While most students spend Sunday afternoons hanging out with college friends, Rachel Savieo spends time talking with a 91-year-old woman.
The graduate student in wellness management and applied gerontology is volunteering in a program which provides care to the elderly.
For many college students, living away from home brings newfound freedom. For the elderly, however, living independently is vital. Not only is it difficult for some senior citizens to care for themselves, but living on retirement funds can also be limiting. That's when projects such as AngelWorx come in.
AngelWorx is a program managed by Lifestream, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Yorktown that provides care for the elderly. It matches volunteers with an elderly person living in east central Indiana. Volunteers are matched as pen pals but are also encouraged to perform "random acts of kindness" for their "very important person," according to Lifestream's Web site.
Kathy Segrist, associate director and program coordinator in the applied gerontology program at Ball State, requires her graduate students in the "aging well" class to spend 20 hours a semester as an AngelWorx volunteer.
Savieo said she learned a lot from her VIP.
"It didn't feel like it was school related," Savieo said. "It was like I was going to spend time with a friend."
Savieo spent Sunday afternoons with her VIP, Amy Catherine Rust, a 91-year-old woman living on her own. Savieo said Rust suffers from vision problems probably caused by a stroke, so she prefers to stay at home.
Rust's husband died 12 years ago. Her family members live in the area but are busy with their own lives and don't get to see her often. Savieo said Rust doesn't get the opportunity to talk much, so on Sunday afternoons that's what the two women do: talk.
Savieo said she learned from her AngelWorx experience. She learned a new appreciation for golf - a game Savieo's husband enjoys but she herself couldn't appreciate. She said, however, Rust and her husband were avid golfers when they were younger, and she still watches it on television. Rust changed Savieo's opinion about the game.
"I have a new appreciation for golf," Savieo said.
Savieo said Rust also helped her "put things into perspective." When she felt overwhelmed with schoolwork, Savieo said, she appreciated having someone to turn to who could help her realize how trivial life's worries can be in the bigger picture of life.
"I think our age group kind of avoids the elderly population," Savieo said. "We are missing a lot when we do."
Melissa Vanderlip is a volunteer who also happens to work at Lifestream, Inc. She said her situation is unique because her VIP also happens to be her grandmother.
"Generally, that doesn't happen too much," Vanderlip said.
As part of the AngelWorx program, however, Vanderlip is required to turn in monthly documentation of the time she spends with her grandmother. Their favorite pastime is shopping. She also sends her grandmother cards and inexpensive gifts.
Vanderlip said she enjoys being in the program because of the satisfaction she gets from helping someone.
"The only time she gets out is when I take her," Vanderlip said. "During the holiday time the elderly can get depressed and lonely. It's little things that we can do for them; it doesn't have to be big things."
Vanderlip said some volunteers will help their VIP by raking leaves, shoveling snow or helping around the house. This helps the person to be able to continue living independently
Volunteers may do as little as correspond with their person and visit once a month or as much as one of Kathy Segrists' students did - give their VIP's apartment a much-needed paint job. Vanderlip said groups may adopt a person. She said groups as young as kindergarten and older are encouraged to get involved in the program.
Donna Penticuff, director of public relations at Lifestream, said WGE Credit Union has adopted 39 elderly and disabled people. Penticuff said anyone can stop in WGE and donate goods or money for the AngelWorx program.
Funding for Lifestream comes mainly from state and local funds designated to help the aging and disabled. Lifestream, however, is not a government agency. It also accepts donations and receives grants from other agencies.
In addition to the AngelWorx program, Lifestream has a holiday wish campaign happening right now called AngelWish. They collect donations of nonperishable foods, health and hygiene items and small appliances and distribute them to elderly living in east central Indiana. For more information about either program, visit their Web site at www.lifestreaminc.org.
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