Annual Report 2011 - Greater Springfield Senior Services

Highlights of 2011
Nutrition Program Meets the Challenge
The GSSSI Nutrition Program received the first “Meeting the
Challenge” award from the Massachusetts Meals on Wheels
(MAMOW) association in
recognition of its extraordinary
efforts to deliver meals
and ensure the well-being
of area seniors following the
June 1 tornado that struck
Western Mass. GSSSI
staff called over 750 meal
participants to check on their
well-being and ensure they
had access to food. In spite of
fallen branches on the roads,
downed wires and numerous
GSSSI Nutrition Program staff receive detours, drivers brought meals
award from the Mass. Meals on Wheels
to all but 14 of the 794
Association for their extraordinary
efforts to deliver meals to seniors
seniors scheduled to receive
following the June 1 tornado.
a meal on the following day.
From left to right:
Mary Jenewin-Caplin, GSSSI Area Agency Caring Volunteers Plant
on Aging Director; Darren Matthews, Flowers & Cultivate
Home Delivered Meals Driver;
Smiles
Tracy Landry, Home Delivered Meals
Program Supervisor; Jean Levesque,
Fifty volunteers from Consolidated
Health Plans (CHP) and
Meal Program Clerk; Dave Scott,
Home Delivered Meals Driver;
their families spent a Saturday
Linda Galarneau, Nutrition Program
cutting lawns, trimming bushes,
Coordinator; and Dorothy Hooper,
GSSSI Board President.
bagging debris and planting
flowers for eight elderly
homeowners in Springfield.
It was the third Memorial Cleanup Day that was established
to honor the memory of Karen McCracken, a former CHP
employee who took great pride in her home and yard.
Special thanks to Mark Devlin, Director of Special Risk
at Consolidated Health Plans, along with his colleagues and
their family members, for donating their time to enhance the
quality of life for these grateful individuals. We also thank
Home Depot, Lowes, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and Big Y
for supporting CHP’s efforts with supplies.
Enterprise Farm in Whately took their produce on the road in a bus. Shelly Beck,
Project Manager for Enterprise Farm, shows off her fresh fruits and vegetables at
her mobile farmers’ market.
Fruits of Summer
800 low-income seniors received U.S.D.A. coupon books
valued at $25 to use at local farmers’ markets. Coupons
were distributed through Councils on Aging and GSSSI Case
Managers. Five times during the growing season GSSSI Home
Delivered Meal Drivers added fresh fruits to their deliveries
so homebound clients could receive a fresh fruit treat in
addition to their meal.
For the third consecutive year, CHP worked with
Greater Springfield Senior Services to identify elderly
clients living in the vicinity of its Springfield office
that lacked the resources to care for the exterior
of their homes and didn't have family to help.
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