$46M Available to Help Cut Energy Costs
To help low-income households cut their energy bills in the coming year, funding for EmPower New York will increase by $18 Million, providing a total of $46 million in 2012, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced today.
EmPower New York is a NYSERDA program to help low-income residents reduce their use of electricity, improve the efficiency of their heating systems and increase the comfort of their homes. EmPower New York services are provided free to households earning 60 percent or less of the statewide median income (HEAP eligible). Services include high-efficiency lighting, replacement of inefficient refrigerators and freezers with new ENERGY STAR qualified models, heating system upgrades, insulation and air sealing, and health and safety testing to ensure the home is properly ventilated and gases are not escaping into the living space.
Applicants may apply directly or be referred to the program by participating utilities, local Offices for the Aging and Weatherization Agencies. Energy efficiency services are prioritized based on the potential for cost-effective energy usage reduction. For additional information call 1-800-263-0960 or request an application online.
Times Union Spotlights Umbrella
Umbrella handypeople Fran Callahan and Lori DeBrino were featured in the Times Union recently for the help they provide seniors served by Umbrella of the Capital District. Below Fran poses with homeowners and husband and wife, Paul and Joann Pagiotas at their home in Clifton Park, NY. Because of the services of Fran and Umbrella of the Capital District, the elderly are able to stay in their homes. Click here to read the full article.
Spread the Word
The New York State Department of Health Cancer Services Program provides breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening services to uninsured and underinsured men and women in every county and borough in New York State through thousands of licensed health care providers.
AVAILABLE SERVICES
Breast, Cervical and Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnostic Services
Case Management for those in Need of Follow-up Services
Medicaid Cancer Treatment Program Enrollment for Eligible Men and Women
INTERESTED?
Call the toll-free referral line for a direct connection to a Cancer Services Program in your community. 1-866-442-CANCER (2262)
Return the Favor…what a great idea!
Schenectady County and The Chamber of Schenectady County are partnering to recognize the service and sacrifices made by our veterans and have invited local business to help with this very important initiative that is taking place throughout the county, the Return the FAVOR Discount Program. The program provides veterans and active duty military with a discount on purchases and services at participating County merchants.
Contact your Chamber or County Veteran Service Agency to see if a ” Return the FAVOR Program” is in your County. Umbrella has signed up to participate by offering 50% off enrollment for disabiled veterans. It’s a wonderful way to support the people who protect our country.
Umbrella Wins National Award
Handyman Bill Gosier, 75, left, checks out the dishwasher of client Leonard Tucker, 90, in Tucker’s Albany, New York, home.
At ceremony held at the National Press Club today in Washington DC, Civic Ventures and MetLife Foundation have awarded an Encore Opportunity Award to Umbrella of the Capital District, Inc.. The agency is one of eight organizations throughout the United States being honored for making it easier for experienced workers to transition into encore careers – paid jobs that offer meaning and the chance to make a social impact. Umbrella received the most votes of any organization in the nation. A total of nearly 100 organizations were considered.
Founded in 1995, Umbrella is a Schenectady based nonprofit organization devoted to helping senior citizens and people with disabilities throughout the Capital District to maintain their homes and to live independently. The organization intentionally recruits 50-plus workers with the appropriate technical skills including carpentry, painting, miscellaneous repairs and lawn care. In addition, Umbrella’s workers also help the elderly and disabled with grocery shopping, transportation and house cleaning.
The individuals who serve as Umbrella handypersons come from all walks of life. Many are retired police officers and firemen; others are homemakers, or retirees from business and industry who enjoy and are talented at repairing and sprucing up houses.
“This year’s Encore Opportunity Award winners are innovative, adaptable and smart – and clearly recognize the need to take advantage of the windfall of talented older Americans,” said Dennis White, CEO and president of MetLife Foundation. “These trailblazing employers can serve as a model for others to follow.”
While layoffs and hiring freezes remain the norm in most industries, experts still project talent shortages in some health care, education, nonprofit and government jobs. Meanwhile, surveys show that millions of boomers want to find encore careers where they can give back and have an impact. But finding the right fit is not always easy.
