Volunteering
Car Trouble in Paradise
The Marin Commission on Aging holds one meeting a year in West
Marin, usually at the Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station. In 1994
the agenda was a presentation of the status of the aged in West
Marin, with emphasis on their special needs, for presentation at the
decennial Whitehouse Conference on Aging in 1995 (Bush declined to
attend the conference in 2005 – res ipsa loquitur).
I told the Commission that West Marin was in many ways a wonderful
place to grow old in – beautiful, peaceful surroundings, small towns
where nearly everyone knows nearly everyone, where people are
genuinely concerned for the welfare of their townsfolk and so on.
The trouble is that these virtues come at the price of a degree of
remoteness, that to get necessary services, from food shopping to
medical care, travel is required, which is not too serious as long
as one can drive.
Anyone who is concerned with caring for the elderly (such as the
Coordinators for West Marin Senior Services) will tell you that the
hardest duty they have to perform is taking the car keys from a
senior. This adds one more disability, both actually and
metaphorically, to those already endured: the loss of independence
and freedom, the necessity of relying on others for transportation.
The most intractable problem is finding those others. (One irony
here is that The Stagecoach which was originated by an initiative
from WMSS has turned out to be unsuitable for nearly all
requirements of the area seniors.)
About fifteen years ago there was a handful of volunteers, all men,
who provided driving service for our seniors. The problem was that
they were all retirees, seniors themselves. In the years since that
pool has dried up – the drivers became clients (or died). We have
not been able to replace them and the lack of suitable
transportation has reached crisis proportions.
I am hoping that this page can be the beginning of some relief in
recruiting volunteers for services for our aged, driving and others.
If you are able to give a little time – one day a month, or a
quarter, whatever – please
contact Barbara Sherfey.
Other than that I am looking for ideas on how to get some
participation using this website. Should I set up some sort of data
base for people to sign up? A calendar for requests for service and
offers of service? Or? Please
send me your suggestions.
Roger Kovach