Meeting the Needs of Gwinnett’s Booming Senior Population
Did you know we currently have 136,604 seniors in Gwinnett and will have 200,000 by 2030? By then, we’ll have more seniors than kids in Gwinnett County Public Schools!
No one knows these stats better than Friends of Gwinnett Seniors. A volunteer-governed nonprofit that raises funds to help seniors and supports county-agency clients as well as seniors 60+ throughout Gwinnett, Friends is focused on addressing current issues. Issues our seniors face such as food insecurity, access to medical transportation, emergency assistance and promoting personal safety and well being.
“Another one of our focus areas is eliminating residential fall and fire hazards by collaborating with skilled groups to make home repairs or modifications,” said Garry Galloway, resource and marketing coordinator for Friends. “To help with that, we’ve partnered with Gwinnett Christian Terrace to purchase SafeBurner stove top sets for all 125 senior apartments. We’ve also been awarded a number of grants to help support these focus areas. We’re very proud to have won a 3:1 challenge grant from the Community Foundation for the SeniorBSafe collaborative program (with Gwinnett Fire & Emergency Services and Gwinnett Senior Services) that is aggressively seeking to reduce falls and eliminate fire hazards for seniors.”
Recently Friends has also:
· Purchased 1,200 boxes with a week’s worth of shelf-stable meals to cover all at-home seniors being served + 440 senior center participants
· Paid for home repair/modification materials to complete 34 project in the past 12 months
· Purchased and distributed 5,000 File of Life kits for senior outreach events
· Contributed to voucher human services transportation program that provided 10,000+ one-way medical trips in past year for disabled adults and seniors
“Our common dream is to be able to serve as an inclusive and effective support network striving to address senior needs by remaining focused on our priority areas for support. If Friends can help seniors age in place and improve their quality of life, we will be fulfilling our mission,” Gary said.
In 1999, Friends became a nonprofit fundholder at the Community Foundation.
“The Community Foundation is a valued partner to Friends,” Gary said. “We are confident that the information we receive from the Community Foundation about a variety of community issues is relevant and helpful.
“We are constantly striving to enhance collaborative relationships and build sustainable public-private partnerships. The impending growth of Gwinnett’s aging population is going to require collaboration and cooperation at every level to meet the demand for services or support.”
To find out more about Friends, visit friendsofgwinnettseniors.org.