Sheryl Keeme
Sheryl Keeme, Executive Director, Neighbors Who Care
Neighbors Who Care (NWC) is a small Sun Lakes nonprofit. Last November, NWC celebrated 30 years of helping senior citizens living within our service boundaries age with dignity, independence, and safety—through supportive dedicated volunteers. Each month, we onboard 30 to 40 new clients, 7-15 new volunteers, arrange 1,000 delivered meals Monday through Friday, document an average of 1,000 miles to physician appointments and grocery shopping, provide van trips to shopping, and much, much more.
We operate with three full-time staff (an executive director, a director of administration, and a licensed social worker) and three part-time staff (a volunteer manager, an administrator, and a dinner coordinator). They join 10 volunteer receptionists and schedulers matching 15 to 30 different volunteers to client requests each day. Each solves elderly client problems that arise daily, oversees volunteer orientations, plans supportive free aging education, facilitates weekly caregiver support groups, takes dinner orders, regularly assesses our most vulnerable clients, and more.
Community support comprises most operations, including IT tools; phones and computers; facility expenses like electricity, insurance, and HOA fees; salaries; and van costs. Grants from local companies, the City of Chandler, and other public grantors total approximately 20 percent of our annual budget. Individual gifts and fundraising efforts make up 70 percent of our budget thanks to our generous civic groups, activity groups, and service organizations, and partners and sponsors fill in the remainder of our budget. NWC staff and operations leverage volunteer-completed time, valued at $34 an hour, to the tune of 11,000 hours, literally doubling our annual budget, meaning if we paid for our volunteer services, we’d need twice the resources.
In 2031 the baby boomer generation will begin turning 86, the age of a sharp rise in needs. This shift, known as the “silver tsunami,” will increase our client base. Our volunteer base, while passionate and committed, is already stretched thin. We cannot reasonably expect to meet this wave of demand without careful planning and preparation.
Why Community Support (Financial and Volunteer) Is Crucial Now More Than Ever
Since 1994, NWC has maintained a conservative approach in operating. This approach, combined with generous bequest gifts, has permitted Neighbors Who Care to create a cash reserve and to hold investment accounts left to NWC. While it may seem that our current financial reserves puts us in a strong financial position, the reality is that these funds are carefully stewarded to ensure the long-term stability of our operations. Because of our conservative planning and spending, these reserves were critical to sustaining us during the pandemic.
Sound strategic planning and studying best practices among other volunteer caregiving organizations across the nation ensures that Neighbors Who Care shall remain proactive rather than reactive as we face the future. Our NWC board and I, along with key staff and volunteers, are now examining our capacity and planning accordingly so that no senior will ever be left waiting for help when the baby boomer silver tsunami arrives in 2031 and beyond.