CITIES AND ORGANIZATIONS WORK TO MEET OVERWHELMING DEMAND FOR SENIOR HOME/CHORE SERVICES

BY CHARITY MEIER cmeier@candgnews.com

METRO DETROIT — Karyn Curro, the CEO of Interfaith Volunteer Services, said she first noticed the need while working with people in nursing homes over 31 years ago.

“I found that a lot of people who were living in nursing homes didn’t necessarily want to be there and, with a little extra help, they could stay in their own homes for longer and perhaps forever,” said Curro.

She said that some people were not in the nursing home for medical care but simply because they couldn’t take care of their daily needs at home. She said often they just needed help with daily housekeeping or transportation to appointments, or they were lonely.

However, when she started researching organizations that provided these types of services, she found there were a lot of gaps and approached the Area Agency on Ag- ing, who was in the process of launching what would become IVC. Initially, IVC was started by a fiscal grant received by Catholic Charities of Macomb in 1992. In 1994 it became an independent 501(c)3.

IVC offers aid to seniors throughout Macomb county and parts of Oakland and St. Clair counties. The organization pairs seniors with volunteers to help them achieve a desired task. Curro said they are able to help hundreds of seniors a year with home chores, but she stresses that there is no guarantee that they will be able to assist with any given task.

“We are an all-volunteer organization,” said Curro. “We do have some paid staff in the office who are running the program, but all services are provided by volunteers. So that limits what we can do. … Since we’re an all-volunteer program, if someone calls in for help, regardless of how much they might need that help, we can’t guarantee we can give them help. … It just depends if we have