c. 2003 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ An interfaith, volunteer caregiving organization has recruited the star of “Touched by an Angel,” actress Della Reese, to help spread word of free services available to older Americans through the Faith in Action network.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday (June 3), Reese said she was shocked to learn how many elderly Americans have difficulty performing daily tasks but receive no assistance.
“This is my age group we’re talking about here,” Reese said. “Taking this job is a feather in my nest.”
A new national survey of older Americans shows that one in four Americans over the age of 55 struggles with activities such as shopping, cooking and housework. Nearly one-half of the 16 million people who have difficulty with chores do not receive help from family or other members of their community, the study found.
“There are an awful lot of people who are in need, but they receive no help at all,” Burton Reifler, the national director of Faith in Action, an interfaith, volunteer caregiving program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said during a press conference. Many people who cannot perform basic activities due to age, illness or disability are unaware that free help is available, he added.
Volunteers working with Faith In Action’s 1,000 local programs nationwide provide nonmedical assistance to people in their communities by shopping, cooking and driving people to doctor’s appointments.
Reese, who is also a Christian minister, said she remembers what it’s like to rely on others.
“I was born in the ’30s in the slums, so I know what it feels like to need assistance,” she said. As the new spokeswoman for Faith in Action, Reese said she hopes to alert senior citizens to the availability of free assistance from community volunteers.
“They want to be helped by people they can trust, and they seem to trust an interfaith organization,” she said.
According to the poll commissioned by Faith in Action, two out of three people surveyed said they would prefer being helped by a faith-based organization.
Katherine Wertheim, the development director of Emmaus Services for the Aging, a program that was started with a Faith in Action grant, said her organization is enriched by the many faiths of its volunteers.
“We have Muslims and Jews that take food to people’s houses on Christmas,” she said. Though similar programs are flourishing throughout the country, many communities remain unaware of grants that are available to them. Approximately 1,500 grants are still available for new programs, Wertheim said.
New groups seeking a grant, which includes $35,000 and technical assistance, must consist of at least three denominations. Citing the interfaith character of Faith in Action as one of the program’s greatest strengths, Reese said she is committed to publicizing free care for seniors who wish to remain independent in their homes but are struggling.
“This is a secret that shouldn’t be kept any longer,” she said. “I know I never want to go into a nursing home. I want to be there ’til the last minute with all my stuff.”
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