Get Your Home Ready for Fall

Seniors helping seniors: Get your home ready for fall

By Jan Weeks

Fall is officially here, and with falling leaves come all the chores that must be done to get your house and yard ready for winter. Fortunately, there are volunteers eager to help in Grand Junction, Delta and Montrose.

If you’re over 60 and need a wheelchair ramp built or grab bar installed, Region 10’s Handy Helpers in Montrose and Delta are at your service.

According to Kylynn Wilson, Region 10 RSVP’s Community Coordinator, volunteers take on a wide array of projects such as winterizing swamp coolers (as long as they’re on the ground floor); performing minor plumbing, electrical work and minor flooring repairs; changing light bulbs and smoke detector batteries; and installing or building wheelchair ramps.

Generally, the person having the work done is responsible for the cost of supplies while labor and skills comes from volunteers. Wilson stressed that if a person can’t afford to buy supplies needed, Region 10’s Area Agency on Aging could potentially fund or help fund items.

Currently, there’s a significant need for handy persons to assist seniors with small home maintenance projects. People with project management experience or retired contractors, electricians, plumbers and carpenters are needed, often just a couple hours a week. Volunteers must be 55 or older and can qualify for mileage and meal reimbursement as well as three kinds of supplemental liability insurance.

“What we can help with is often limited by the number of volunteers or the experience and skills of RSVP volunteers,” said RSVP Programs Coordinator Joe Walker. “We aren’t able to help some older adults at times because we lack a skilled volunteer to address their issues.”

To schedule home maintenance projects, call the options counselors at AdvantAge Resource Center, 1-844-862-4968. If work requires volunteers to get on the roof or tall ladders, that’s something they don’t do. And if a project requires licensed professionals, you’ll have to hire one. Interested volunteers can contact Wilson at 970-765-3135.

In Grand Junction, Mesa County RSVP doesn’t send out volunteers, but RSVP’s Handyman Program Manager John Jordy partners with them through A Little Help.

“A Little Help is an organization that connects our older neighbors with volunteers to do things they can no longer do for themselves,” he said.

Jordy and volunteers work with limited-income seniors who are 55 and older to get their homes ready for winter. Though they don’t perform routine lawn maintenance like mowing grass or shutting down irrigation systems, volunteers can help by raking and bagging leaves, trimming, pruning and weeding. They can also clean gutters, wash windows and perform a variety of other chores upon request. The work is free, but the recipient is responsible for material costs.

A Little Help volunteers can also install bathroom aids like grab bars and handrails, build and install wheelchair ramps or walker steps, and weatherize steps to reduce the danger of slipping. Minor electrical work, such as replacing light fixtures, switches and plugs, as well as minor plumbing work such as installing faucets and toilets can be done as well.

They’ll also replace your furnace filters for that first cool night.

“We know that our older neighbors thrive when they can remain safely in their homes because that is where their memories, lives and dreams exist,” said Jordy.

A Little Help is always looking for more volunteers. Call 970-404-1923 for more information. ■

A LITTLE HELP is now in Grand Junction to help older adults in our community.

Rake & Bag Leaves • Weed Gardens • Trim Bushes & Trees • Remove Broken Limbs • Shovel Snow • Light Household Chores Grocery & Pharmacy Runs • Small Seasonal House Repairs • Or just call or stop by to say “Hi!”

Volunteers will meet at Sherwood Park at 9:30 a.m. to collect their tools to do outdoor yard work for our older neighbors in Grand Junction. Work will wrap up at noon and we will gather for a Celebration of Service at the Ale House at 12:30 p.m.

If you would like to become A LITTLE HELP Volunteer call, or visit our website at www.alittlehelp.org/service-saturdays-registration