ENOA is recruiting older adults to join Senior Companions, Foster Grandparents
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en and women age 55 and older who want to earn a taxfree stipend while making an impact in their community are encouraged to join the Senior Companion Program and the Foster Grandparent Program. Sponsored locally by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, the SCP and FGP are national programs of the Corporation for National and Community Service through the Senior Service Corps. Senior Companions help other older adults maintain their independence by visiting them at home to discuss the news, read mail, play cards, run errands, etc. Foster Grandparents serve as positive role models for children who need special attention with education, healthcare, and social development in schools, Head Start programs, and child development centers. SCP and FGP volunteers must meet income guidelines and complete an enrollment process that includes references and background checks. In exchange for volunteering 15 hours or more per week, Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions receive a $2.65 an hour tax-free stipend, mileage reimbursement, an annual physical examination, supplemental accident insurance coverage, and other benefits including an annual recognition luncheon. The stipend does not interfere with rent, disability, Medicaid, or other benefits. For more information on the FGP and SCP, please call 402-444-6536.
Vols need for gerontology study
AARP’s Tax-Aide program
The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Department of Gerontology is looking for healthy younger and older adults and for caregivers of patients with dementia to participate in a research study about cognition and emotion. Study participants – who may be compensated – are asked to make a one-time, two-hour visit to a laboratory on UNO’s Dodge Street campus. The experiment involves paper and pencil questionnaires and computer tasks. Free parking will be located a short walk from the building where the experiment will take place. Participants must be age 19 to 35 or 55 to 90, able to comprehend written and spoken English, have transportation to the UNO campus, and must have completed a minimum of two years of high school. Participants may not have received a diagnosis of neurological or psychiatric disease (e.g., stroke, depression), have vision, hearing, or motor difficulties, or are pregnant. For more information, please contact Janelle Beadle, Ph.D. at 402-554-5961.
Volunteers are needed for AARP’s Tax-Aide program which provides free tax-preparation services to the community with a focus on older adults with low to moderate income. AARP membership isn’t required. Men and women are needed at the nine sites in the Omaha area that provide tax preparation services. No experience is needed other than knowing how to operate a computer and having done your own income tax returns. Volunteers – who’ll work with experienced volunteers – will receive materials from AARP and the IRS for reference and self-study, attend training sessions in December and January, and then prepare tax returns a few hours a week during the tax season. AARP also needs greeters, administrative help, and technical support personnel who aren’t directly involved in the tax preparation. For more information log on to nebraskataxaide.org or call 402-398-9568 and provide your name, phone number, and email address.
The New Horizons is an Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging publication.
Florence AARP Chapter 2269
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ARP’s Florence Chapter 2269 meets monthly at Mount View Presbyterian Church, 5308 Hartman Ave. The meetings feature a noon lunch for $8 followed by a program at 12:45 p.m. The meetings are open to both AARP members and non-members. Transportation is available by calling Ruth Kruse at 402-453-4825 or Marge Willard at 402-455-8401. Here’s the schedule for the rest of 2017: • December 12 Christmas music
December 2017
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New Horizons
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