Capitol Hill Village was one of the first nonprofits around the country to help people stay in their homes as they age by creating a network where neighbors help neighbors with small chores, businesses offer discounts and people gather for events. Procter, who has lived on the Hill since 1971, is president of the board of directors. How many do people does the Village serve?
We have about 350 individuals who are members. Some of them are members in households, so there are about 240 memberships.
What kinds of things do volunteers help with?
About 60 of them are helping drive people places: to medical appointments, to grocery shopping, sometimes to airports — we do offer that service — to Village events. There’s another group of people that help people with computer problems. … And there are people who help do things like unstick windows and change light bulbs in high ceilings.
The Village is modeled off a similar organization in Boston and you all help start other villages. How many exist now?
I think there’s about 100 up and running. I haven’t looked recently and there’s probably well over 100 in the planning stages. In this area, there are I think about six up and running and another six or eight that are in the planning stages.
How did you get involved?
I’d lived on the Hill and loved being part of the community. I was very active when my children were young in something called the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. I felt that people whose children are grown were kind of drifting away from each other and not having as much fun or working together as much. So for me the Village was an opportunity to reverse that and become something that we could all work towards. And it’s actually had exactly that effect on our lives.
Do you plan on using the services?
We actually already do use them. — Kytja Weir