“For those in midlife and beyond, looking for a job these days is often a do-it-yourself project made all the worse by exhaustion, isolation, and high unemployment,” said Phyllis N. Segal, vice president of Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. “But some nonprofit and public sector organizations are hiring and retaining people over 50 to meet community needs – and doing so in an exemplary fashion.”
Finding skilled staff for Umbrella is an ongoing challenge according to Elaine Santore, one of Umbrella’s co-founders. “We are always looking for talented and caring people to assist our members in maintaining their homes and independence, Santore said. “These kinds of jobs are especially well-suited for retirees, who may seek reduced hours and the ability to mix work with family, travel or other activities during retirement.” “The program is very flexible; the handypeople get to choose when they work, where they work and what they want to do.” “In the long run, this kind of program can contribute to improved overall health for everyone involved. This goal is achieved through high quality home maintenance, the emphasis on prevention and the sense of connection that is inspired when seniors have an opportunity to reach out and help others in their communities,” she added.
Umbrella, which serves four upstate New York counties, maintains a pool of roughly 140 workers, called “handypeople,” available for minor home repair and housekeeping. As of fall 2009, 94 percent of Umbrella’s handypeople were 50 or older.
“The fact that the workers are older is a big part of why clients enroll in Umbrella,” Santore says. They’re served by “peers who are trustworthy, respectful, and capable – someone they can relate to.”
Clients pay a yearly sliding scale membership fee ranging from $145 to $315. When they need work done, they call Umbrella, which arranges a service call. The client pays the handyperson directly – $12 per hour.
Bill Gosier, 75, signed up as a handyperson five years ago. He had been a food services manager for 30 years and had dabbled with home repair as a side business. In his mid-60s, Gosier had taken a maintenance job at a department store chain and retired at 70. He had heard about Umbrella at the local library and joined its roster a few months after retiring.
Gosier says he enjoys the work and being able to help people. He knows he could make more if he went into business for himself, but he appreciates Umbrella’s flexibility. And besides, he says, “If I was a contractor, I’d need to hire someone to schedule my jobs for me.”
Umbrella’s model is spreading, expanding encore opportunities. Recently, the organization helped a senior services provider in nearby Colonie, New York, create its own program.
Rick Iannello, executive director of the Albany Guardian Society, a nonprofit that seeks to improve seniors’ quality of life, says he respects Umbrella’s founders for creating a necessary, innovative, sustainable service. The benefits to the clients, he says, are obvious. The benefits to the workers may be more subtle, but are just as meaningful.
“The fact that they are paid for their work is highly important,” Ianello says. “It recognizes that you as an individual have a life of skill and effort. And now we’re asking you to put that to work for older people.”
In 2007, MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures first honored nonprofit and public sector employers with what was then called the BreakThrough Awards. The inaugural winners similarly exhibited successful strategies for finding, hiring and maximizing workers over 50.
About Civic Ventures (www.encore.org)
Civic Ventures is a national think tank on boomers, work and social purpose.
About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its long-standing tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation has been involved in a variety of aging-related initiatives addressing issues of caregiving, intergenerational activities, mental fitness, health and wellness programs and civic involvement. More information about the Foundation is available at www.metlife.org.
Attention GE Employees, Retirees and Spouses
The GE Foundation Matching Gift Program supports GE employees and retirees in their personal philanthropy and fundraising efforts by matching individual contributions of $25 or more made to Umbrella of the Capital District by current GE employees, retirees or spouses.
To register your gift to Umbrella with the GE Foundation, CLICK HERE or cut and paste the following URL into your browser’s address bar:
www.ge.com/foundation/employee_programs/matching_gifts.jsp
Gifts may also be registered by phone using a valid GE SSO ID by calling the matching gifts Customer Support Center at (800) 305-0669. Questions may be directed to the Customer Support Center at the same number or by email to gesupport@cybergrants.com