Helping Arizona’s senior population remain independent

Neighbors Who Care is a non-profit helping seniors to remain independent. The non-profit provides a service to seniors who are unable to drive or are homebound. Some services include transportation to medical appointments and trips to the grocery store.

Neighbors Who Care is looking for volunteers to give up a couple of hours a week to provide free rides to these seniors as most of the volunteers of this organization tend to be older Arizonans who typically leave throughout the summer.

Sheryl Keeme, Executive Director of Neighbors Who Care, joined “Arizona Horizon” to provide insight into how the community can become involved.

Neighbors Who Care is celebrating their 30 year anniversary this year and the organization depends on volunteers to help out seniors. 

“Neighbors Who Care is an agency that is set aside…about 13 different services so that the folks in a 32 square mile area down in Sun Lakes South Chandler area, can age in place for as long as safely possible and we celebrate 30 years this year and we have been doing these volunteer services with the generosity of volunteers in our community for the last 30 years,” said Keeme. 

Neighbors Who Care provides a variety of services that go from daily tasks to home repairs. 

“Errands, if they need to go to the bank, need to go to a post office, those kinds of things. We also offer small home repairs. We have some handymen who volunteer their time and they will come change a lightbulb or put a new filter in for their heat pump…,” said Keeme. 

People can dedicate an hour of their time to enjoy a nice conversation and become friends with the seniors. 

“That is somebody who might come spend an hour with someone, just to have conversations so that isolation as you can imagine with elderly is rampant and so being able to socialize folks by having someone stop by or even having a reassurance call, maybe every morning or maybe once every other day,” said Keeme.