Seaglass serves seniors From left, Seaglass Village President Heidi Whear, volunteer Lauren Shaw, events committee and board of directors member Linda Garber, member Bobbie Cohen, and Executive Director Alyce Deveau gather in the group's meeting space at First Congregational Church in Swampscott. STAFF PHOTO: SPENSER HASAK By Charlie McKenna Neighbors helping neighbors. That statement gets at the heart of what Seaglass Village, a non-profit organization with members in Swampscott, Nahant, and Marblehead, aims to do. Founded in 2021, Seaglass Village is part of a broader community of villages throughout the commonwealth and the nation. The aim of the non-profit is simple: to help seniors remain in their homes by allowing them to access a network of volunteers, primarily other retired people, who can assist them with things like moving furniture around the house, getting rides to and from doctor’s appointments, or even changing the batteries inside a smoke alarm. “We all want to be in our own homes. We don't want to go to nursing homes or assisted livings,” explains Seaglass Village President Heidi Whear. “The overall general view is that it's about people getting to know each other, connecting, making new friends, addressing issues like isolation … and we've exceeded all expectations and it's very, very exciting.” Village founding member Bobbie Cohen says she chose to stop driving due to physical disabilities, and not wanting to rely on her children, she opted to use Uber as her primary mode of transportation. But, the unreliability of the service began to frustrate her, so when the opportunity to join Seaglass Village arose, Cohen says she lept at the chance to be the village’s first member. “Seaglass has given me my life back,” Cohen explains. “All I can say is it's the best thing that ever happened to me, I love meeting all the volunteers. They are so intelligent and kind.” Village members are roughly evenly split between Swampscott and Marblehead now, and the events programmed for members recently included a trip to Fort Sewall. Attendance at activities has gone “way up” in recent months, explains events committee and board of directors member Linda Garber. “We can give them some socialization and they don’t have to stick home. We can give them a ride to the activities. … Anytime you go to an event, [you can] always go up to new people say ‘hi, I'm so and so, who are you? What's your story? Where are you from?’ and people immediately feel welcome,” Garber says, explaining that she feels she is a “prime example” of the benefits of joining Seaglass. “I moved here five years ago. I retired and I didn't know anyone … and I was knocking on neighbor's houses introduce myself … and since [joining the village] I have such a wide circle of really good friends. My kids tease me because I have such an active social life. It's just been wonderful to be a senior and be able to meet people … this is a really truly wonderful organization. I'm a big fan.” “Isolation was one of the biggest problems of seniors and because of Linda they’re not isolated anymore,” added Executive Director Alyce Deveau, who served as Swampscott’s library director for decades before retiring last winter. The connections made between members at evens are a focus for the village’s board going forward, Whear said, as those bonds can lead to requests being fulfilled and provide seniors with new connections later in life. The village’s offices are currently set up in the First Church of Swampscott, though Seaglass is non-denominational. Membership currently costs $360 on an annual basis (“a dollar a day,” Deveau explains). As it continues to grow, Seaglass needs more volunteers, Deveau says, particularly considering the volume of requests for transportation put in by members. “We'd like to have more volunteers to balance out but right now, we're answering all the requests that we get. We've been really fortunate,” Deveau says. Requests have to be submitted before 10 a.m. the day prior to the event, Deveau explains, and the majority of requests the village hasn’t been able to fulfill have been those for home health aides, a service Seaglass does not provide. Even odd-ball requests like burying a cat have been honored.
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