Agency Details:

LITA (Love Is The Answer)

LITA works to improve the quality of life of lonely and isolated elderly persons living in skilled nursing facilities, residential care facilities and retirement residences by providing volunteer visitors as one to one friends.

Description:
LITA focuses its services on residents of long-term care facilities who have few visitors or none at all. LITA volunteers provide these residents with companionship, often for the remainder of their lives. LITA seeks to meet the needs of an elderly population in Marin County which is growing rapidly. LITA provides volunteer friends through the following specific programs: One-to-One Friends, Pet Connection, LITA Youth Partners, and LITA Families. About 40% of volunteers visit with a pet. At this time we have eight school classes visiting facilities. These programs allow us to meet the individual needs of a variety of residents and make matches that are mutually enriching for volunteers and the people that they visit.

LITA staff continually recruit new volunteers to increase the numbers of residents and facilities served as well as to replace volunteers who are no longer able to serve. LITA staff increases public awareness of the needs of the lonely and isolated residents of facilities through presentations to community groups, attendance at public information events, and in the media. Every year LITA coordinates an ambitious gift drive to provide gifts during the holiday season to all residents in need who would otherwise not receive them.

History:
LITA (Love is the Answer)grew out of a need to bring happiness, friendship and purpose into the lives of lonely and isolated elderly living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Mae Wygant founded LITA in 1975. Mae volunteered at a Novato nursing home, serving coffee and visiting with residents. She became aware of the deep loneliness many of these people felt and their strong sense of loss of one-to-one conversation and companionship. In the early years, LITA was coordinated out of Mae's kitchen. She recruited friends and fellow church members to visit residents on a one-to-one basis. This simple yet caring act of kindness gave birth to LITA.

Mae Wygant served as executive director on an unpaid basis for the first seven years. In 1982, a half time executive was hired with a grant from the San Francisco Foundation (now Marin Community Foundation - Buck Trust) to provide more extensive recruitment and training of volunteers for program development.

Prior to 1985, LITA visited only in nursing homes. In 1985 LITA's program was expanded to include residents of assisted care and residential care facilities. By 2006 LITA had expanded its scope to include the wide range of long-term care facilities in Marin County, including skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, retirement residences, specialty Alzheimers/Dementia facilities, and board and care homes.

Contact people:

Gerrda Focardi, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email) Aline Shaw, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Reed McClintock, Board President, (phone), (email)

Main office number: (415) 472-5482
Office fax number: (415) 472-4965

Address:

4340 Redwood Highway, Suite #101 San Rafael, CA 94903 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.litamarin.org

Last updated on December 15, 2009