My Journey With Health And Fitness – Let’s Talk About My Volunteer Agencies (2 of 3)

Yesterday was a good day. I had previously submitted a claim to my benefit carrier for my custom made orthotics. The cost of those orthotics was $600 including the initial assessment. I was concerned there would be a limit on the amount they would pay and if the assessment was actually covered. Turns out the limit was $550 so the net cost to me was only $50. The best part is I can get a new pair every year. Given the cost to me I think I will take advantage of this.

Back in 2020 when the pandemic had caused so much of society to shut down I was bored. At that time my business had basically tanked and I was barely leaving my house. I reached out the the President/CEO of the United Way of BC and asked if he could find me some volunteer work to do. The UWBC was at that time doing food hubs but I explained that due to the health issues of my siblings, I couldn’t have that much contact with others but could do administrative type work from my home office. Within 24 hours I was connected with Brella Community Services (formerly Seniors Come Share Society) and things were put in motion.

When I first started with Brella it was doing their telephone tree where one day a week I phoned a list of isolated seniors. Three years later and I still do those calls just to check and see if they need help with anything. Then I learned that Brella did the community volunteer income tax program and since I had done taxes for others for years I signed up for that and just completed my 3rd year of volunteering for that service. Next came agreeing to lead a seniors’ walking group. Then they asked for volunteers to help facilitate a care givers’ support group and it fell right into my skill set so I volunteered for that. So now during tax season I volunteer about 50 hours a month. I admit, I love doing all of this because I feel good about giving back to the community.

Brella is a wonderful organization that helps seniors. Besides the programs I mentioned above they have things such as a day program which brings together seniors with health issues and provides them care for the day. Through the United Way they support the Better at Home program which helps seniors with simple non-medical day to day tasks. Another fabulous program is the Friendly Visitor which offers at home visits to isolated older adults. They also do community lunches and coffee groups which are always well attended. This list by no means covers all the services they provide so I will sum it up with they provide a variety of support services to older adults. On a side note, my sister approached them because I was away when she needed to be driven to a low eyesight clinic in Vancouver. Brella arranged a driver for her for which my sister just had to provide gas money. That’s the great kind of support they provide.

As you can see, I am passionate about this organization. Once I learned about all the valuable services they provide I was hooked. Pretty sure I’ll be sticking with them for a long time.