MK is 83 years old, retired from teaching 20 years ago, and has lived independently up to now. Her vision has been failing and she is not able to get out and do many of the things she used to do. She knew there was a problem when overdraft notices from her bank started appearing in her mailbox. Her checking account was severely overdrawn and fees and penalties for the overdrafts were piling up. In fact, her entire retirement income for that month was gone to cover the fees and overdrafts; she had nothing to live on for four weeks.
RB is 78 years old and in his working years operated a successful business. Widowed now he has been relatively well off and independent. However, sickness and loneliness have taken their toll in the past year and credit card bills from four companies were beyond his ability to pay. His fuel company asked for payment on delivery of fuel oil and he didn’t have the means to pay. He knew something was wrong.
Both these people were forced to seek help and an advocate from the Aroostook Agency on Aging got involved. Unfortunately the situation occurs more and more frequently with the explosion of the aging population. Some people lose the capacity to manage day-to-day bill paying and may make poor decisions because of illness, loss of memory and other reasons. They are able to care for themselves otherwise but need a little help to keep themselves on-track with personal finances like budgeting and paying of bills.
The Aroostook Agency on Aging has a service called Money Minders that can help people who need a little help with bill paying. However, they have a waiting list of older people in need of this help.
“We rely on volunteers, people able and willing to spend a couple of hours each month sitting down with a person in need and helping them sort out and pay their bills”, said Carol Fitzherbert, coordinator for Money Minders at the agency. “We train the volunteers, provide them with special insurance and link them up with a person needing help, it is rewarding work helping a person stay in their home.”
Thanks to the John T. Gorman Foundation this service is able to expand in Aroostook County.
“JTG has enabled us to breathe more life into Money Minders, it gives the service a financial base to support more volunteers and to move people off a waiting list,” according to Fitzherbert. The agency needs volunteers to serve as a friend to older people in need of help.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Fitzherbert at 764-3396, 1-800-439-1789 or e-mailing to cfitzherbert@aroostookaging.org.
