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Faith in Action: Elder Outreach
Basic Information
Address: 1530 Nicholasville Rod
Lexington, KY 40503
Phone Number: 859-252-1365
Fax Number: 859-288-4768
Email: faithaction@windstream.net
Director: Julie Melloan
Additional Information
Causes Served: Older Adults ages 65+
Background Check: Yes
Population Served: Older Adults ages 65+ in Fayette, Scott, and Madison counties.
Ages for Volunteer: 18 years old. Those under 18 may accompany a parent or guardian volunteer.
Hours of Service: Flexible. 1-3 hours a week is standard.
Minimum Hours Required: N/A
Days of Service: TBD by volunteer and care recipient
Mission Statement:
To assist older adults and their families to maintain their independence, dignity, and quality of life by providing quality home-based volunteer caregiving services.
Philosophy/Belief Statement:
Faith in Action is an interfaith non-profit organization, partnering with faith groups, community groups, and individuals from a all walks of life and backgrounds. Our program facilitates neighbors helping neighbors.
Program History:
Our story began in 2003 when a coalition of professionals in aging services and representatives from 28 faith groups and community caregiving organizations in Fayette County came together with the goal of forming an elder outreach program that would provide nondiscriminatory free volunteer services to older adults and families in Lexington. Everyone shared a concern that increasing numbers of older adults in Fayette County would become at risk of losing their independence and potentially suffer personal and economic consequences because they could not obtain needed assistance to live independently. They also shared a vision that a resource of interfaith volunteer caregivers could fill gaps of needed assistance for older adults and provide respite for family caregivers.
In April 2004, with just 8 volunteers, we began fulfilling our mission of helping older adults maintain their dignity and live independently at home as long as possible. A year later we had increased the numbers of our volunteers and people served ten-fold and twenty-fold. To date our free nondiscriminatory services to older adults and family caregivers exceeds over 20, 000 hours. More than 75 congregations representing diverse faith communities have been part of Faith in Action’s outreach to older persons and families. In June of 2007 we expanded our services to Scott County. Currently over 100 active volunteers representing a broad diversity in regard age, race, ethnicity, occupation, and religion are continuing our mission to help older neighbors in need and support family caregivers. There are also currently over 100 active care recipients from Fayette and Scott counties.
The early years of our elder outreach program set the stage for a story that does not end. Our story is about neighbors helping neighbors. It is about people of different backgrounds coming together to make a real difference in the lives of others. The volunteer assistance provided has significantly added to the quality of life to older adults in our community. With the assistance of FIA volunteers the care receivers are able to participate meaningfully in the community, remain independent, and enjoy a better quality of life.
Events:
Annual Auction fundraiser; Golf Benefit at Keene Run; Benefit Concerts at Natasha's Bistro; Sand Volleyball Tournament Fundraiser; Amazon.com gift wrap with a smile fundraiser; Volunteer Recognition; Church and Health Fairs
Additional Information:
The heart of our program is building relationships and improving quality of life. Our program is volunteer-driven, which means that all services are also free of charge. Trained volunteers are matched with a care recipient for a one on one connection. Volunteers typically serve between 1 and 3 hours per week but each situation varies. Our volunteers can assist older adults with a variety of non-medical needs to help them stay at home and remain independent as long as possible. Some of these activities include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Transportation to medical appointments
- Help with grocery shopping
- Taking care of simple home repairs
- Delivering meals
- Companionship through regular visits
- Make telephone reassurance calls
- Offer respite care for family members
- Basic pet and plant care
- Light housekeeping
- Assist with a special yard, garage, or home project (raking leaves, painting, etc.)
Volunteers do not assist with bill paying, medical care, personal care, live-in care, or legal services.
Faith in Action: Elder Outreach also organizes special one-time service projects. Sometimes our care recipients have large projects for their home, garage, or yard that one volunteer cannot handle on their own. We recruit groups from local businesses, faith groups and social groups to volunteer half a day to assist a care recipient with one of these larger projects. Past projects have included raking leaves, yard maintenance and landscaping, clearing out gutters, painting inside rooms, painting a home’s exterior, organizing basements and garages and more.
Faith in Action is a non-profit organization. Services are free and we rely on donations, in-kind gifts, and volunteers to sustain our program. Funding for Faith in Action comes from several sources including United Way of the Bluegrass, the Bluegrass Area Agency on Aging, grants, foundations, faith groups, businesses, individual donors and fundraisers. Faith in Action is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization.