Newton At Home Helping Seniors In Person Again As Pandemic Recedes

NEWTON, MA — Newton at Home (NAH), a nonprofit membership organization that helps older residents remain in their homes and stay connected as they age, has resumed full in-person services for its members for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Founded in 2011, NAH helps its members by offering handyman services, tech support, transportation, help with grocery shopping and errands, and more. During the pandemic, the organization was forced to cut back on in-person programs and tried to of as much as they could for their members via Zoom.

"The spring the pandemic began, the thing we really had to cut back on was our volunteers going into other people’s homes because of the chances of spreading the virus,” said NAH Board of Directors President Alex Vogel. “We were still delivering groceries and such, but that’s about all we could do. Now have most of our services restored. Our membership did drop during the pandemic, but it’s coming back up.”

“During the pandemic, we had to pretty much close down almost everything,” said Maureen Grannan, Executive Director of NAH. We didn’t do any transportation or friendly visiting. Our staff did call every single member of our organization during the week to check in on them because social isolation is so hard for the elderly. We also taught a huge number of our members how to use computers by phone.”

Now that the organization is moving on from the days of COVID-19, Newton at Home needs volunteers for everything, especially drivers, said Grannan. Volunteers may also help with committee work and social programs, which would include writing newsletters, helping with marketing efforts and technology, and staging events such as book clubs, games, and virtual tours.

“Our philosophy is everyone has a little volunteerism in them,” said Grannan. “It's about finding what you can do. Whatever you can do, we appreciate.”

NAH is one of more than 325 Villages that are part of The Village Movement, which is modeled after small towns of the past where neighbor helped neighbor. These Villages work to meet both the practical and social needs of older adults.

"I think what’s important to me is we are an organization thats trying to build a community within a community,” said Grannan. “It's a feel good deal for people.”

For more information on Newton at Home membership or to donate, click here or call 617-795-2560.