By Stephen Cheslik
EAGLE TIMES MANAGING EDITOR
What began as a $1,000 bequest by a disabled veteran a decade ago continues to help feed and care for the pets of Southeastern Vermont’s seniors today.
The program it spawned, the Foxy Fund at Senior Solutions, Council on Aging for Southeastern Vermont, is receiving national attention.
Foxy Fund will be featured July 15 on a nationally broadcast radio segment of Arden Moore’s “Four-Legged Life.” The segment will include Senior Solutions Nutrition and Wellness Director Thom Simmons and Meals on Wheels America Impact and Strategy Manager Morgan Hultquist.
The program helps seniors in Windham and Windsor counties and the towns of Readsboro, Searsburg, Winhall and Thetford in Bennington and Orange counties, Simmons said. “Frankly, helping pets helps the seniors.”
He said every study he’s ever seen illustrates that seniors benefit emotionally and physically from having pets, and he explained why Senior Solutions would help provide pet food and money for veterinary care.
“The majority are single. The pet is their number one constant companion. The pet actually helps with lowering stress, lowering heart rate. It increases seniors’ mobility and activity because they need to get up and feed the animal [and] walk the animal.” That concept, that helping pets helps seniors, has been the cornerstone of the program since its founding.
The initial $1,000, Simmons said, was from a former Seniors Solutions client. “Ten or 12 years ago, a client named Karl, a homeless vet who was struggling with alcohol addiction, came to senior solutions and our case manager set him up with housing and medication and got him back to functioning,” Simmons said.
“Even though he got everything back in order, he was still alone,” Simmons said in a recent interview. “Such isolation is a problem for many of our seniors.”
“Karl got himself a little-reddish-Yorkie-kind of pup and named him Foxy. And Foxy became his companion for the rest of his life. Everywhere he went in his wheelchair, Foxy was right there riding with him. He just couldn’t be separated from Foxy, and it gave him a reason to do things to get up and go out.
“He didn’t have a large estate. He had about a thousand dollars to his name when he passed away, but he asked that all of that be used by Senior Solutions to help other people care for their pets.”
Seventy percent of Vermonters have pets, with the highest pet ownership rate among those 50 or older, Simmons said.
“I just received a letter yesterday from someone in Townshend saying their cat needed some emergency vet services, so she didn’t pay her car insurance or her home payment because her cat comes first,” Simmons said. “That’s not unusual for seniors.”
Receiving no government support and with the initial gift having been spent long ago, the program continues through the generosity of mostly “small, ‘nickel-and-dime $10 donations’” and a few large gifts from Jerry Farnum, with State Farm Insurance in Springfield, and PetSmart, which has given Foxy Fund two $13,000 grants.
“We don’t get any government funds, so it needs to be self-supporting, Simmons said. “I can always use donations. If people don’t have cash handy but they have a large case of dog food or cat food maybe their critter didn’t like, call me. We can come and pick it up.”
“I’ve had some companies, some offices, their employees have got together and purchased some pet food for the program. That is a great way to help.”
Distributing the food is done mostly by Meals on Wheels volunteers. “Dogs certainly give us unstinting, unconditional love, and it means a lot to the older population,” said Senior Solutions Community Relations Director Joann Erenhouse. “So luckily, through the Meals on Wheels distribution locations, many of our senior centers and providers are more than willing to include in the food tray delivery these bags of pet food.
But more than Meals on Wheels drivers are needed. The program also needs help breaking down the large bags of pet food it receives into smaller portions that can be sent out with Meals on Wheels drivers. “If people want to volunteer, I don’t care what day, weekend or night. We can use their help,” Simmons said.
Before the PetSmart grants, the program was limited to helping feed pets. Now, “The Foxy Fund will do inoculations, some minor surgery,” said Erenhouse. “We could never do that before because we didn’t have the grant. It was kind of a shoestring operation. “PetSmart has allowed us to expand our services.”
Meals on Wheels recipients who need help feeding their pets are urged to tell their driver or let their local meal center know. Seniors who need help with veterinary bills or do not participate in the Meals on Wheels program can contact the Senior Solutions Helpline at 866-673-8376 or 802-885-2669, or Simmons directly at 802-755-7295.
“If they’ve got any other odd situations, like they are going into the hospital for an extended stay, or operation and they need their animal boarded or someone to look in on their animals during their extended stay they should definitely call me to work that out,” Simmons said.
To donate or volunteer, contact Seniors Solutions.
The broadcast will be available in July at https://www.ardenmoore.com/fourleggedlifeshow .
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