Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome back. Happy to feature the Norfolk County RSVP program here. Currently in Quincy for many years now, under the former director of Bob Pearson, there's a new director, and joining her is the chair of the county commissioners, which helps to fund the RSVP program. So please welcome Lucille Casas and Joe Shea. Hey.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Hi, Joe.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:00:21] Speaker C: How you doing, Joe?
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Good.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Familiar faces, both of you.
[00:00:23] Speaker C: Thank you. Nice to see you, perhaps.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Lucille, congratulations on your new role as director. Joe, always a pleasure to catch up with you. So thanks for coming over. We'll probably start with you, Joe, because you are our resident historian when it comes to all things Quincy and county.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Well, it is.
You know, the county is actually much old. The county was 1793.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Yeah. It goes back a few years.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: And it still functioning.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: And it's amazing because when I went to the county in 2016, there's always talk that they're gonna do away with the counties. And in fact, the state did away with most of the counties in the 90s. But what did they do? They kept four counties in the southeastern part of the state.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: How about that?
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Norfolk, Plymouth, Barnstable and Bristol. And.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: And here we are.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: We're still here. We're still functioning.
We had a huge change in last year's with the opera funds that were just completing the distribution of it. We banded together as four. Four. Four counties, got the same law firms, the same accounting firms, and worked with Uncle Sam, and it was a booming success.
And I don't think you're going to see a program like that again in the near future. But it was a lifeline and a help to all the cities and towns. And I'm not here to report on opera, but that could be another whole thing.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Yeah, we should do that in the future, actually.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: 80% of the opera funds went to infrastructure, water, sewer, as they were intended.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: What was intended. And then other good uses.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: And we really kind of get on the map, so to speak, after 400 years.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: But we have a program here that we've had. We've had it for about 20 years, I'm told, that we inherited from QCAP.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: RSVP was QCAP originally.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: No, I didn't know that.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: And the whole program idea comes out of the older American act of 1965. Started in New York City. So it isn't that old, but we have been successfully managing it. You mentioned Robert. Robert just retired.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. Ten years at the helm there, I think.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Robert was there a little over 10, same as big. And we bid Robert Adieu and Chris is still with us.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Chris Goldsmith. Yeah.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And we were able to hire Lucille.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: And no stranger at all.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: I mean, her background is well known and she keeps the connections through her work at the Lions Club. But I go way back with Lucille because she worked in the sheriff's department.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: No, I didn't know that.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: My wife.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Oh, I didn't know that joke.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: I guess in the 90s it could have been the 80s, but I won't.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:40] Speaker C: Ye not go there, Joe.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: You and I.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: So we have a.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: A connection.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: We have a connection. We have a proof product here, you know.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: When our director John Cronin said, I've got four or five resumes I'm going to interview.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: To succeed Robin. And you know, one, a couple were from Quincy and do sales from Braintree, one thing or another. And he said, I looked at one and maybe you know her. And so I looked at it, I said, of course I know her.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Sure. And here we are.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Family friend, etc. Yeah.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Well, Lucille, you and I became acquainted when you worked at Father Bill's.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: That's correct, Yeah, A while back.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: How long ago was that?
[00:04:25] Speaker C: So I was there from 2008 to 2017.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Yeah, about 10 years.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: And prior to that I was with Beth Israel Deaconess Plymouth, which used to be Jordan Hospital. I was their director of marketing for another 10 decade or so. So I'm dating myself. But all jobs, I think that are community based, non profit. That's kind of where my heart is.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Yeah. What was it about it that the RSVP program that attracted you?
[00:05:00] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it just. I saw it online. I wasn't, you know, really looking. I was doing some consulting at that point. And what attracted me was that when I was at Father Bill's, I managed almost about 350 volunteers who worked in the kitchens and, you know, distributing donations that we would get into, folks that were moving into new housing and whatnot. And I just really enjoyed that part of the job.
