Outreach befriends the homebound

Caring Connection’s Friendly Visitors is a new program in town that reaches out to older or disabled adults who are homebound. The program is supported and funded by the Council on Aging, a private, non-profit organization that has been serving older adults in Orange County since 1973.

“We are looking for participants on both sides ? visitors and ‘visitees,’” Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. Executive Director Anne Morris said.

“We are collaborating with the Council on Aging, but our program will be tailored specifically to Laguna Beach needs,” Morris said. “We should be up and running by the end of March.”

The program requires volunteer visitors to commit to one visit or telephone call a week and to attend a monthly meeting to report to the volunteer coordinator. Volunteers must pass a background check, which includes fingerprinting.

Training is free and includes identifying ? but not treating ? unmet social and health needs, such as depression or bad nutrition. Volunteers are provided with liability insurance.

Morris can be reached by e-mailing [email protected] or calling (949) 479-2441.

Laura Forbis-Sauers is enthusiastic about the program.

“Friendly Visitors are matched carefully to those they visit so as to maximize the relationship,” Forbis-Sauers said. “Qualifications of a good visitor encompass the ability to respect confidentiality, express warmth and empathy, and have the ability to communicate and listen well.

“This program fits perfectly with one of my favorite themes: multi-generational mentoring. It is long over-due in Laguna Beach.”

Forbis-Sauers estimated that one-third of Laguna’s population is over 55 and many of those 65-and older live alone. South Coast Medical Center Foundation’s Senior Program Manager Kate Tschudin agrees with that estimate.

Hospital programs include “You Are Not Alone,” a telephone tree that makes daily calls just to check up on the home-bound and to say “Hi,” Meals on Wheels, which delivers food, and Home Health, which sends nurses to the home-bound.

For more information, call (949) 499-7229.

The Council for Aging also offers Friendly Visitor training to faith-based organizations to develop or expand existing programs.

For more information, call Outreach Coordinator Patricia Moran-Johnson at 1(714) 479-0107, Ext. 273.

HEARTFELT HELP

The Laguna Beach-based Queen of Hearts Guild of Children’s Hospital of Orange County raised about $35,000 at the annual benefit Feb. 17 at Tivoli Too.

Arts Commissioner Pat Kollenda served as mistress of ceremonies for the event, which included dinner, entertainment by Gallimaufry Performing Arts and the Swing Set of the Laguna Beach Community Concert Band and silent and live auctions. Dan Walsh was the auctioneer.

“Heart and Soul II was a lot of fun,” event chair Mary Ferguson said. “We had 60 items in the auctions and people were very generous. The entertainment was fabulous ? I can’t thank them enough.”

Tivoli Too catered the affair, almost at their cost, Ferguson said.

“We could never make as much as we did without their generosity,” Ferguson said. Proceeds benefit the hospital, which has provided care since 1964 for sick and injured children regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

The not-for-profit hospital offers nearly every pediatric specialty and a full spectrum of healthcare services from prevention to the most advanced medical care, Ferguson said.

Funds come from grants, donations and guild fund-raisers.

Laguna’s guild includes President Karen Stevens, Fran Barberi, Lisa Bartlet, Nancy Benedetti, Amy Buckley, Lyn Carlyle, Lynne Chronert, Lori Cole, Pat Curtis, Cathie D’Otri, Mary Fischer, Ursula Hardy, Valerie Immel, Kara Jacobs, Jeanne Jenkins, Jo Ann Keller, Ginny Linting, Ellen Mahoney, Lauriann Meyer, Nancy Platka, Janet Pohlhammer and Kollenda, who brought in many of the members.

REWARD CARDS

Donors of $50 or more to the Laguna Beach Education Foundation, better known as SchoolPower, will receive Laguna Locals cards, which entitle holders to special discounts from more than 50 local businesses.

SchoolPower offers the cards as an incentive for contributions to better Laguna Beach schools. The quality of public education is as important to homeowners without children as it is to those with children. The quality of public schools has a direct and powerful influence on home values, according to SchoolPower officials.

A study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1999 concluded that each significant improvement in a home’s assigned public school increased the home’s value by about 5%. By that measure, SchoolPower calculated that the difference in value of a home with average schools versus great public schools would be about 10%: $50,000 appreciation on a $500,000 home ? provided one could buy a home in Laguna for a half-million.

More realistically, SchoolPower concluded that the average Laguna home sells for a lot more than that and estimates the increase in value at more than $100,000, based on the median home sales price.

Clearly that would make great public schools a priority for all homeowners.

Laguna is the smallest district in Orange County, one of the few basic-aid districts in the state ? which means almost all of its funding comes from its own property taxes, which are based on home values. That gives every homeowner a vested interest in the district ? kids or no kids in school.

SchoolPower, which was the first education foundation in Orange County, is the largest donor to the Laguna Beach district, through a variety of means, including the Laguna Locals cards. Last year, the group contributed more than $500,000, about 10% of the district’s discretionary budget. That comes to about $200 per student in the district.

Every dollar raised by the parent-based group directly supports the students and programs in the district.

The cards are a win-win-win. They bring shoppers into local business, give buyers a break and raise funds for the district.

For more information, visit web site www.lbschoopower.org, e-mail [email protected] or call (949) 494-6811.