There are many stories to tell of people who need a little help with daily tasks.

These are independent people who want to stay at home where they are happy.

With assistance from the Interfaith Caregivers program, they can remain in their own home or apartment for as long as possible.

Some examples of services our program volunteers have provided recently:

• A church group helps clean the rain gutters and rake leaves for a 92-year old woman.

• A woman and her 90-year old mother get a ride to the beauty shop.

• A young woman in a wheel chair gets help from high school students and staff to move her furniture into a handicap accessible apartment.

• When budget cuts eliminate a van route, four seniors in one community get rides from volunteers to the grocery store.

• An elderly woman with macular degeneration is transported to a store by a young mother, who helps her with the weekly grocery shopping.

• A wife needs four weeks of chemo and radiation. Her husband insists on riding with her everyday as our drivers transport over 1200 miles.

• A church youth group had raked a yard for an 89-year old woman.  During a follow-up phone call, we learned the widow was lonely because her small dog of seventeen years had passed away.  Now a volunteer calls and visits her every week.

• An elderly woman called with good news.  Her husband would be coming home from the nursing home that afternoon.  She needed transportation to get his prescription at the pharmacy and to pick up groceries to make his favorite meal.  A volunteer made it happen.

• An elderly woman was taking good care of her husband, who suffered from dementia.  She called for someone to sit with her husband so she could go to the hospital for testing.  The volunteer returned the following morning to again provide respite care, so the woman could hear the test results.

• A teacher was able to continue working with her middle school students because volunteer drivers transported her 54-year old husband for six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy.