By Adam Swift
The city council is looking to reestablish a program in the city where young people would help shovel for senior citizens following snowstorms.
At Monday night’s council meeting, Councillor-at-Large Robert Haas, III and Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya introduced a motion asking that the mayor, “in conjunction with the Youth Works Department and School Department, revisit the idea of implementing a Teen Shoveling Program, which would pair students with city seniors and disabled residents who are unable to maintain their properties during winter months, and especially following storms and inclement weather.”
The program would provide students monetary compensation and/or community service hours, according to the councillors.
“I know that this is an issue that we brought up a few years back and we seemed to be making some good headway with it at the time,” said Haas. “But it kind of fell under the radar and there were some changes in the city. Someone I was working with on the disability commission on this has left for another employment opportunity, but I am thankful for Councillor Guarino-Sawaya for wanting to team up again on this one.”
The need for snow shoveling services after a storm is one of the biggest issues Haas said he has heard about from senior citizens.
“There are some nights when I am walking my dog after a storm, the day after storm, and you will see there are houses that are completely shoveled, and then you will get to one house where an elderly woman lives, and you will see it’s iced over and the stairs look icy,” said Haas. “It is a program that the city has had before with the JROTC that kind of fell apart a few years back due to the lack of huge storms, I guess, and a few other reasons. The key to it is finding a point person we can work with, whether it is in the school department, whether it is in Youthworks, but it is definitely something that Councillor Guarino-Sawaya and myself are willing to work with and get off the ground.”
Guarino-Sawaya said she recently discussed the issue with Mayor Patrick Keefe and she asked that city workforce development Director Gerry Visconti appear before the council to discuss a program the city is considering.
“Our suggestion was maybe getting a school guidance counselor involved and have a rolling list of kids that do want to participate in this program,” said Guarino-Sawaya. “The city does have a little bit of money that they do for parks and rec that they can pay them. It won’t be big money, but they do get a stipend.”
The Ward 5 councillor said the program could enrich the lives of both the senior citizens and the students.
Councillor-at-Large Joanne McKenna noted that the city might want to get in touch with the class advisors at the high school, since they are the ones that typically help take care of the community service hours for the students.
“This is all well intended, and I think the bottom line is funding,” said Council President Anthony Zambuto. “If we are going to put this in place we’ve got to come up with the funding … if we get something in writing, and then we can run with it.”
