think she was even more thrilled with just having all the company and commotion. The Twitchells live in a relatively isolated location - having so many visitors just made her day. "I just loved having this youth group come" she reported. "It was so fun having them here. I hope you can find more young people who are interested in helping folks like us - that would be super!"

Thank you, Hebrew High Care-a-Van teens, for working on the behalf of our clients - and thank you to all our Faith in Action supporters, who make it possible for us to arrange these kinds of volunteer projects for our youth and elders.

For more information about our programs, see:

http://www.faithinaction4seniors.org

Janet

Janet lives in a small two bedroom house on an acre in Sammamish. She bought the house a long time ago. Since that time, old age and some chronic conditions have made it difficult for her to walk around, much less keep up her beautiful property. Janet does pretty well on her own - she became a Faith in Action client mainly to receive help with her yardwork.

Faith in Action recently got a phone call from the Care-a-Van program of Hebrew High at the Jewish Community Center in Phoenix. They are 28 teenagers and their chaperons traveling throughout the West, doing community service projects in the morning, and then doing touristy activities in the afternoon. Their Seattle-area community service project that they set up fell through - could they help us instead?

Janet's home was one of the projects we selected for these teens. The teens arrived on Tuesday, June 22. If you remember, this was our first real day of summer and the weather was beautiful - the teens really lucked out!

They set to work dead heading the rhododendrons, weeding, raking, and pruning. Originally they were only going to take about 40 minutes, but I think they got so much in the spirit of the work, they stayed quite a bit longer.

I talked to Janet today about the work the teens did, and she was thrilled. "They worked so hard", she reported. "It looks so much better," she continued, "I am so grateful to have Faith in Action in my life".

For more about Faith in Action, please visit our website.

Margaret

Our new client, Margaret, walks sometimes with a cane, and uses a couple of hearing aids. But, considering that she's 92 years old, she's otherwise in good health. She enjoys volunteering at Providence Marianwood, reading, and her cat. Margaret's good friend at church has been a client of Faith in Action for several years. She kept on telling Margaret to join up with the agency, but Margaret was very proud. Margaret didn't want to admit that she could use the help. But she finally decided not to be so stubborn, and called the Faith in Action office.

 

We just got a note from Margaret on Monday, after a ride to a hearing aid specialist. She wrote:

 

My first time with Faith in Action was a very pleasant experience. Dick Drumm was so nice and so easy to talk to. Thank you - I will not hesitate to call you next time.

 

Our trained volunteers, like Dick Drumm, help make our new clients feel comfortable accepting the assistance that they need. With their help - and your support - we can continue to serve frail elders like Margaret.

 

For more information about our programs, see:

http://www.faithinaction4seniors.org

Barbara

Barbara is one of our younger clients - she's in her late 60s. But she has a lot of health concerns: she has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and heart disease; her diabetes has lead to peripheral neuropathy of her hands and feet, and she needs a cane to get around; she is hard of hearing and uses a hearing aid; her vision is starting to fail; and she is using drugs to stave off a further development of her early Alzheimer's.

 

You might think that Barbara wouldn't be that much fun to be around, but when I met her, I was struck by her cheerful and positive attitude. With all these ailments, she does has a lot of medical appointments, though. Her younger sister lives in the area, but is fully-employed, and can't take Barbara to all the doctors she needs to see.

 

In the almost two years she's been a client with Faith in Action, volunteers have driven 675 miles on Barbara's behalf, 20 trips to medical appointments.

For more information, see: Faith in Action - Supporting Senior Independence.

Donna

Donna is a hoarder. When you step into her house, there's just a narrow corridor for you to follow to reach the other rooms of the house. The halls have stacks to the ceilings. Every horizonal space has mountains of papers, clothes, and other possessions. All the blinds and curtains are tightly shut.

For her home visit with Paula, our Client Services Coordinator, Donna cleared a space in her living room. No one could sit on the couch or the chairs - they were piled high - but at least there was room so more than one person could stand and talk.

Donna is suspicious of nearly everyone. She will let you know who she feels has betrayed her or is up to no good. The list includes her members of her family, her neighbors, churches, a variety of social service organizations, the City of Issaquah, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services - in short, just about anyone who we might try to enlist to help her.

So far, though, she trusts Faith in Action. She uses our on-call transportation services to see the one medical provider she also trusts. Margie, our Volunteer Coordinator, selects her drivers with care. Some might be put off by Donna's strong negative opinions - Margie does her best to find Donna drivers who are experienced, easy-going, and non-judgmental.

With the many reality TV shows about hoarding (A&E 's "Hoarders"; TLC 's " Hoarding: Buried Alive "; and even "Clean House", where some folks are more than merely messy) you might think that Donna would benefit from a crew of Faith in Action volunteers coming in and throwing away all the things she has stacked up in her house. But experts warn that without psychological therapy to go alongside the "Clean Sweep", the loss of the items is highly traumatic to the hoarder. Donna herself reported that "some church ladies" one time came in to help her deal with her things, but that they threw away things that she wanted or hid things that she needed to know where they were.

