In Westport, neighbors helping neighbors
It's about 9 a.m. one recent Thursday, and Stuart Brown pulls his car into a quiet driveway on Horseneck Road, grabs a bucket off the seat, and prepares for his morning's work.
He checks everything before walking over to the small cottage where his friend Betty has lived for exactly 70 years: scraper, brush, paint, sandpaper, mask, rags. Check. Heading out back, he walks the ramp to Betty's back door and starts scraping the door. The paint is in need of a good refresh, much like the picket fence out front was before he painted it last year.
"This shouldn't take too long," he says as Betty appears at the window and greets him with a smile (she asked that her last name not be used).
Mr. Brown, who is retired, fills a good portion of his free time these days as the volunteer coordinator for Coastal Neighbors Network, a nationwide non-profit which moved into Dartmouth a few years ago and had just started expanding into Westport when the COVID pandemic hit.
Coastal's mission is to create a 'village' of volunteers and senior members who need assistance with housework and chores, transportation, companionship and staying socially connected with the neighbors and friends they have known all their lives. He loves the work and feels like the organization is filling a deep need in Westport, where many older residents often find themselves isolated and without the ability to do the small things that were once easier for them.
"It's very satisfying," he said as he starts his work. "And there's definitely a need for it."
While Coastal Neighbors is a membership-based non-profit that charges a nominal yearly fee, that fee ($660 per year, subsidized to $165 per year for those without the means) goes to cover administrative costs, insurance, training and the like. There are about 120 members spread out across Dartmouth and Westport, and they are aided by a corps of volunteers about 80-strong.
Executive director Andy Pollock said he hopes to increase the organization's reach here, and has been working with Westport's Council on Aging to spread the word about the program. He said he is immensely proud to be associated with the village and believes it serves the same role that churches once did:
"Dartmouth and Westport are large and somewhat rural communities, so to get out here, to come and check in and chat with folks, help them, that's huge. I call it a church without religion — It's what people used to do. Now we do it in a way that's safe and monitored. We try to help them live more comfortably and do what we can."
Coastal's services run the gamut. Volunteers have taken residents on countless rides to the doctor and Lee's. They've helped bring party supplies up from the basement when family was expected during the holidays, taken members on walks to places they've long loved but can't get to on their own anymore, mowed many lawns and changed many lightbulbs. Some members yearn for companionship, and paired with volunteers of similar interests, have gotten the socialization and conversation they need. There are also regular social events.
"As soon as I dove into it, I realized, the relationships are unbelievable," Mr. Brown said. "This woman who I take to dialysis, we've become good friends. The goal is to further the mission, and it's a bonus that you really develop relationships with some of these people. And on top of that, just to be able to help people like Betty, you leave and you go, 'Wow that was good. That's a really good feeling."
Potential volunteers are fully vetted by the organization, and Mr. Pollock's volunteer staff try to connect them with members who share similar interests. When members need help, they can get it by placing a phone call or logging on to the computer, if they use one.
Betty, who bought the house with her late husband in 1951, said the volunteer services she has received have made staying in her beloved home much easier. Though she still picks flowers from her backyard gardens and sells them for $1 per stem at the small stand out front, she can't get around as she once did. The volunteers who regularly visit and help out "have been wonderful," she said.
"We bought this house two weeks before we got married," she said Thursday, reminiscing about her many years there. "We never wanted to leave."
"That sounds like a home," Mr. Brown said.
Note: To learn more about the Coastal Neighbors Network, call (508) 556-4004.
