About Neighbors Who Care
At Neighbors Who Care, we strive to improve seniors' lives by promoting independence, dignity, and community. Our committed volunteers enable seniors to live fulfilling lives in their homes for as long as possible, ensuring that they remain active and independent members of the community. Our efforts have resulted in a significant increase in seniors' ability to stay at home, with an average of five times longer than before.
Our Vision
An interdependent community of neighbors supporting those in need.
Our Mission
Neighbors Who Care inspires a robust network of volunteers who respond to the ever-changing needs of our aging community, helping them live at home with pride, dignity and independence.
Our Values
- Caring—We care about the people we serve, the work we do, and we strive to build mutually rewarding relationships.
- Collaboration—We provide opportunities to serve the community through collaboration with volunteers and partners.
- Respect—We treat all clients, volunteers, and partners with dignity and respect.
- Integrity—We owe our clients, volunteers, and partners the highest level of ethical conduct.
- Empathy—We work to understand the situations that others find themselves in, so we may interact with them in a helpful manner
Who We Care For
- Homebound - permanently or short term
- Physically limited, frail, lonely
- Recovering from surgery and/or hospitalization
- Caregivers - providing relief for full time caregivers
Our History
Neighbors Who Care (NWC) was founded in 1994 and assists the homebound, disabled, and/or frail elderly in Sun Lakes and south Chandler. Our foundational message centers on providing support and lending a helping hand to our clients who want to live at home for as long as feasible with pride, dignity and independence.
NWC’s operational goal is to recruit, train, and manage community volunteers to provide quality non-medical assistive services to enrolled clients via a “neighbor helping neighbor” approach. NWC’s service area is comprised of 32 square miles within the communities of south Chandler and Sun Lakes. This geographic area, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, has the third highest population of elderly adults statewide, but lacks sufficient wraparound human services programs to address the population’s needs.
NWC serves a unique and distinct population of homebound and/or elderly, 100% of who (either temporarily or permanently) meet the definition of “disabled” under current federal law. Approximately 80% of NWC’s clients are female with 75% being over the age of 75. A typical NWC client is a widowed female, over 75 years of age, lives alone, is homebound, and lacks extended family members or the financial resources to obtain other forms of assistance, specifically those that require payment.
Clients involved in this type of “healthy aging in place” model are able to remain in their own homes, on average, for up to additional five years. Without the support services provided by NWC, many would be forced to move in with family members or go into assisted living facilities or nursing homes, often at state expense.