I hope that our Faith in Action volunteers can continue to build trust with Donna. Maybe one day we can then refer her to help that she feels she can accept, and her home can be a place of light and air once more.

For more information, see: Faith in Action - Supporting Senior Independence

Nancy

Nancy has lived in the home her parents built, south of Issaquah, for most of her lifetime. She lost her eyesight and mobility to diabetes. Her Faith in Action volunteer helps her with visual tasks like reading her mail, and helping her select outfits so her clothes will match. She lives in relative isolation, but being in her home, where she feels comfortable and secure, is important to her.

When I went to visit Nancy to discuss her property as a possible yard work project for a youth group, I noticed that the stairs to her front door were rotting and rickety. Faith in Action staff were looking for resources for Nancy to get them repaired, when Sue Healey, associated with the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club, approached Faith in Action, looking for a service project. Nancy's home seemed to be a perfect fit.

Sue, with her Rotary club member husband Ron Healey, an architect, came to Nancy's home and reviewed the project with her. Ron's expertise was invaluable: he designed a replacement exterior staircase and got it through permitting with King County. Sue worked with the Issaquah Home Depot to get a discount on the lumber and materials.

On Saturday, May 22, over 30 members of the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club and their families came to Nancy's house. They demolished and rebuilt the stairs at the entrance of the house. They pressure-washed her walkways, porch and wheelchair ramp, all of which were slippery with dirt, moss, and slime. They pruned back her trees and bushes, weeded her flowerbeds, and pulled out blackberry vines. Piles of junk were hauled away, along with the yard waste and demolition debris.

The Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club generously paid for all the materials (with help from Home Depot), the permit, equipment rentals, and dumping fees. The Rotarians gave up most of a Saturday, working in the often-pouring rain and cold -- it was only in the mid-40s! -- to help a disabled person have a safer, healthier, and more pleasant living environment.

On Nancy's behalf, Faith in Action would like to express our profound gratitude to the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club. Their generosity, expertise and time is greatly appreciated.

For more information, see: Faith in Action - Supporting Senior Independence 

Phil

Phil had friends who had received services from Faith in Action, and because he was aware of how the agency's volunteers had helped, he had made a donation from time to time to the agency.

He didn't think he'd become a client himself until he had a diagnosis of kidney failure. Now, he needed transportation to the NW Kidney Center's facility at Snoqualmie Valley Hospital three times a week for dialysis. He started by asking his friends for rides, but it quickly became too much of a burden for them.

One of Faith in Action's dedicated volunteers, Cindy, had been driving a client for dialysis three times a week for many years, but the client died. Margie, Faith in Action's Volunteer Coordinator, asked if she was ready to take on a new client. She said yes.

Phil is now getting a ride, three days a week, from Cindy. Since the dialysis takes 6 hours, Cindy does not stay to take him back. Instead, he rides back home on Metro Transit's ACCESS bus. His experience using ACCESS shows the problems with this service for our clients - some times it takes the bus three hours to make what is in a private car, a 20 minute ride.

Faith in Action would like to be able to provide him with dedicated transportation home, too, but volunteers like Cindy, who are willing to drive so frequently and regularly, are rare. And he does have transportation back, through ACCESS - just not transportation that is timely.

Our goal at Faith in Action is to ensure that every client, every caller, gets the help that he or she needs. We are striving to find volunteers for people like Phil - so he has a ride not just to dialysis, but home again, to promote his health, and give him a better quality of life.

For more information, see: Faith in Action - Supporting Senior Independence 

Robert and Shirley

Robert and Shirley are in their 80s. Robert has dementia, and Shirley is his chief caregiver. Both have a number of on-going medical concerns. Faith in Action provides the couple with rides to their medical appointments. Because of Robert's condition, they always ride together, whether the appointment is for Robert or for Shirley. Robert understands that he needs to be with Shirley to be safe, but this also means that he gets quite anxious if she's in the doctor's exam room without him. When Faith in Action volunteers give the couple rides, they know they need to remain with Robert in the waiting room and reassure him that his wife will be returning soon. Because their situation requires extra care, our volunteer coordinator, Margie, does her best to assign our more experienced volunteers to drive the couple. Staff is concerned not just about Robert's continued decline, but also the strain on Shirley as she ages and takes care of him. While no volunteer is solely assigned to them, their regular drivers have come to know them quite well, and we rely on their monthly reports to do our best to monitor their situation. Robert and Shirley have been clients with Faith in Action for six years. In this time, Faith in Action volunteers have spent more than 530 hours driving the couple 6112 miles to medical appointments. For more information, see: Faith in Action - Supporting Senior Independence

Our first blog posting!

Dear Faith in Action Friends:

Today is Faith in Action's first blog post. I will endeavor to write a new blog posting every Friday.

If you have a story to tell about a client or about your experience volunteering - or you' d like to hear more about a Faith in Action activity - please let me know.