HESSCO Emergency and Holiday Meals

HESSCO has approximately 500 seniors over age 60 who receive Meals on Wheels through our nutrition program. For many of these seniors, HESSCO is the primary source of their nutrition on each day they receive the meal. When there is a weather emergency, the program sometimes cannot deliver meals because the catering company or the local senior centers where we host our programs close, or the volunteers cannot safely travel the roads. To prepare for these weather events, HESSCO purchases shelf-stable emergency meals. At the start of the winter season, each senior who receives Meals on Wheels, also receives two shelf-stable emergency meals. If HESSCO cannot deliver the hot noon meal due to weather, the seniors can consume their emergency meal. If HESSCO cannot deliver hot meals for more than two days, more emergency meals are purchased and distributed. HESSCO also provides local police and fire departments with a supply of emergency meals. In 2017-2018 winter season, HESSCO provided 2000 emergency meals. HESSCO will always work to ensure no senior is hungry. The expense of the emergency meals is not funded through any federal or state program and thus, HESSCO incurs the full cost because of our commitment to serve the nutrition needs of seniors.
On Thanksgiving and Christmas, HESSCO staff, Town of Walpole School Department staff, and other community groups volunteer their time to deliver a free, hot meal to any senior in our community who is alone for the holiday. The only expense of this program is the cost of the food as all of the groups involved donate their time. These holiday meals provide the opportunity for an isolated senior to have a friendly visit with a volunteer and receive a hot, holiday meal. This program is open to any senior in the HESSCO service area who will be alone for the holiday. The opportunity to sign-up for the program is distributed to area churches, senior centers and community groups prior to both Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2017, HESSCO delivered over 150 meals on Thanksgiving and another 150 on Christmas. The seniors who receive this meal express their gratitude through tears, hugs, smiles and holiday well-wishes. HESSCO never has difficulty finding staff and other groups to donate their time because all involved know they have made a senior a little less lonely.

Be a Santa to a Senior Program!

It's Christmas in July! Help us raise funds during our 65 hour event; July 10th starting at 7:00am through July 12th at midnight (central time). All of the funds raised during this time will be matched dollar for dollar (up to $5,000) by the Home Instead Senior Care Foundation. 100% of the funds raised will go towards local seniors through education, resources and programs such as Be a Santa to a Senior® program!

HELP of Southern Indiana is the non-profit that helps fund Be a Santa to a Senior® program and to give back to local seniors in our community. The purpose of this community service program Be a Santa to a Senior® is to positively impact the community by providing holiday cheer and gift giving to seniors who are least likely to receive a present during the holiday season, are lonely, and are financially challenged.

HELP of Southern Indiana's primary mission is to educate the community on healthcare resources available to you one person at a time. The "HELP" in HELP of Southern Indiana stands for Healthcare Education Learning Partners. We are a 501C3, not for profit organization located in Southern Indiana. The HELP Group contains an experienced group of volunteer healthcare professionals who choose to collaborate and provide education and resources in a complicated world of healthcare. Our Members are passionate about the healthcare resources and information available to the people in the community.

We hope you make a donation of your choice online between July 10th at 7am through July 12th at midnight (central time) to help support programs and resources to local seniors!

Extreme Makeover: Adult Day Service Edition

In 1979, Friendship Program opened its doors to begin providing Adult Day Services to older adults in the North Omaha area. Since that time the program has grown into the largest Adult Day Services program in Nebraska, grown to provide services throughout the Omaha metro, and was the first CARF Accredited Adult Day Service program in Nebraska.

This year as part of Give65! we are raising funds to makeover the program area. Environment plays an important role in encouraging recovery and well-being. Simple changes such as improved couches and recliners, as well as new paint and chairs, can make a participant want to engage more in groups and the program. Plan on supporting our agency with your donation and helping us create a new, comfortable, clean, and stimulating environment for our participants!

Care Giver Support

Currently 1 out of every 3 seniors in Washington State have some form of dementia. Many of these people are being cared for by loved ones at home. The amount of hours spent giving care is staggering; this often leads to increased risk to the care giver due to the stresses of caring for their loved one.

The Alzheimer Society of Washington (ASW) currently hosts 25 support groups each month. These support groups offer peer support, education and care giving tips and stress the importance of making sure the care givers take time to care for themselves. Our groups are designed to give care givers a safe and welcoming environment where they can discuss anything and get the support they need to continue to give the best care they can to their loved one.

Unfortunately, even though we offer 25 groups a month, it is not enough to give the support our community needs. As the population of people living with dementia continues to grow and the costs of long term care continue to rise, more and more families are keeping their loved ones home for a longer period of time. These factors are contributing to our groups are beginning to get overcrowded. In order to continue serving our families at a high level, we desperately need to start more more groups. However, our current resources are stretched to capacity.

Our need is clear: We need more support groups and more people to facilitate them. Our goal is to start an additional FIVE support groups within the next year. In order to do this, we need to develop a robust training program and identify facilitators for them. In order to do this we will need funding to create the training program, including training materials, train new facilitators and establish a quality control mechanism to ensure that all new groups are being facilitated in a manner conducive to our ASW's mission.