A recent volunteer recruitment meeting for the Bristol-Warren village was, by all accounts, a resounding success.

“We are all thrilled with the turnout, there were close to 70 people at our organizational meeting,” said Craig Evans, who serves on the group’s core steering committee along with Terri Hughes, Maureen Hegerich, and Lisa Smolski. “It was a great meeting. There was lots of enthusiasm, and about equal representation between Bristol and Warren, which is fantastic.”

The core team met recently to discuss next steps, as the plan to start a Bristol-Warren village has quickly gained steam in recent months. There’s interested volunteers to follow up with and enroll, and soon they will need to begin outreach to potential members.

What’s a village?

The concept is simple: a village is an organized network of neighbors who help neighbors with tasks that can be challenging for some seniors, but are critical to remaining independent, living at home, and connected to community.

Volunteers sign up to offer services of their choosing, such as yard work, grocery runs, tech support, or rides to medical appointments. There is no personal care; villages work with partners including Meals on Wheels and local Health Equity Zones if further supports are needed.
There are now 300 villages across the country. The first Rhode Island Village launched nearly a decade ago in Providence.

It’s not just about help — there are lots of social activities at all the villages, they each sponsor their own, around the state. Members can participate in the activities of any other village.

Members join, and pay a nominal, pay-what-you-can fee. Nobody is ever turned away for inability to pay. Volunteer coordinators then match member requests with volunteers. Volunteers are not obligated to accept a certain number of assignments, they can sign up as their schedules allow.

Unique to the community

“We are focused on recruitment, promotion, and the types of services that our villages needs and wants,” said Hughes. “Each village reflects the needs of their own community. There’s lots of overlap, but some things might be unique.” Barrington, for example, is fortunate to have high school volunteers who shovel snow, while Providence offers lots of social opportunities like walking groups and cultural outings.
“It’s inspiring to hear what others are doing,” said Hughes.

Organizers aren’t really sure yet what types of services and activities might be popular in Bristol and Warren, but they know they will have a better sense once their membership in in place. They do anticipate being able to quickly serve the Portuguese-speaking population and have community parters well-placed to ensure that.

“I know it took Providence several years before they were serving the Spanish-speaking population,” said Evans. “But we anticipate we will have a lot of volunteers who are fluent Portuguese speakers.”

“It’s really volunteer-driven, based on the skills and services they can provide,” said Hegerich. “The volunteers build it, we just coordinate.”
In addition to recruiting volunteers and members, the group would be happy to welcome more steering committee assistance. “There are just four of us, and we can’t leave volunteers hanging or we’ll lose them,” said Hegerich. “There’s a process with applications and background checks that we have to get through. We won’t be for long but at the moment we are a bit limited by our capacity.”

For more information, and to get involved as a volunteer, member, (or both!), call 401/206-5939; email bristol-warren@villagecommonri.org; or visit www.villagecommonri.org.