In a recent discussion with islander and Rotarian Amy Huggins about the island’s Music Mends Minds program, the conversation turned to what she noticed as a discrepancy between the amount of Rotary programs aimed at helping children versus those aimed at helping seniors.
And while both causes are equally important, Huggins, who attended the International Rotary convention earlier this summer, said she was amazed by how many programs focused on youth, especially at a time when so many seniors are suffering from diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and dementia — the Alzheimer’s Association reports more than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. The discussion threw into contrast a larger issue relevant especially to Vashon where the senior population makes up nearly 20 percent of the island’s 11,000 people, but funding for the population is scarce.
In 2014, United Way of King County announced that it will no longer support several services for seniors and people with disabilities. The announcement cost the Vashon Senior Center a combined $45,000 over two years. A letter to grantees from United Way explained it will align its grants with programs that focus on ending homelessness, supporting early learning and older youth and alleviating poverty. In much the same news, the county’s Meals on Wheels program, which provides frozen meals to seniors 60 and older, faced a bleak future after a $800,000 United Way funding cut in 2016 to Senior Services.
Additionally, rising property taxes throughout the county are putting a burden on seniors, especially for those on fixed incomes. However, the county offers two programs to help reduce the burden.
At the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank, Executive Director Robbie Rohr said the organization serves 30 percent of the island’s senior population.
Meanwhile, at Vashon Community Care, low Medicare reimbursement keeps the organization operating in the red and in need of donations to keep functioning. In 2015, the island organization needed to raise $300,000 to stay open.
With such a large senior population and very limited resources that seem to be dwindling each year, it falls on members of our community to consider those who have come before us and the contributions they’ve made. Our seniors were the ones who created many of the organizations we have today, conserved the open spaces we love and fought for everything from horse trails to passenger ferries.
As belts continue to tighten from the federal government down through the state, remember to support our seniors through financial gifts, volunteering an activism.
