Mount Vernon, ME

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services

Description: To help older adults remain in their homes, the Mount Vernon Community Partnership Coalition created a tool library stocked with home repair and gardening tools. A subsequent grant allowed the tool library to move out of the town office's basement to an adjacent shed for ease of storage and tool accessibility. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the opening of the tool library, but once it did open, the gardening tools proved most popular. The Coalition recently relocated the shed and turned over tool library operations to the local Grange, which focuses on gardening and growing food. Adjacent communities also sought out the Coalition's experience to evaluate opening their own tool library.

Blue Hill, ME

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services

Description: To showcase practical, affordable devices that can help older adults remain independent in their homes, Healthy Peninsula put together its Traveling Tool Table display. The tool table features 42 items, including a telephone with picture display, a smoke detector with a strobe light, no-tie elastic shoelaces and a seat cushion that helps a person rise from a chair. The exhibit traveled to five area libraries, where visitors were able to try out the tools and ask local experts questions. Healthy Peninsula designed the exhibit to be lent to other organizations, such as community centers, and featured at events, such as health expos.

Fredericksburg, VA

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024

Project Category: Innovative home maintenance, repair and support services

Description: Lower-income residents with long-term mobility disabilities faced isolation and risked losing independence without safe home access. The organization installed three durable wheelchair ramps, enabling clients to reach medical care and remain in their homes. These ramps, expected to last a decade or more, restore freedom and reduce reliance on family or assisted living. "There is nothing like seeing the joy in the face of an individual that has regained freedom they may not have had for years," said a supporter, underscoring the project's lasting impact on safety and dignity.

Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.