B-2
Housing Options | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com
INDEPENDENT LIVING COMMUNITY
Park View at Ellicott City 410-203-9501 8720 Ridge Road Ellicott City, MD 21043 parkviewellicott@sheltergrp.com Park View at Ellicott City I and Park View Ellicott City II extends an invitation to those 62 or better to enjoy a carefree lifestyle. The communities are conveniently located near shopping, Historic Ellicott City, and local senior centers. The buildings have electronically controlled access, elevators for the residents’ convenience, plus many amenities for social and recreational activities. Call 410-203-9501 or email parkviewellicott@sheltergrp.com today to arrange for your personal visit. We look forward to welcoming you to our community!
INDEPENDENT LIVING COMMUNITY
Park View at Laurel 301-490-1526 9000 Briarcroft Lane Laurel, MD 20708 parkviewlaurel@sheltergrp.com Park View at Laurel is newly renovated and simply offers the best in carefree living for those 62 or better. Located just off of Route 198 in Laurel, this community is convenient to everything you want and need. Residents enjoy a spacious community room, mail delivery lounge and media room with library, as well as a computer center, fitness center, salon, and many social activities including bus trips. Our apartment homes feature stylish kitchens, new baths, and Energy Star appliances. Our controlled-access elevator community has so many amenities to enhance your living experience you need to call today and see for yourself. Call 301-490-1526 or email parkviewlaurel@sheltergrp.com today to arrange for your personal visit. We look forward to meeting you!
INDEPENDENT SENIOR LIVING
Weinberg Village Campus 410-581-7878 3430 Associated Way Owings Mills, MD 21117 www.weinbergvillage.net This lovely campus of five buildings offers you the opportunity to maintain your healthy and active lifestyle. While living in one of the spacious apartments, you will have access to many amenities, which include a convenience store, hair salon, and community rooms that are supplied with computers, games, community garden, televisions and books. In addition, residents take part in daily activities planned by resident volunteers and staff members. Located in a quiet corner of Owings Mills, you will have easy access to many shopping, dining and entertainment businesses. Weinberg Village has a community shuttle bus that makes regular trips to many local attractions.
JUNE 2013 — BALTIMORE BEACON
Village model brings neighbors together By Carol Sorgen When Pauline Watson needed help with her computer, she could have called a technician and paid the going rate for the repair. Instead, the Upper Park Heights resident called Northwest Neighborhood Connecting (NNC), and a volunteer came to her home, spent four hours, and got her technological life back on track. “Without NNC, that could have cost me a couple of hundred dollars at least,” said Watson. That’s just one of many scenarios that NNC is hoping to address in its mission to help seniors “age in place.” NNC is based on a growing national grassroots movement of do-it-yourself senior living that’s friendlier, more autonomous and less expensive, and designed so that seniors can age with dignity in their own homes and communities. Through nominal membership fees that encourage membership across all economic spectrums, the grassroots “village” model provides everything from social activities to transportation, grocery shopping and home repairs. Seniors who become members of NNC pay a small annual fee, based on a sliding scale (currently, that works out to $5, $25, or $50 a month), to help fund programs and services. NNC is only the second such model in Baltimore, and will serve the Glen, Cheswolde, Cross Country and Fallstaff neighborhoods.
Roland Park area village The other village in Baltimore, Village at Home, which is unrelated to NNC, serves 23 neighborhoods bounded by Mt. Washington to Oakenshawe and Roland Park to Ruxton. Members of Village at Home pay $800 a year for an individual membership, or $1,200 for a household (the fee can be paid in monthly installments). There is no paid staff. The organization, which started in 2011, is run completely by volunteers, who provide help with grocery shopping and menu planning, rides to appointments, taking out recycling raking leaves, light gardening, organizing papers and technology assistance. There are also walking and exercise groups. Vetted vendors provide commercial services to Village members at a discounted rate, including a car service, medical transport, prepared meals, handyman services, house cleaning, bill paying and many other services. Transportation and computer help have been the two most popular volunteer services, said Village at Home’s Executive Director Susan Newhouse. “It’s been lovely to see the relationships that develop with the volunteers and older residents,” she said. “People are really looking out for one another.” For some residents, it’s the accumulation of little problems that may keep them
from staying in their own homes as they age, Newhouse said. “Maybe there’s a leak somewhere, but you don’t know where, or [you don’t have] a plumber to call who’s going to get it fixed right. It’s a great boon to people to know there’s somewhere to call to get a plumber whose been vetted by the Village and who’s not going to rip you off.”
Getting started Since forming about a year and a half ago, Village at Home has slowly built up a cadre of volunteers to help the residents who need it. But it is looking for ways to let more people know of its existence. NNC is even newer. The idea for NNC came about almost a year ago when 30 residents of the Upper Park Heights area met to plan an initiative for their community. They came up with the following mission statement: “Northwest Neighbors Connecting is a support system comprised of individuals offering and seeking support in the Northern Park Heights community. We engage each other, professionals, volunteers and community organizations, to provide a “round-the-clock” network to assist us and our neighbors with social interaction, transportation, household upkeep, and day-to-day activity. We envision an interdependent community in which all residents are safe, secure and connected.” Officially launched in March, NNC is getting the word out to grow its membership (200 people attended the launch party). Members drive each other to appointments, teach each other skills, hold social events, make friendly check-in calls, prepare for emergencies and more. “NNC wants to be the force in Northern Park Heights that transforms the way we care for one another,” said Lane Levine, Community Network Director of CHAI: Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc., which is overseeing the initiative. (Unlike NNC, Village at Home has no institutional support.)
Promoting diversity and cooperation Though CHAI is an agency of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, NNC serves all members of the Upper Park Heights community, which is predominantly a mix of Jewish and African American residents. The goal is for NNC to be the first of a series of organizations in Northwest Baltimore that will serve as an interdependent support system to help seniors age well in their community by getting support from their neighbors. According to Levine, a lot of the support people need as they age is the kind best See VILLAGE MODEL, page B-4