Helping Hands Outreach to Elders was established as a Living At Home/Block Nurse Program in June of 2001. For 2 years prior to that the program operated as an outreach of several area churches. In June 2002 we developed by-laws and completed our Articles of Incorporation and were chartered as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Minnesota. Work was completed on our application for tax exempt status and we received our IRS 501(c)(3) Letter of Determination in January of 2003.
Our program has grown rapidly! During the first year our part-time director operated in office space donated by a church. We established a tipline that older adults could use to call for help and promoted the volunteer services through church bulletins and casual chili suppers. By December of our first year we had 69 volunteers and were helping a few people a week. We also received a promise of financial support from five area churches. Board members began speaking to groups and brochures were printed and distributed. In the 2002-2003 year we were able to hire a Service Coordinator to develop our volunteer base and coordinate the service activity. Our level of service activity quickly began to grow exponentially as did our local support. One significant project was to form visiting teams who actually visited over 200 older adults/couples in our service area to learn of any needs and tell them about our services. This led to much more service activity.
During that second year we worked on identifying potential funders and building our case statement and strategy for inviting partners to join us. By the end of the second year we were averaging over 360 hours of service every month. Staff participated in many professional training events. We began to review our assets and build on them. We also moved to office space on Main Street in Holdingford in February 2003 which afforded us much greater visibility and space.
Our program became more active in community affairs and activities. That year we initiated the first-ever City Father and Mother recognition. We also developed volunteer appreciation and ongoing volunteer support. Over the next two years our program made significant progress accomplishing the following:
Regularly published a newsletter Implemented regular publicity in several local newspapers Completed long-range strategic planning Established diversified funding streams Built resources and support for memory loss and mental health needs Provided regular information and presentations on health-related issues Became a founding member and lead agency of the Central Minnesota CARE (Collaborating Area Resources for Elders) Partnership Were approved as a Home and Community-based Provider of Alternative Care/Elderly Waiver (AC/EW) services in Stearns County Received an Area Agency On Aging contract to provide services under the Older Americans Act Established a Memorandum of Understanding with Unity Family Home Care in Little Falls providing all our older adults with a 44% reduced rate for home healthcare and a generous sliding fee scale
Were publicly recognized as "Meeting All Standards" of the Charities Review Council
Were one of the first nonprofit organizations in Central Minnesota to be trained and implement the Stanford Model of Chronic Disease Self-Management "Living Well with Chronic Conditions" classes
Developed and conducted exercise classes with in-home follow-up
Integrated falls prevention assessment and activities into our monthly gatherings of older adults and twice annual health fairs
Began to use the evidence-based "Matter of Balance" exercise model
Expanded our services to include adults with disabilities to provide them support
Today in a given month we serve about 50 older adults and adults with disabilties with over 450 hours of service. Each year our records show that we are serving not only more people, but are also providing more services to the same people.