Age-Friendly initiatives often accomplish even more than they intended. Early this spring, community leaders were asked to share an “unplanned win” in their A-F/LL adventure. We thought you would like to hear about these as inspiration for your community work.
Elizabeth Singer (esinger@carymed.org), Age-Friendly Caribou, shared some unexpected successes from their sand bucket program. Initially, she managed the program on her own, collecting pickle barrels from restaurants and delivering the buckets to older residents. As news of the project’s success spread, partners began to step up. The Rotary Club became involved with delivery, and the Agency on Aging assisted with outreach and logistics, including coordinating donations. This situation exemplifies how one person’s connections with local organizations can significantly alter the direction of a program.
Julie Fralich (j.fralich@gmail.com), Building Livability in New Gloucester/Age-Friendly Gray and New Gloucester - Signing up many people for the Medicare Savings Program. To learn more, read this article in the New Gloucester Exchange.
Misty Gleason (mistygleason5@gmail.com), Age-Friendly Sullivan - Started ROMEO (Really Outgoing Men Eating Out) and LOL (Ladies Out to Lunch) meetups. This resulted in a deeper partnership with local restaurants and new opportunities to share resources.
Erica Bell Watkins (eabellwatkins@windhammaine.us), Age-Friendly Windham - Disaster bags turned into a community effort to begin work on a transportation project. “I think teaming up is a win, especially in this financial/political environment. We are stronger together”.
Renee Wheaton (coordinator03836@gmail.com), Mount Washington Valley Age-Friendly - The Emergency Backpacks and documents that I created last year with the hope of giving out 190 - 200 bags have EXPLODED. I gave out over 220 last year, and will be starting up more presentations next week, and it’s been suggested we create more bags and sell them to raise funds for the project.
Anne Krieg (anne.krieg@bangormaine.gov), Age-Friendly Bangor - Making the improvements to our parks happen after what was just a check box on the parks master plan.
Cheyenne Stevens (livingwellmadisonmaine@gmail.com), Living Well, Madison, told of the unanticipated win that resulted from their partnership with the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP). She explained how they collected data and collaborated with partners to advocate for a transportation program. After a three-month pilot with KVCAP, they were able to document the need and successfully advocate for KVCAP to extend the pilot. The unanticipated win of the pilot is that the service will be available to many more residents. They plan to build on this success by expanding the service and increasing the frequency of rides to cover a larger area.
Suzie Nutbrown (snutbrown@healthypeninsula.org), Age-Friendly Coastal Communities/Blue Hill Peninsula, Deer Isle/Stonington- At Bridging Neighbors, we empower clients to advocate for themselves in specific situations, like obtaining heating assistance.
Dee Saucier (Danforthconnector@gmail.com), Danforth Livable Community - We held a spring potluck dinner dance recently. The bonus was to see people with mobility impairments dancing and singing to the music.
Tom Mahoney (mahoneyjt783@gmail.com), Harpswell Aging at Home - When we honored veterans last November, one of our guys brought a friend, who heard about the benefits he could access through the VA - he was able to connect and get treatment for cancer.
Melinda Remington (melindaremington@yahoo.com), Bethel Area Age-Friendly Community Initiative, shared several unexpected successes that emerged from discussing age-friendly goals and opportunities with individuals she meets in informal spaces, referred to as "bumping places." These are locations where residents of the Bethel area naturally gather and interact. For instance, after Melinda informed a resident of Bryant Pond about a game day that began at the Bethel library, the woman felt inspired by the success of the Bethel group and is now leading a similar initiative at the Bryant Pond library. Additionally, these community interactions have fostered deeper partnerships with a local land trust to promote accessible walking paths. They have also facilitated networking with other age-friendly communities that have medical equipment loan closets, helping to develop the necessary policies and procedures to launch their own initiative. Melinda recommended the Resource in Action Skill Chapter. It provided inspiration for her approach to identifying people and local organizations who can help Bethel AFCI achieve unanticipated wins.
What are your unexpected victories? Where did a program or activity exceed your expectations? We'd love to hear about them! Email Lifelong@maine.edu