My older adult neighbor is a widow and lives alone. She is having a hard time keeping up with the small jobs around the house and is no longer driving. She's afraid she'll have to leave her home and community. This makes her very depressed. She learned of Mount Mansfield Villages and joined. Now she can request rides to doctor's appointments, the bank and the community lunches. She has volunteers available to perform small jobs around her house and yard. And, everyday someone calls her to ask her how her day is going and check if she is ok.

We are a grassroots volunteer organization in three small villages in Vermont. We have come together to assist our aging neighbors to stay in their homes and our community for as long as possible. We have worked the last 3 years to develop a "Village Model" non-profit (see www.vtvnetwork.org which is the national Village Network website).
Our Village offers memberships to anyone over the age of 50 in our area. The annual fee is $240 but no one will be refused membership because of financial constraints. So that is our awesome project. We currently have 23 members and 27 trained and vetted volunteers.

Our hope is that Vermont will be filled with Villages helping their neighbors to stay in the communities and provide them with opportunities to remain connected, learn new things, and teach others.