Lifeline to Independence
LIFE Project connects area youth, seniors
by ANDREA KIMBRIEL Reporter

Volunteers with the Red Cross LIFE Project clean house, do yardwork, or chat with elderly residents in Buffalo and Cheektowaga. (The Red Cross preferred not to release the names of the individuals in the photograph.)

Once a month, 13-year-old Emma Reid helps rake the yard, vacuum, or shovel snow for an elderly resident in Cheektowaga. She and other members of Cheektowaga Youth Engaged in Service are active participants in the Red Cross's Lifeline to Independence For the Elderly Project.

The LIFE Project is a pilot program of the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the American Red Cross. For five years, the program has been connecting volunteers with seniors who need some extra help around their homes.

High school and college-age youth (and a few younger children and parents) from various service groups, schools, youth groups and other organizations volunteer to help elderly

residents in the East and West sides of Buffalo and parts of Cheektowaga. The goal of the program is to help seniors live independently in their homes for a longer time.

"You could almost call it an adopt-a-grandparent program. You do things you would do for grandparents," said Louisa Perez, client service coordinator for the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the Red Cross.

The Cheektowaga Y.E.S. program takes volunteers to help seniors once a month for one hour. Most of the youth are 12 to 16 years old, said Michele DiBenedetto, director of Cheektowaga Y.E.S. She picks up three to six volunteers in her van and drives them over to a senior's house.

She said they have gotten to chat frequently with one senior who they have been visiting for a while. That type of social interaction is one of the purposes of the LIFE Project.

"Seniors are absolutely grateful for the help or even the companionship," said DiBenedetto. "They seem very comfortable, very appreciative of the help we can give them."

Reid said simple things, such as taking out the garbage, can be difficult for seniors with physical disabilities.

"There's this one lady who had a stroke, I think. It's hard for her to get around. We go to vacuum and stuff. My favorite thing is that I get to help people. I know it makes them feel good, and it makes me feel good, too," she said.

Reid has been volunteering with the program for two years, ever since she joined the Y.E.S. program.

She's become friends with the other volunteers because she sees many of them at other Y.E.S. activities. Some of those activities are helping children make crafts, selling merchandise for the Polish American Festival in Cheektowaga and boxing food for food banks.

Cheektowaga Y.E.S. got involved with the LIFE Project about two years ago. The Amherst Y.E.S. program has been involved for three years. Five volunteers help elderly residents on Buffalo's West Side with odd jobs for several hours every other month, said Antonella Covelli, director of Amherst Y.E.S.

"Working with senior citizens I really think is important for young people to do. They can see that maybe there are people who are more underprivileged than they are. It helps them be grateful for what they have," said Covelli.

Emily Stoner, 18, of Williamsville volunteers with Amherst Y.E.S. She has been doing various kinds of volunteering for years, and plans to look for similar service opportunities when she goes off to college in the fall.

"Most people think, 'Oh, it's horrible. It's a bunch of work and grumpy old people.' But it's not - it's really fun," she said.

Stephanie Malinenko, Red Cross LIFE Project director, said that Greater Buffalo is the only Red Cross chapter running the program. Each chapter is independent, but she hopes other chapters will adopt the program if they feel that it serves a need in their communities.

More than 500 home visits are conducted annually, and more than 1000 volunteer hours are donated annually by youth and adults, according to Perez.

Background checks are run on the youth involved, and they receive special training before they go into homes, said Malinenko.

The seniors are also pre-screened before becoming part of the project. They each have a case manager who rates their level of need, and they get to request the type of help and the number of visits they would like to receive, she said.

"The response is always overwhelming. Some don't have relatives in the area. So the opportunity to spend time with young people is very exciting. They're so grateful. The volunteers are like family to them," said Malinenko.

She said youth are usually a little shy when they first volunteer, but once they "get in the groove" they are excited to repeat the experience.

"Some of it comes from the instant gratification of seeing that you helped. You just made someone's day a whole lot better. We always get a good response from youth because there is that instant feeling of 'I made a difference,'" she said.