Mutual Mt. Airy Attracts Area Elderly

Dozens of Mt. Airy senior citizens turned put for the first meeting of at Lovett Library Monday night.

The meeting was largely focused on crowd-sourcing the most important issues that the area's residents would like to see the group provide, according to Peter Javsicas, one of the group's founding members.

"We're here to find out … what we want in in the Mt. Airy neighborhood in helping each other out for mutual aid," he said. "We're trying to make a community of folks who help each outer out while aging in place while staying in our own homes as long as we can."

The meeting consisted of breaking the assembled into groups of five to come up with individual lists of what social, household and mobility services people would like the group to help provide. Over 20 ideas were generated, which the crowd then voted on using stickers.

The following issues received the most votes from the crowd:

• a volunteer database
• a social companionship network
• co-op living / creating younger-older living communities
• handy man services
• an electronics specialist
• "time of need" support
• car share

The next step for the group, according to Anne Javsicas, is to try to attract more members and start to figure out how to manage an infrastructure for the group.
She was encouraged by the turnout.

"One of the big questions for us coming in was 'is there enough interest in the area to age in place?'" she said. "By the strength in numbers, I think we do."

For some residents, like Ethelyn Braithwaite of Mt. Airy, simply getting together with like-minded people was a welcome change of pace.

"I'm interested to hear that so many people are hollering about the same things I've been hollering about," she said. "It's great to see that we can come together as we age together."

The group's next meeting is scheduled for Jan 14. at Lovett Librry.