The 100 Mile House Better at Home program is looking for new volunteers to meet high client demand.
Better at Home is a program which helps seniors with simple non-medical, day-to-day tasks so they can continue to live independently in their own homes and remain connected to their communities. The program is relatively new to 100 Mile House, and Cindy Faulkner, the coordinator for Better at Home for the South Cariboo region, stated she started it because there were very few senior supports in place in the region, despite 50 per cent of the population being seniors.
"We've gone from zero to over 100 clients in that short time - and so half of our services are provided by volunteers," Faulkner said, highlighting that the service was brought in 2022. "The other half of our services are provided by paid contractors."
According to Faulkner, paid contractors deal with housekeeping, lawn care and snow removal, while volunteers deal with rides to doctor's appointments, picking up groceries, mail pick up and prescription pick up, amongst other day-to-day errands.
"And so, we have over 100 clients right now, and only six volunteers. So we are in dire need of volunteers," said Faulkner.
One of the volunteers is Marney Green, who has been with the program for a year and a half. Green helps out Lianne Levesque, a 90-year-old living in 100 Mile House, with grocery shopping.
"It's enabled her to do that a little bit longer," Green said.
Levesque got the services of Better at Home after one of her friends told her about it and she decided to phone Faulkner. It wasn't long before she was one of their clients.
"I mean, they helped me to come and clean the house and to take me for groceries, and I tell them every two weeks I go for groceries - so they come and pick me up and they do the cleaning every four weeks," Levesque noted about the services she receives. She remarked that Green is her favourite volunteer.
"She's really good - to take me for groceries - it's been the same one all the way. So I'm happy with this."
Levesque would like to see more people signing up to become volunteers with the program because she thinks it is a good thing to do.
"They're going to get old one day," Levesque remarked.
Companionship goes beyond just helping with chores as Faulkner is hoping to organize a new coffee group for seniors and volunteers with the help of Marilyn Vinson, a client with the service.
"The idea for a seniors coffee group started when I did an intake with a local client - a new client who was feeling isolated, and asked if there was a coffee group or a group of people she could connect," Faulkner recalled.
Vinson told the Free Press that the coffee group "would be like a meeting place for new friends and to find new interests and stuff like that." The details of the coffee group have yet to be ironed out, but they plan to figure out the details by the end of this fall.
As for the service Better at Home provides as a whole, Faulkner said it offers "peace of mind" to seniors and she's been able to see the difference it has made within the community.
"It's just there's so much loneliness, and there's so many seniors who have lost their spouses or are here all alone, you know? And it's just really beautiful to bring people together."
Those who are interested in volunteering can call Faulkner at 778-444-5133.
