Senior Outreach Results of 4 years of work!

Why seniors are considered underserved? Throughout the United States the average is about the same - Only 1 out of every 3 qualifying senior receives the assistance he/she needs and deserves

2003 O PHFO interviewed seniors at various Washington County Senior Centers and found the results were much like the rest of country O Seniors believed the following myths to be true: O Did not know they qualified O Believed cars and homes would disqualify them O Believed taking benefits would mean others went without O Believed getting benefits is charity O Believed it hurt Oregon’s economy

Responses to Myths O Oregon uses 185% of the Federal Poverty Level – meaning more people qualify O In Oregon assets such as owning a car, home, money in the bank, 401K, for most households, does not affect eligibility O SNAP benefits expand and contract as needed - never runs out of funds O Seniors have paid into SNAP just like they have paid into Social Security – so not a handout O Using SNAP has benefited Oregon with over $1billion federal dollars brought back here

2004 O PHFO hired me for outreach to seniors in Washington County O First step was to attend the Loaves and Fishes/Senior Center meetings to inform them about SNAP and how it would benefit their seniors O A date was established for me to come in and set up a table

Table Information O DHS SNAP material for seniors O Other DHS material O Discount prescription cards O Medical information (vision, dental, hearing, housing) O Emergency food sources i.e. Oregon Food Bank O Community Action O Ride Connection O Washington County DAVS O Other like-minded organizations

What didn’t work? O Tried to give a short interactive talk about SNAP to seniors as they ate Why didn’t work O Senior’s did not want to be interrupted during their social mealtime O Seniors would talk loudly over me O Other seniors could not hear O Told manager I was interrupting their social time

O Visited with each table to provide senior’s with information Why didn’t work O Seniors do not want to talk to anyone during their social/lunch time even if giving them a free item O Wanted to know what I was trying to sell them What didn’t work?

What did work! O Giving a brief 2-minute talk mentioning the income limit to qualify along with something special that they could get at my table O This brought seniors who were previously reluctant to visit my table to come over and pick up information and free item

O Seniors were interested in these free items : O Pill boxes O Magnetic notepads O Shopping bags O Pens/pencils O Resource information O Results: O Brought seniors up to the table and more easily ask about services O Eventually seniors began to look forward to my arrival and would come up to just chat

Seniors and People with Disabilities O A partnership was developed with Hillsboro SPD O Intake Specialist, Connie Cruz, joined me at Washington County Senior Centers and community resource fairs O Connie was able to start the process for seniors receiving benefits by taking their information and faxing it to the correct office

Other Organizations O Spoke to like minded organizations such as: O Kiwanis’s O Rotary Club O Various Faith Groups O Washington City Councils O AARP

PowerPoints Senior Hunger and It’s a SNAP!

Senior Hunger O Outlined the benefits of good nutrition for seniors O Included information about how to apply for SNAP and other benefits O Focused on how groups or individuals could help seniors and disabled get the nutrition they need

It’s a SNAP! O Demonstrated how easy it is for a senior to find out about SNAP O Outlined the entire application process O Showed a senior shopping and enjoying the resulting benefits O This presentation especially good for senior centers

O PowerPoint presentations are available on the Partner website O Organizations have downloaded the presentations from our website and altered to benefit their seniors.

Future Work O Have started reaching out to seniors in Multnomah County O Working with AARP to train volunteers for work at senior centers and groups O Working with Healthy Elders/Healthy Communities to reach faith groups O Working with Latino organizations to reach the Hispanic population O Hope to eventually reach physicians and health care workers

Thank you Judith Auslander, MA SNAP Senior Outreach Specialist ext. 7