August already! This is going to suffice for a July-August update since a number of Board members are taking vacations from their retirements during parts of August, including yours truly. The month of July was relatively quiet for MY Neighbors but activity has been steady. As of this writing we have 38 Volunteers providing regular services to 38 Members. Bill Schultz and I did a “small is beautiful” orientation last week for three new Volunteers. Since opening to the public in May we have filled 127 service requests. Seventy-four of these (about 58%) have been for transportation, mostly rides to and from the Burnsville area.
Lisa Schultz generously offered to distribute and restock MY Neighbors brochures around the county. She is looking for someone to help her restock occasionally in the Burnsville area. Let us know if you’d like to help.
We are looking for one more Call Manager in order to be fully staffed. If you have a telephone and a computer and are willing to be on call four hours per week you can make a valuable contribution to MY Neighbors without ever leaving home. Contact us if you’d like to learn more.
Over sixty people attended the screening of the documentary “Being Mortal” on Tuesday, June 27 at First Baptist Church, and nearly everyone stayed for dinner and the panel discussion afterwards. If you missed the event you can stream the documentary online with subtitles. (See the link on the News tab at www.myneighbors.cc for further details. Oh, and while you’re there admire our beautiful new logo; our thanks to Paul Lundquist, Barrett Rose and Stacy Oates for working on it until we got it just right!) We’re already working on another educational event for October with Dr. Tom Kaluzynski and the MemoryCare group in Burnsville. Our first Volunteer Appreciation event is a picnic at Carolina Hemlocks this Friday. We’re working on a social event for Members as well.
The proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act appear to have stalled for now, but keep paying attention. Rural elders are potentially among most impacted by some of the proposed changes. Carole Spainhour of Elder Law Carolina in Asheville recommends Kaiser Health News as having the most up-to-date and accurate information regarding health care policy. The link is:
http://khn.org/
If further legislation is proposed and you’d like to share your thoughts with our elected legislators give them a call:
Sen. Richard Burr: 202-224-3154
Sen. Thom Tillis: 202-224-6342
Rep. Mark Meadows: 202-225-6401
Give your name and address and identify yourself as a constituent. It only takes a few minutes and it is extremely valuable for our representatives to know what citizens are thinking.
Thank you for your continued support of MY Neighbors.
Chip Poston
Board Chair