Retirement News : Seniors : Volunteer of the Week: A true friend for seniors in need

Volunteer of the Week: A true friend for seniors in need

Date Added: 09-08-2005

The increase of aging baby boomers in the country has fostered a whole new market of products designed to keep seniors safer at home. The only problem is getting the word out that all this new safety equipment doesn't have to be expensive and that there are able-bodied volunteers willing to install it, for free.

Aiding county seniors in their quest to remain independent in their own homes is retired Army Col. Jim McFarland, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Annapolis and participant in the nonprofit group, Friends of Arundel Seniors.

A Texas native who now lives in Annapolis, Col. McFarland left the Army in 1988 after 31 years as a logistician to begin work with a Virginia company specializing in assisting the disabled. After retiring yet again five years ago, he began his third career - volunteering.

"I've had a very interesting career," he said. "Life is terrific. Get out and enjoy. I wish more folks would get involved."

Most of his volunteering is centered around the Kiwanis group he belongs to, helping out in its many service endeavors. At the Light House homeless shelter in Annapolis, he and his wife, Sharron, take a turn cooking as part of the Kiwanis monthly schedule. He participates in the Key Club at Broadneck High School, which has grown under his leadership to include 134 young adults. Col. McFarland also heads the Kiwanis efforts for Friends of Arundel Seniors and has served as vice president and president.

The mantra for FOAS is to provide a safety net for the well-being of seniors and disabled people in the county. Working closely with the Department of Aging, it receives referrals and requests from screened applicants for specialized home safety equipment. The list of items includes bathtub grips, benches and mats, handheld shower heads and toilet seat risers and arm frames. FOAS secures all the equipment through monetary donations, then farms it out to various locations in the county, where volunteer members of local Kiwanis clubs and Partners In Care can retrieve and later install the items.

In the beginning, Col. McFarland wouldn't have classified himself as a handyman.

"I learned a lot by watching and got handy," he said. "Most of the equipment today now snaps together; it's very nice."

The organization began as the Arundel Senior Assistance Program, founded in 1985 by retired Rear Adm. Norbert Frankenberger and George VanMater, who installed safety items in homes across the county every Thursday.

"The need is out there," Col. McFarland said, "and increasingly people are finding out it's not a financial thing. Age and disability are inevitable."

The number of installations varies from month to month - 14 in April, three in May, 15 in July. Usually Col. McFarland makes up half of the responding team, the other helper being a fellow Kiwanian or occasionally his wife.

When not helping seniors or traveling, he can be found kayaking on the Magothy River.

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