Senior Services to Benefit from a Gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

SEATTLE -- Senior Services, the largest nonprofit agency serving older adults in King County will receive an annual gift of $25,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Jan Knutson, the agency's CEO announced. Senior Services, in adopting the United Way model, recently launched a campaign for leadership gifts in the $25,000 category.

"This gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given a great boost to this campaign enabling Senior Services to enhance the outreach of its quality programs," said Knutson. "Funds raised from the capital campaign will enrich the lives of seniors throughout King County, helping them to live better, longer."

Senior Services, a United Way partner agency, was founded more than 30 years ago and, through a variety of programs and services, supports the independence of seniors. Programs include the widely known Meals On Wheels whose annual meal delivery in King County is now nearly 400,000; a hot lunch service for older adults at some 35 sites throughout the county; the Senior Information and Assistance Program which maintains a huge and growing resource database that holds potential solutions for almost any challenge or question a senior or caregiver may have regarding services or programs; the Volunteer Transportation Program where drivers provide roundtrip transportation services for seniors to medical and other necessary appointments; and the Senior Wellness Project, winner of the American Public Health Association's Award for Excellence in Program Innovation, which enhances the quality of life for older adults through exercise and proper self-management of chronic health conditions.

In addition to operating nine Senior Centers and seven Adult Day Health Centers, Senior Services also offers a Homesharing Program in which younger people share homes with seniors and may substitute a portion of the rent with help in the household; the Senior Rights Assistance program which provides peer-to-peer counseling services on health, insurance, consumer and estate planning issues; and the Minor Home Repair program, an African American Elders Project.

As people live longer – well into their 80s, 90s and beyond—seniors have come to represent the fastest growing segment of the population. In King County alone, the number of people age 65 or older is now approaching 200,000. Of these, more than 36,000 women and men live alone and 8 percent live below the poverty level established by the Federal Government.

Senior Services touches the lives of some 70,000 seniors each year, preserving their independence and their dignity, helping them to avoid premature entry into institutional care and supporting their families and caregivers. Measurable outcomes provide the proof that Senior Services makes a difference in the lives of older people. In a survey of agency constituents, results were consistently high showing that people have an improved quality of life and greater ability to engage in daily activities.