Elderly and disabled receive help with finances
October 13, 2008 ·
With a $500,000 grant from Governor Manchin’s Office, the AARP Foundation has launched a money management program designed to help low-income older or disabled individuals who have difficulty handling their personal finances. West Virginia is the 25th state to offer the service, and according to AARP, its aim is to help keep individuals independent, and in their own homes.
With a $500,000 grant from Governor Manchin’s Office, the AARP Foundation has launched a money management program designed to help low-income older or disabled individuals who have difficulty handling their personal finances. West Virginia is the twenty-fifth state to offer the service, and according to AARP, its aim is to help keep individuals independent, and in their own homes. Susan Lefew is Program Coordinator at the AARP Foundation.
“The AARP Foundation did a study a few years ago and it was really surprising the percentage of folks who end up in assisted living environments simply because they have trouble managing their finances. They might have utilities turned off, they might get eviction notices and oftentimes they have money in the bank, they’re just having trouble keeping track of everything.”
The program matches carefully screened and trained volunteers with participants who want help. Volunteers meet with participants in their own homes and help organize bills, develop household budgets and prepare checks for signature. Lefew says there are several layers of protection for participants’ funds.
“The first layer of protection is the volunteers themselves. They go through very rigorous training, reference checks, criminal background checks. Also there are several layers of monitoring of the client’s account. It starts with that volunteer, and then we have other people who come in and do monitoring at the local level. And then at the state level we do a level of monitoring of the accounts and then at the national level they bring in an accountant to do monitoring to make sure that everything gels and is right with the participant’s account. If anything would inadvertently go wrong, the client’s funds would be reimbursed from the AARP Foundation, so there really is no risk at all for participating in the program.”
The program is currently underway in senior centers in Beckley and Charleston. Lefew says they hope to have 10 program sites throughout the state within three years. For more information you can call the Foundation at 1-800-799-4638.