The large room at Tuckahoe Clubhouse was near capacity on January 21 for Here to Stay in Wintergreen’s meeting. While the event was focused on members and volunteers, the public was invited to attend the 10 am event.
The leadership held a similar meeting a year ago. Unlike last year, a newsletter detailing much of what was covered at the meeting was sent to members and the public 10 days beforehand.
Each of the six speakers (Beth Colmery, President; Gordon Walker, Treasurer; Kaye Pietrowicz, founder, former president and current membership committee chair; Linda Harrington, founder, former president and current volunteer committee chair; Sue Goebel, social committee chair; and Peggy Watts Gup, vice president and a leader on the tech committee) offered additional insights about Here to Stay in Wintergreen. For example:
Here to Stay in Wintergreen has gone from 73 members when it started to 283 in six years. Membership growth in recent years has been “steady.”
In the coming year, the focus will be on expanding and improving services to members.
The new $10,000 from the state grant will be used to study the risks of social isolation among its membership and implement programs to mitigate it.
The social committee is very active, and the volunteers are “having a lot of fun.” Monthly programs with guest speakers will continue. A Movie Club for members was introduced in late December.
Standardizing administrative processes and focusing on best practices is a goal of the president. An independent bookkeeper has been contracted to prepare financial reports and file taxes.
Linda Harrington made these points about the volunteers:
Driving is the most popular volunteer service with members, tech help is second. In 2025, volunteers logged about 400 hours offering assistance to members.
Our volunteer corps is 60, and in that group, we have about 25 super volunteers who are quick to offer help.
Our volunteer process does ask for a lot. We require a background check on all volunteers, for example. We are looking to offer more training for our volunteers.
The volunteers are invited to our events for members, with rare exceptions.
We get our best ideas from our members and volunteers. The board listens to what they have to say.
All our volunteers are covered by our liability insurance.
Here to Stay strives to cooperate, not compete, with other organizations here in Wintergreen such as Wintergreen Music and the Nature Foundation.
There have only been a couple of times when we have had to turn down a request for volunteer service from a member. I’d say we fulfill well over 90 percent of the requests. That doesn't include requests for services we don’t offer. We won’t dig holes for fence posts, for example.
Here to Stay volunteer services are not going to compete with the professional service providers here. We do screen all requests.
Volunteers will sometimes kindly offer to help members without going through the Here to Stay process. We’re asking our members to please not do this. Our volunteer hours statistics are important.
It’s great how most of our members are using the forms on the website to make requests. That is so helpful to us.
Peggy Watts Gup talked about tech help committee:
There are 10 volunteers on the tech team.
Members get hands on help with all kinds of consumer electronics issues, ranging from smart phone software upgrades to smart watch setups, and everything in between.
In addition to the monthly Tech Workshops on the fourth Thursday of every month, our team also assists those who request help at home with setting up printers and streaming services.
We also help with technology relating to safety and security, such as medical alert devices, and remind our members monthly of ways to prevent scams and security breaches.
Here to Stay in Wintergreen’s finances are strong, but this report may be a little misleading because the grants and membership dues come in at the end of the year and the funds will be spent during the coming year, noted Treasurer Gordon Walker.
The respite program is not using funds from the Here to Stay budget that serves members, Walker stressed.
Requests for assistance from volunteers in 2025 (via the online management system)
Rides: 116
Tech Help: 27
Home Help: 15
Friendly Visits: 9
Pet Care: 9
Errands: 5
Thoughtful Foods: 5
The group’s shuttle bus regular trips to grocery stores has proven to be a lifeline for some members, reports Beth Colmery. The drivers of the bus get special training and are covered by insurance. Quarterly trips to Costco have been added to the shuttle bus schedule.
Here to Stay in Wintergreen continued its advocacy efforts with UVA to bring Physical Therapy services to the Stoney Creek Pharmacy space. Here to Stay was the lead community group in bringing Stoney Creek Pharmacy to Nellysford. It’s a success, filling approximately 200 prescriptions a day and providing hundreds of vaccinations each month.
Blue Ridge Respite marked its one-year anniversary a few months ago, lead by Barb Shefleton. (See her report here.) Gordon Walker made some additonal points about the new Blue Ridge Respite program working out of Rockfish Presbyterian Church:
The respite program grew out of the need identified by Here to Stay in Wintergreen’s successful Caregivers Support Group.
There are 12 people currently in the local respite program. The number of people the program can handle depends on the space we have available. There is generally at least one volunteer for each client. The maximum number is close to 15. Volunteers are the key.
The respite program cost $40 a day for each person in the program. It would be more than $60 without the grants and donations.
Another respite program is starting up in Arrington; Here to Stay in Wintergreen is assisting.
Kris Bourque started her job as Here to Stay in Wintergreen's administrator in January. Contact her via email at admin@heretostaywtg.org.
-Charles Batchelor
