Keepingcompany D
Lutheran program offers
senior companions Text and photo by Rachel Pritchett
espite being 83, not in the best of health, without much money and no car, Ray Boggs gets along pretty well.
Each day in his small apartment in Tacoma, Wash.,
he checks in with God to receive any new direction on the game plan for his life. “I want to make sure every day to have a little talk with him, and [let God] know that I’m concerned about offending him,” said Boggs, a retired health-care worker who lives on $1,175 a month in Social Security. Aſter that, it’s just a matter of covering the daily bases
like getting food and maybe finding someone in the low-income senior complex to share some company. Tat’s not always easy since residents tend to cocoon behind locked doors. Boggs enjoys cooking, but lugging groceries from
the food bank on the bus was exhausting. Car rides to take photos with his treasured Kodak weren’t possible anymore. Weren’t possible, that is, until a social worker in the complex worked with Lutheran Community Ser- vices Northwest to connect Boggs and Judi Bailey. As a volunteer with the Senior Companions pro-
gram, Bailey drives Boggs to a food bank farther away, where he can find all the ingredients for his favorite meals, like vegetable stew and salad. Tat’s far better than the TV dinners he used to heat up. She also drives him to Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park,
where he can roll down the window to snap photos of passing sailboats and cargo ships. “We have lots of discussions about where we’re going,
what we plan on doing,” Bailey said. Tey also play cards. “Now he can beat me,” said Bai-
ley, 73, who retired from a career in state social services and also has little income. Boggs said, “Having her as a helper, I’ve been able to
do things I [couldn’t] do without the program.” In the process, the senior companion and her client
became good friends, which means something in these twilight years. “He and I laugh about everything,” Bailey said. “We have a lot of fun.”
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www.thelutheran.org
Te Senior Companions program has been around
since 1968. Te idea is to keep low-income seniors like Boggs independent while providing low-income senior volunteers like Bailey an opportunity to serve. Te result is strengthened community. It’s part of the Senior Corps unit of the Corporation
for National and Community Service (CNCS), a small federal agency. Nationally more than 360,000 seniors 55 and older volunteer as companions or serve in two other Senior Corps programs (Foster Grandparents and RSVP), according to CNCS (
www.nationalservice.gov). CNCS funnels Senior Companions grants to non-
profits in all states except Alaska at the moment. Lutheran Community Services Northwest is among four CNCS partners in Washington that provide training and match clients to volunteers. In Washington, 236 vol- unteers help 720 homebound seniors and other adults maintain their independence, said Kirsten Franklin- Temple, CNCS director for Alaska and Washington. “It definitely takes a special person to fill that role,”
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