Maine Municipal Tax Collectors' & Treasurers' Association
Home	Training	Executive Board		Newsletters	Links	Forms
MMTCTA List Serve					Back to List Serve Index

Posted by Dave Peppard, Richmond, September 14, 2005:

I would appreciate any advice or help you can give. At this years town meeting we appropriated a few thousand dollars to start up a Senior Citizen /Services Program. I have no idea where to start looking as to what services, programs, activites, assistance we could offer to the seniors. The goal of the town is to get the groundwork started this year and build on that in the years to come. Does anyone out there have a small scale established program that they could share? Appreciate any help.

Responses:

We appropriate $3,000 per year and it goes to fund the Senior Citizens Lunch program, which is a monthly social "get together" of the local seniors in our community.  They bring in a guest speaker, someone from the Area Agency of Aging, or someone to talk about Social Security issues, or one of the congressional reps office staffer etc.  Its very successful and very much appreciated by the senior population.  Whats even better is that they (the seniors) run the program themselves.  From ordering the food, cooking the meals, and setting up the guestspeakers.  They use the basement of the local church since it has the facilities, but I am sure a school or community center could serve the same purpose. (Ryan Pelletier, St. Agatha)

Although not a municipal program, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs has an Elder's Group that operates similar to what Ryan has said.  In addition to social get together meals, they congregate weekly to work on crafts like quilting, basket-making, etc.  The supplies are provided for through the program.  They also set money aside for trips to Bingo.  They are accompanied by community members (who are responsible for assisting with medications, disabled elders, etc.) and coolers full of snacks and drinks.  Usually two vans are rented, and they play bingo on the way with the use of hand held radios.  For the trip, they are each given a “survival kit” that has paper, a pen, a bingo blotter, sugar-free mints, tissues, etc.)  The program has been running for (I'm guessing) about 10 years.  If you would like to contact someone from there, I have some email addresses for the social services department that coordinates the outings and gatherings.  Just let me know if you need them.  My address is mchc@mfx.net . (Tammy Getchell, Mapleton, Castle Hill & Chapman)

In Naples for the most part we have Senior Field Trips.  A few times a year the van brings a number of seniors to a lobster bake, to boston, and to a show of some sorts I think it is.  You could look at recreation type of activities also, such as senior swim days, and aquasize.  Programs specifically tailored for seniors.  Now if you are looking at welfare and social services such as that, well I rely on General Assistance and other agencies, but we do give to those agencies.  I think it best to ask those that created it or proposed it to tell you what they had in mind or you can just offer suggestions on what you find by asking the question here. (Derik Goodine, Naples)

Not only did I see some really great ideas in other communities, I would suggest that you contact Debra Silva at Senior Spectrum. She was in my office the other day conducting a survey and mentioned that she is interested in partnering with communities to offer the types of services mentioned earlier to the elderly. She can be reached at 626-7777. (Mark Doyon, Manchester)