Blum takes the helm at Staying Put in New Canaan
Nonprofit helps seniors to remain in their homes
Stamford resident Gina Blum is taking the helm as executive director of Staying Put in New Canaan, a nonprofit that allows seniors to remain in their homes while having access to resources for healthy aging.
Blum comes from At Home in Darien, where she served as executive director for 11 years.
“It was wonderful to be able to build an organization from the ground up and it was fantastic. I have really enjoyed my work there and am proud of what we accomplished,” Blum said in her new office at 58 Pine Street.
Staying Put offers members rides to medical appointments, someone to accompany them to a doctor visit, pickups of prescription and groceries, a vetted list of plumbers and electricians, group activities, a handyperson, tech help and assistance with heavy lifting.
Darien has a “different model,” Blum explained. At Home in Darien is “accessible to all people” over 60 who live in the town. On the other hand, Staying Put is membership based. It currently has 225 members who pay an annual membership fee of $500 for couples and $400 for individuals.
The smaller membership roster in New Canaan “allows me to know our members really well” and allows the organization to focus on more activities, she said.
“The events are so important for people to be able to age gracefully” and allow members to enjoy activities, make friends and avoid isolation, Blum said. Interacting with members has been one of the most rewarding parts of the job for her.
Members' abilities and need for assistance varies. Some need occassional help, such as a ride home from a medical appointment. Other members “count on us regularly to get out and about” to more
recreational events.
Recently, staff trips have ranged from accompanying a member to the emergency room, while another needed just a dozen eggs from the grocery store. “It's nice to be able to have somebody you can turn to and say ‘I need help,'” Blum said.
The staff members collaborate with several other organizations in town. Get About helps “if somebody is wheelchair bound,” Lapham Center co-sponsors numerous events and the group teams up with the library for programming teaching techniques to aid the elderly.
Staying Put also interfaces with the town's Health and Human Services Department.
Blum believes in the “importance of an intergenerational community,” such as having the New Canaan High School Service League of Boys (S.L.O.B.S.) help members with tasks such as taking out patio furniture.
Young members of the National Charity League created springtime cards for members recently while the Young Women's League, with their children, helped deliver the spring flowers. The Girl Scouts and AuPair in Amerca also volunteer.
The new executive director started her career in advertising, designing point of purchase displays before staying home with her young children.
When her children started school, she started to volunteer for nonprofit organizations and eventually helped nonprofit organizations collaborate and share best practices. This gave her “amazing exposure to so many nonprofits” in the region, she said.
Her career with seniors started when she became the assistant to the director for the Stamford Senior Center. “My grandparents had always played an important part in my life,” she said. Blum added that she was raised “to be respectful of seniors” and she learned “how much they can teach us.”
Staying Put has as many many volunteers, but welcomes more. “I would encourage anybody to join. Perhaps somebody who is retired or has a little more time on their hands,” she said.
Volunteer Pat Stoddard, 91, who helps answer phones and take messages, shared the history of Staying Put. Stoddard said it was organized after founder Eleanor O'Neill read an article in the New York Times about Beacon Hill Village, a nonprofit founded to give members 50 and older the practical means and the confidence to live in their own homes.
Then, a large group met. “I would guess we were 40 or 50 people,” before creating a working group, Stoddard said.
“It took about two years to get organized,” Stoddard said. First, bylaws were drawn up and Rep. Tom O'Dea lent his law expertise. Then, the Community Foundation volunteered space, a desk and a telephone, she added.
The organization receives no funding from the government, according to Stoddard.
This gives volunteers and staff more latitude in helping members, such as being able to “go into members' houses and help them put on their coats, find their pocketbooks and go with them, if they want, to their doctor's appointment.” She explained that, with government funding, there would be various restrictions.