YOU COULD CALL IT THE LIGHTBULB moment—literally: A bulb burns out in that hard- to-reach spot at the top of the stairs, and that’s
when you realize you’re dependent on others for the
simplest of household chores. “It’s horrible,” says Candace
Baldwin, codirector of the VtV Network. “I’ve heard so
many stories from people who say they can’t get on a ladder
and change a lightbulb, so they have to move to a nursing
home. A lightbulb can be a disaster.”
Especially when the homeowner won’t ask for help. Join-
ing a village can ease the resistance, says Christabel Cheung,
director of the San Francisco Village. Many members are
drawn by the opportunity to give aid as well as receive it.
“A lot of people initially get involved because they’re active
and want to do something,” she says. “Then they feel better
about asking for help when they need it.”
Last winter Blanche and Rudy Hirsch needed that help.
The couple, 80 and 82, live in a three-story brick town
house in Washington, D.C.; they pay $800 per year in dues
to Capitol Hill Village (CHV ). During the blizzard-filled
February of 2010, Rudy was in the hospital for hip sur-
gery and Blanche stayed with nearby friends as the snow
piled up. On the day Rudy came home, Blanche recalls, the
driver warned that if their walkways weren’t clear “he’d
turn around and go back to the hospital.” She called CHV
executive director Gail Kohn, who summoned the village’s
volunteer snow brigade. A pair of young architects who
lived nearby were quickly dispatched with shovels.
The Hirsches have discussed moving; they’ve postponed
the decision by installing lifts so Rudy can get up and down
the stairs. Remembering her visits to a family member who
lived in a retirement home, Blanche shudders: “Everyone
was so old. It’s depressing.”
Avoiding “old-age ghettos,” says Kohn, is a major draw
for villagers. She touts the intergenerational quality of
Capitol Hill, full of “people in their 20s and people in their
80s,” and CHV organizes a handful of events geared toward
people of different ages. One program brings high school
freshmen and village members together in the neighbor-
hood’s public library, where the kids offer informal com-
puter tutoring to the older folks.
Such social-network building is a natural outgrowth of
village life. Indeed, Beacon Hill Village was founded on the
idea of forging stronger bonds among members. “There
was a program committee in existence before the village
even opened its doors,” says Stephen Roop, president of the
Beacon Hill Village board. “Most of my friends on Beacon
Hill I know through the village.”
One fall evening in Chicago, Lincoln Park Village mem-
bers gathered at a neighborhood church for a potluck
supper. A group of about 80—village members and college
students who volunteer as community service—nibbled
sushi and sipped Malbec wine as they chatted with Robert
Falls, artistic director of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Lincoln Park Village’s executive director, Dianne Campbell,
61, doesn’t have a background in social work or gerontology;
her experience is in fund-raising for charter schools and
museums, and she lives in Lincoln Park. To village mem-
ber Warner Saunders, 76, that’s a big plus. “She doesn’t see
us as elderly clients who need her help,” says Saunders,
a longtime news anchor for Chicago’s NBC affiliate, WMAQ-
TV. “I see Dianne as a friend. If she were a social worker,
and I viewed my relationship with her as that of a patient,
I would probably resent that.”
For Saunders, Lincoln Park Village makes his quality of
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Find out how Palisades Village volunteers in Washington, D.C., help
older residents stay in their homes longer at aarp.org/villagemovement.
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