Lake Barcroft Village will help older residents stay in their homes

The Lake Barcroft Village, an aging-in-place organization
aimed at helping older residents stay in their
homes, is on target to officially launch in January 2013.

So far, 28 members and 70 volunteers have signed up and the
group has raised $25,000, Dale Gianturco, treasurer of the Lake Barcroft Village, said at the organization’s September meeting. The goal is to have 60
members by the end of the year.

To join, you have to be a resident of the Lake Barcroft community. There
is no age limit, but the group is designed for older people who need a little
help with things like getting to the store or doctor’s appointments, minor home repairs, snow shoveling, cleaning up debris after storms, helping set up computers, and the like. If a member needs a service that can’t be
provided by a volunteer, the village will help find a qualified provider, hopefully at a discount.

The group also organizes social events for members, and has
hosted happy hours at lakeside houses this summer.

Annual membership dues for the Lake Barcroft Village are
$500 for individuals and $750 for couples. The dues will support a part-time coordinator,
who will match volunteers with requests for services, maintain a list of
approved vendors, and arrange for social visits, such as reading companionship,
check-in calls, and respite breaks for full-time caregivers. The village hopes
to hire a coordinator in October.

Aging residents in good health are encouraged to join now to ensure that the Lake Barcroft Village will still be in operation when they need it.

Volunteers can sign up online and indicate how they can
help, such as running errands, taking care of small household chores, or just
touching base and chatting with members.

You can expect to see more communities in the Annandale area
consider setting up aging-in-place networks, as the median age of residents
rises. The Braddock District Council of Community Associations has formed an
aging-in-place committee to explore various options for providing assistance to
older residents.

Between 2005 and 2020, Fairfax County’s 50+ Action Plan projects the number of
people ages 50-69 to increase by 25 percent and the number of people 70 and older
to increase 58 percent.