Washington Park Cares (Updated)

Pam wrote earlier in this blog about her work with this Denver neighborhood group to establish a set of services available for residents of this and nearby neighborhoods to use as they choose to stay at home, age in place. Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs, as they are more and more commonly known) are springing up across the country. Denver is on the leading edge of this development and Pam has an up close and personal view of just how much work and dedication it takes to get such a plan together, mobilizing both the service side of the equation and the neighborhood side of the equation.

Washington Park Cares is ready to launch officially and has a party planned for Tuesday, June 10 from 4 pm to 7 pm at The Boathouse in Washington Park on Franklin Street in Denver. Please join in on this grand celebration and learn more about WPC.

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UPDATE! from Pam at the event.

We introduced our mission of providing support to seniors aging in place through the use of volunteers, neighbors, service vendors and social activity. Washington Park Cares is a member organization modeled after the successful Beacon Hill Village in Boston. . Washington Park Cares is committed to helping seniors stay in their homes by providing valuable and necessary services through a combination of volunteers, service providers and social activities. The boundaries are Broadway to Colorado Blvd and Speer to Evans.

Our Board of Directors has worked for the past year developing the organization and it was wonderful to see the culmination of the work paying off at our kick off. We have developed collaborative relationships with public and private organizations to help further this Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, NORC. This is an up and coming phenomenon for communities with large maturing populations.

The Washington Park Service Committee spent months researching a comprehensive list of vendors and volunteers for our members needs. We developed a standard questionnaire for all vendors including reference checks and insurance requirements. Using those requirements, we developed a list of qualified vendors, 2 to 3 in each category along with a group of volunteers looking for ways to help their community.

Our Kick Off Party was a huge success with 3 slide presentations about the organization and opportunity for questions and answers. Washington Park Cares memberships are $100 per year for singles and $200 per year for couples. This membership gives you access to the volunteers, the vendors and numerous opportunities for social activities like walks, dinners, and events such as Active Minds Seminars. Our first event was a solid success and garnered new members as well as volunteers who want to help. If you want more information about Washington Park Cares, check out their web site at Washingtonparkcares.net.