I did a lot of the fundraising, of course, and marketing, but that was a favorite. I loved meeting with the kitchen volunteers and talking to them about why they do what they do. When I saw this, I thought it was really a combination of everything that I had experienced and I could focus on the volunteerism and do that across the county in all these various non profits that I knew about. And I could place them because I knew how it operated and who would be a good fit. So I felt like it was made for me, to be honest.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Well, Congratulations.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Once again, I guess for folks who don't know, we should give them just a little overview of what RSVP is, right?
[00:06:16] Speaker C: Sure. Sure. You want to take that one, Joe?
[00:06:18] Speaker B: No.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: Oh, okay. I know what it is, though.
So RSVP is an acronym that stands for Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
It's not just, you know, on your invitation. So it's another use of the acronym. But basically, we have on our roster about 200 volunteers, and everyone in our program is 55 and older.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: So it was really designed to keep people active and engaged in the community as they age themselves. And there's so many great roles that we've developed that Robert really developed over the last decade and prior, all these relationships that he built. So, you know, folks are doing food pantry work, they're doing rides for vets, which I'll talk about in a moment.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Signature program.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: It's our kind of our signature program.
We're working at the VA's as ambassadors.
We're also doing financial literacy for seniors who, excuse me, may have trouble paying their bills as they get older, which is a wonderful opportunity for folks to help out seniors in the community. And the whole idea was, from the AmeriCorps side, from the federal program, was to keep seniors in their homes as long as possible and keep them independent as long as possible.
So really, it's seniors helping seniors, right? Yeah.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Seeing as we're talking about some of the volunteers, we have some pictures.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: Oh, great.
[00:07:56] Speaker A: Of some of the volunteers that we've never kind of highlighted them before when we talked about rsvp. So it's kind of a nice thing to do, you know, to showcase.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Oh, I love that.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's show some folks.
[00:08:05] Speaker C: Oh, see, there's. That's the va. So this woman on the right hand side, her name is Rosemary, and next to her is Chuck.
And in the middle is our commissioner, our. One of our commissioners, Commissioner Richard Stady from Canton. And this is Peter Tribuna. He's the volunteer coordinator at the VA in Roxbury. And we took a picture.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: West Roxbury.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: West Roxbury, sorry. And we took a picture recently with Rosemary's 90 years old, and she's so spry, and we did a feature on her for our newsletter. But the Afghans are also made by seniors, which is kind of fun. So they're from the Franklin, Norfolk, Walpole, and Sharon area. So they're volunteers themselves at the Councils on Aging. They make the Afghans for the veterans.
You know, you would think. Okay, what's the Big deal. But if you talk to Peter Tribuna, he'll tell you that the patients absolutely love these blankets because a lot of times when you're at the va, you're a disabled veteran, you're in there for a long time. Sometimes you have surgery or you're recovering for a long time and convalescing. And they actually have a place where the families stay, the Fisher House. They stay with their veteran on campus so they can visit. And they absolutely love these Afghans. And you can see they're in patriotic colors and whatnot.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Just bring up the next one.
[00:09:37] Speaker C: Yeah, they're awesome.
So these are the actual knitters.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: The knitters. Okay. Yeah.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Club in there.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: They are. And of course, they do all kinds of other things at the Council on Aging as well.
But these are RSVP volunteers that get together religiously and make these afghans.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Nice. A couple more to show, folks.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: Oh, this is Helen Early. She also is an Afghaner.
That's a hat. That thing is actually a hat that she's making. Yeah. But she's a longtime knitter, and her husband was a veteran, and, you know, really feels strongly about supporting veterans.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. I think we have one or two more to show.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: Oh, this is Walter. He's also 90 plus. He'd be embarrassed that I put his picture up here.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: I guess we should definitely do it.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: Walter's so shy, but he's been with the VA for, gosh, maybe 20 years now.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Good for you, Walter. Thank you.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: Yeah. And he greets the visitors, and that's what the ambassadors do. It's important. RSVP volunteer. Oh, yeah. He makes them feel very welcomed and safe, you know, coming to the va. Sure.
