Spurred by news­pa­per arti­cles on orga­ni­za­tions that are devel­op­ing strate­gies to allow seniors to remain in their homes as they age, a “core group” of peo­ple from Aquid­neck Island, Jamestown, and South County have worked over the past year to develop a plan to suit our com­mu­ni­ties.  Their first step was to get a fea­si­bil­ity study and busi­ness plan, pro­duced by Care­Link, Inc. and funded by the Rhode Island Foundation.

From a sur­vey taken at one of their gen­eral meet­ings, it was deter­mined that the major­ity of respon­dents were inter­ested in daily liv­ing and home ser­vices (trans­porta­tion, shop­ping, meal prepa­ra­tion, handy men, etc.) and orga­nized social activ­i­ties (din­ners, dis­cus­sion groups, museum, con­cert, the­atre trips, etc.).

Respon­dents fur­ther expressed the need for, or inter­est in, com­pan­ion­ship (to cope with lone­li­ness or to give a lit­tle ‘help’), con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion, finan­cial man­age­ment, exer­cise pro­grams, and travel opportunities.

After care­ful inves­ti­ga­tion of sev­eral senior orga­ni­za­tions in nearby states and fol­low­ing a com­par­i­son of their basic needs and sit­u­a­tions with ours, a plan has emerged that is sim­i­lar to, but not an exact replica of. an exist­ing asso­ci­a­tion.  No paid staff or cor­po­rate head­quar­ters cur­rently fit into our plans, and thus the mod­est yearly fee is afford­able for all.

SRI Inc. has drawn up a set of by-​​laws and become a non-​​profit 501©3 cor­po­ra­tion to take advan­tage of fed­eral tax exemp­tions. Under this umbrella, “Houses” or mem­ber­ship units–Aquidneck Island at Home and South County at Home–have been cre­ated. As mem­ber­ship increases (no more than 40 mem­bers per house) addi­tional houses in each area can be added.  Each House for­mu­lates its own rules and reg­u­la­tions con­sis­tent with SRI’s mis­sion and vision but tai­lored to the par­tic­u­lar needs of its members.

We don’t com­pete but have become part­ners who can facil­i­tate and encour­age par­tic­i­pa­tion in exist­ing pro­grams such as the local senior cit­i­zen cen­ters, YMCA, Meals on Wheels, and home health care organizations.