Brief History of the Chore Service June 2009

As Social Service Agent in the town of Sharon, Connecticut, in 1992, I became increasingly concerned about a frail 87-year old widow earning $8,000 from Social Security, and an elderly couple, 84 and 89 with a combined income of $12,780. The wife was legally blind, and he had a heart condition – but of course insisted on continuing to drive precariously into town. Both families needed affordable help in order to live safely and independently at home, but state and federal programs had cut back assistance for homecare, and were more aggressively placing liens on the homes involved.

Fortunately, I discovered that federal funding, through the Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, under the Older Americans Act, was available for “Chore” programs that help clients at home (and did not lien property), and that clients could contribute towards the work – a crucial aspect for our proud and independent customers. We applied for this funding and, after running briefly on a $2,000 grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, were delighted to be awarded an $11,487 Title III B grant in 1993, to create the Northwest Corner Chore Service for the towns of Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village and Sharon. We served 22 families that first year, providing 1,369 hours of service on a total budget of $16,205. Unlike some chore services, we serve people from all economic levels. This eliminates the possible stigma of being associated with a “program for the poor” and affords us the opportunity to receive higher contributions.

By 2004, we had grown to encompass an area of sixteen towns, and were serving 376 clients. But chore services are community based, and demand intimate knowledge of the territory, its residents and its resources, so we decided, as of October 2005, to limit our service area to seven of our original towns: Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Norfolk, Salisbury and Sharon (while encouraging two other services to continue in the outlying towns). By 2006, we had enhanced this seven-town program with volunteer programs, Friendly Visitors and Garden Angels, which provide companionship and help in the garden. Over the past twelve months (July 2008-June 2009), we have served 255 Chore Service clients with over 18,500 hours of help -- and provided hours of volunteer company for Friendly Visitor/Garden Angel clients. We work closely and coordinate with Social Service Agents, Visiting Nurses, churches, hospital discharge planners, Meals on Wheels personnel, and other people familiar with both client and worker needs in our communities, so that we can continue to fulfill our mission: to help elderly and disabled in our seven towns stay affordably independent at home.

Chore services benefit our communities in at least three ways. Most obviously, they help older and disabled people stay in their homes. A Cornwall customer wrote us recently, “At 86, a double-amputee in a wheelchair, I have been able to remain in my pleasant apartment, surrounded by treasured things, houseplants, many windows, and music.” Secondly, such services provide extra income for those who help them; 105 workers earned over $299,000 during Fiscal Year 2008-2009. (Some volunteers do odd jobs.) They also seem to enjoy the work, as this woman tells us, “My customers wait for me to come every week. I may be their only contact with the outside world. On another level it provides a job for the unemployed, and it gives me the opportunity to help people…..” Other workers frequently tell us that their customers have become “a part of our family.” Thirdly, from a broader perspective, helping older people stay in our towns enriches the entire community.

On a financial level, chore services are flexible, humane and fiscally efficient programs in a state whose budget, like that of most states, supports nursing homes over community based services. We create local income for the younger population and give affordable, essential and sensitive help to the older and disabled, while making every dollar work locally at least twice.