This gentleman, he was before my time, so unfortunately, I can't recall his name, but he's a driver. So we have our Rides for Vets program, and he's a vet himself. Obviously, he's a Marine. He was a longtime driver, and I think he's retired now himself. But we really need drivers for the Rides for Vets program. We had a very busy month this month, and we pride ourselves in be able to fulfill every ride. So we match a volunteer with the. With the drive with the rider, and we also often take their families to appointments because, you know, if you're a veteran spouse, you get to go to the VA as well.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: Seeing as we're talking about it, Lucille, the Rides for Vets program, who can be a volunteer in that program? And how does that happen?
[00:11:35] Speaker C: So, again, you have to be a licensed driver. We do do a Cory, check to make sure, you know, there's nothing awry.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:11:45] Speaker C: You have to have a clean driving record. You have to be 55 and you have to have your own vehicle.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:11:51] Speaker C: However, we give mileage reimbursement for drivers who are taking folks to their appointments. And a lot of times people, they can make their own schedule. They don't have to do, you know, a ride every week. They can just pick up rides. We have an online system that they sign up for, and it's great. They'll pick a ride if they can do it. And they take the veteran either to the. Mostly to the three VAs, Brockton, Jamaica plain and West Roxbury, but they do take them to private appointments as well.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: They can reach out to you. We've been putting up your phone number and your website as well, so folks can reach out to you that way.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Before we run out of time, I want to ask Joe about how RSVP is funded. Joe. And what the changes going on in Washington might mean for the future.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: For 20 years, we've been receiving a grant from Uncle Sam.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: And we sub cemented. It isn't entirely, you know, but it's. Hopefully it's here to stay. But it would be a, you know, a hardship if we didn't get the grant. But we'd hate to stop this program. And we won't have any intention of doing it now. But we hear very little.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Our executive, our director, John Cronin, is working with the federal people that we work with. And I know there's been some changes in the office, but it's a thing. It's almost like we don't want to ask, but I believe the yearly funding comes out in September, so.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: September. Okay.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Now, but again, we do. We. We direct county funds augmenting the federal funds.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Because it was such a success.
You know, we were willing to work out at one time we also had, through this program, a veterans service officer for some of the smaller communities that didn't have one. And he retired. And, you know, I had hopes of looking at it again. And I had spoke to Lucille about in the future if we had some room to get back into servicing veterans a little bit through the VSO also, but.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Uncertain.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: We'll cross that bridge when we come.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: I was gonna say, yeah.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
If I had known five or six months ago what's happening now or before the change of administration, I said to myself one night, gee, too bad I didn't, you know, take a chump of opera money and put it towards this, but we were.
We didn't see it that way at that time, but we hope to continue it.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: But we.
There are no answers right now because nobody knows. Right, right, right.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: And you would think something that's down the line, so to speak, would not be looked at, but I guess it will be. You know, I don't know how the whole thing works. You know, we're happy to accept it, but it'd be hard. But believe me, when you see at our annual luncheon, it's in August of every year, where we honor the volunteers and we have them come up and tell their favorite story or the people they took carried for years and they were no longer. I mean, it's very, very heartening to go to that luncheon and see, you know, volunteers that give them time. And they're generally, although you have to be 55 or older, most of them are in the 80s.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: We do have a couple in their 50s. And, you know, and it's great to see them. And we try to, you know, but it's. It's heartwarming.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: But, yeah, you know, we could use.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: More volunteers, and they should be drivers.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: What they always say is volunteers get more than they give. And I'm sure you see that all the time at the arm.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: There's no question about it.
[00:16:04] Speaker A: Hopefully we've shined a little bit of a spotlight on the program and.
[00:16:08] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Get you some new volumes.
[00:16:09] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: Thanks a million.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: You are welcome always.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: Thank you so much, Joe. It's been a pleasure.
