Faith In Action® National Program Report

In rural Oregon, a Faith in Action project learned by trial and error how to meet the needs of isolated elderly and disabled residents.

When the project first received funding through Faith in Action, Phase 2 in 1995, staff attempted to achieve an ambitious goal: serve people with disabilities and a large elderly population who were homebound. They soon learned, however, that the volunteers would have to receive specialized training to work with people who had disabilities.

The project then narrowed its focus to working with elderly people who were homebound. Its volunteers also provided services that other agencies did not provide, such as friendly visiting and companionship, telephone reassurance, shopping, running errands, transportation to appointments, yard work and bill paying.

RWJF provided a grant of $25,000 for this project from 1995 to 1997 (ID# 027746).

College Students Answer Call for Help
The project, called Faith in Action Newberg, served residents of Newberg, Ore., and surrounding rural communities, which had a combined population of 47,000 people. Volunteers typically provided services that they had previous experience providing, which minimized the need for more training.

As project staff gained more expertise, the project expanded to include providing services to children with disabilities.

By the end of its funding in 1997, project staff could point to the following results:

• Project staff recruited more than 71 volunteers who provided 792 hours of service to care recipients. About 20 percent of volunteers were college students who typically participated once or twice a year in activities such as yard clean up or window washing.
• More than 84 elderly people received assistance from volunteers. Requests for services came from older adults, their families, friends and congregations; and from home health and social service agencies, hospitals, senior centers and nursing homes.
• The project partnered with local organizations to accomplish specific tasks. For instance, the organization:
  • Partnered with Habitat for Humanity to install safety grab bars in homes.
  • Worked with George Fox University, a Christian university whose main campus is in Newberg, to set up community service projects for new student orientation week.
  • Worked with the city library to develop and implement a service called Homebound Books, in which librarians put together a bundle of books for elderly citizens and volunteers delivered them.