About Town: Aging-in-Place Organization Kick Off Event

It is an idea whose time has come –almost.

They have been aging in place for more than three years now, and its founders may not be as spry(e) as they used to be.

But SPRYE –as in Staying Put in Rye & Environs –has modeled itself on the storied Beacon Hill Village and More aging in place project in Massachusetts, and raised more than $100,000 to launch the non-profit organization locally.

All that planning, preparation, recruiting and cutting through bureaucratic red tape is finally about to come to fruition.

SPRYE will stage its kick-off launch celebration next Sunday, Sept. 25 at the Rye Locust Avenue Firehouse from 3 to 5 p.m.

Rye’s Tom Saunders –one of the organization’s founding fathers as well as president –calls the upcoming launch a “triple play” involving members, volunteers, and potential donors and members.

At the outset, it all seemed so simple, Saunders recalled.

It all began when Rye’s Joe Murphy, a Westchester geriatric specialist, began talking up the possibility of a non-profit aging in place organization for Rye and its environs with local community-minded individuals like Saunders, a community activist who has lived hereabouts for more than 40 years.

But getting that aging start up proved to be easier said than done.

It turned out to be far from simple, Saunders recalled, outlining the ABCs that led to the acronym SPRYE.

Their goal was –and still is –to form a non-profit organization to help aging community members in Rye and the Sound Shore region to age in place and live in their homes for a longer period of time.

So SPRYE was born to help the area’s aging populace in various ways by providing its members with services that consist of transportation, social and cultural programs, home assistance, patient advocacy, professional referrals, technology assistance and shopping assistance throughout the supported communities.

“As the aging population continues to increase there has been an aging in place movement with a growing number of organizations being developed –maybe as many as 50 to 60 such programs in the development process and six to eight already operating,” according to Saunders. “And there was and is clearly a need for such a program in Rye.”

So the senior grapevine sent word out throughout the Rye community –from the Rotary to the Lions Club, the American Legion to the Rye YMCA -- that SPRYE was in the works and needed help, financial and otherwise.

And various community senior activists stepped forward, people like Nancy Hanneman and Dan Soma, former City Council member Arthur Stampleman, Gil Weinstein and Rye Cable TVs Ken Knowles who volunteered his media and electronic expertise..

Also Osborn Retirement Community executives such as Christa Daniello and Kathy Lonergen and former non-profit organization executives such as Isabel Perry.

Once that lineup –including a lot more key movers and shakers –was in place, the next steps included setting up a volunteer network. The SPRYE brain trust also needed to navigate the legal channels necessary to set up a non-profit organization, and organize various fund-raisers and informational  meetings.

Those meetings have been going on at places ranging from the YMCA to the American Yacht Club to local churches and homes.

The result is that SPRYE has raised around $100,000 to get the organization off the ground –including a $10,000 New York State grant that State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer helped SPRYE land.

They have also hired an experienced senior health advocate in Mamaroneck’s Betti Weimersheimer who also has extensive radio, TV and print journalism experience.

The Osborn donated office space. And it all started falling into place.

A volunteer network has been set up so there will be volunteers available to do things like help a senior change a light bulb because that senior can no longer reach up or climb a ladder, or assist in providing rides for a doctor’s visit or to go shopping. And a lot more.

But all that takes money, a lot more money than SPRYE has on hand, at least $50,000 more to get through their first year of operation, according to Saunders.

But SPRYE will spell out those needs, volunteer options and the various roles SPRYE will play in the community during their kick-off launch-fund raiser next Sunday.

The program is set to begin Oct. 3.

Further information: 914-481-5706; www.sprye.org.