FRANKLIN COUNTY – Fran Fortino, president of Valley Neighbors, a new nonprofit serving the elderly in Whately, Deerfield and Sunderland, earned a big response from residents.

“It’s been awesome,” Fortino said. “We just did a mailing to every household in the three towns, and I’ve gotten 20-some phone calls and notes from people wanting to become members, or asking for help, or others asking to be volunteers.”

Fortino’s nonprofit, Valley Neighbors, is part of a global network, the village movement, started in Boston in 2002. The village model is a cost-effective and sustainable method for communities to help seniors age in place, with a little assistance. Valley Neighbors, the newest village, joins over 300 other organizations that serve about 40,000 elderly worldwide. Villages in the river valley already operate in Amherst, Northfield, Shutesbury and Northampton.

Fortino, a Whately resident, began work on the program about five years ago, when Northampton Neighbors was coming together. Fortino filed incorporation papers in 2019. The newest village opened this year partly as a testament to the national movement, now 20 years old. Beacon Hill Village, the founding chapter of the movement for seniors, celebrates the milestone on Feb. 15.

Fortino was ready to go with his start-up, but the pandemic delayed the launch of his group. The offered services are also minimized as the virus runs its course.

“We have waited a year,” Fortino said. “We have volunteers who are vaccinated and boosted…(so) we offer a limited number of services right now, transportation to medical appointments or shopping, phone check ins, and we supply some tech help with computers.”

On an ad hoc basis, Village Neighbors offers help around the house, changing light bulbs and mounting air conditioners, tasks that seniors often find very difficult. Local seniors will also benefit from more help getting around town.

“There is no transportation. Health care facilities are far enough away that you need to drive, so there’s a difficulty there, unless you have family nearby,” Fortino said. “There’s not a lot of resources out there, particularly in our rural communities.”

The new village opened with a modest budget made possible by regional and state-level resources. A Mass. Community Health and Healthy Aging grant from the commonwealth, coupled with a grant from Cooley Dickinson Health Care, according to Fortino, put about $9,000 into the coffers for this year. He foresees the hospital will be a strong and helpful partner, especially the Visiting Nurses Association.

“They understand groups like Valley Neighbors can provide help when they can’t,” Fortino said. “We are in the community and we know where the need is, so we were able to write a good grant.”

Mental stimulation is one benefit the new village, in tandem with the other valley villages, will provide aplenty. LifePath, a Greenfield non-profit providing senior services, hosted meetings to bring village representatives together for the coordination of educational programs. Each village schedules seminars and outings, which are made available to members of the other villages, enlarging the audience for presenters who are not always local.

Valley Neighbors will soon offer a presentation on geology in the Pioneer Valley. Fortino anticipates a seminar on humor in health care. Earlier this month, Northampton Neighbors presented a program with astronomer Martha Hanner. Alzheimer’s and dementia are two topics that may tie into a presentation by Village Neighbors in April or May. The author of “Eightysomethings, A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well, and Finding Unexpected Happiness,” will do a Zoom talk from California.

“Dr. Katherine Esty, who published the book, ‘Eightysomethings,’” Fortino said, “will do a Zoom presentation on life after 80, something very appropriate for our group…there’s a wide variety of topics. The valley is so rich in people with talents and resources we can share, and that’s what we like to do.”
Fortino and others in the village movement hope residents will see how useful community programs can be. Information on the movement is available at vtvnetwork.org, the parent organization. The first village, Beacon Hill, can be accessed at beaconhillvillage.org.

“We hope,” Fortino concluded, “that it will be seen as a sustainable way to keep folks in their homes and their communities, as long as they can and want to.”