Newton at Home History

Newton at Home (NAH) was founded in 2007 by a group of longtime Newton residents and became fully operational in April 2011.

2023

• Allison Godsey joins as Executive Director in February
• Dining Club reestablishes monthly restaurant outings
• Volunteer Breakfasts at the Scandinavian Living Center restart
• “Meet our Members” program series resumes, with presentations from Douglas and Sallie Craig Huber on their healthcare work around the world and Maria Brisk on growing up in Peronist Argentina
• “Newton at Home Hikes!,” our member-led walking series, expands with Jean Bonney, one of our first members, as our leader
• Co-presented multiple music programs with the Scandinavian Living Center 
• Resumed our live theater outings to the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.)
• Continued virtual programs with the MFA Houston and the NY Historical Society 
• Re-vamped Monday’s “Weekly” e-newsletter and Thursday’s “Mid-Week Update”
• Hosted a Safe-driving program for the community presented by providers at Newton-Wellesley Hospital
• Hosted a joint Fessenden School-NAH program. Fessenden students interviewed NAH members about their life histories and created 3-D art projects to share
• Alexandra Johnson joined as Business Development & Member Services Manager
• Christie Jacobs retires having had Member Services Manager and Volunteer Coordinator roles during her six years on staff
• Fall Benefit “Growing our Family” honored Susan Paley, Village Bank and Karen Masterson, co-owner Johnny’s Luncheonette and Cabot’s Ice Cream, and featured keynote speaker Hank Phillippi Ryan, award-winning author, journalist and Newton resident. Good Shepherd Community Care was our host sponsor, and Village Bank was our premiere sponsor.
• Created and implemented a new quality control system within member services to increase the ease and efficiency of communications with our volunteers.
• Worked with Newton North High School to coordinate student volunteers helping our members with Air Conditioner removals.
• At Annual Meeting, Jennifer Sax appointed president and Jim Smith vice president.

2022

• “Coping with Covid” updates with Dr. Douglas Huber, NAH member, continue, expanded to related topics, and other Villages invited
• Johnny's Luncheonette continued to offer soup to our members
• Return to in-person Dining Club – initially on the Scandinavian Living Center patio and then indoors at the SLC
• Expanded offering of joint Zoom events with members of neighboring Villages
• First Hybrid programs (part in person and part Zoom)
• Walk in the Woods – Monthly hiking group – started
• Private Tours of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts with NAH Member Docent
• Art presentations by Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts
• Ready Readers Book Club discusses their 100th book
• NAH Co-sponsors All the Lonely People Screening at West Newton Cinema
• Susan Chiappisi starts as member coordinator; Christie Jacobs becomes volunteer coordinator.
• Alex Vogel reelected as President
• Maureen Grannan retires as Executive Director

2021

• Offering joint Zoom events with members of neighboring Villages (Wellesley, Cambridge)
• Frequent “Coping with Covid” updates with Dr. Douglas Huber, NAH member (throughout the year)
• New “Living Alone During Covid and Beyond” group formed
• Johnny’s Luncheonette continues to offer free soup to members; volunteers deliver (Winter and Spring). Thank you Johnny’s
• Book Club #1 Affinity Group discusses their 100th Book (April)
• Reopening (May): Increasing services to members: Transportation, Handyman, Technology Services, Friendly Visits, Errands, Small Appliance Repair Shop
• Getting Together Again (May): Affinity Clubs resume in-person and add hybrid (in-person + Zoom) events
• NAH Office at Scandinavian Living Center re-opens after 451 days (June)
• Expanding Services and Events (June): More rides, in-home friendly visits, more handyman visits, and first outdoors walks
• Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast (July)
• Food To Your Table and Dining Club restart (July)
• Redesigned NAH Website rolls out (September)
• Storm Squad replaces Winter Buddy program (November)
• Spanish Conversation Affinity Group exceeds eighty Zoom sessions (starting from March 2020)
• Alex Vogel elected President

2020

• First Social Members join NAH
• NAH adjusts as pandemic and quarantine upends business as usual
• All office functions and Committee and Board meetings transitioned to virtual
• NAH offers dozens of activities via Zoom including new recurring events Morning Musings, Cooking with Carole, and Coping with COVID-19
• NAH initiates Senior Housing in Newton webinars with industry speakers
• NAH offers virtual tours of the Museum of Fine Arts
• Some Affinity Groups meet more frequently including Book Club #1 and Reading for Sharing
• NAH volunteers deliver 100s of gallons of soup to members through collaboration with Johnny’s Luncheonette and continue Food to Your Table deliveries
• New communications: “What Should I do Today,” Pet of the Week; regularly updated photographs exhibited on the web
• Arthur Glasgow and Alex Vogel elected co-Presidents
• Newton at Home members continue to serve the city of Newton on the Council on Aging and the Newton Center for Active Living (NewCal) Commission
• Grants received from Katherine Pierce Foundation, Rebecca Pomeroy Foundation, and Rotary Club of Newton
• Wellness programs sponsored West Newton Hearing Center

2019

• Newton at Home begins to offer Social Memberships
• Third Guided Autobiography class; first “advanced” class for those who had previously participated
• Deborah Fogel, one of our first volunteers in 2007, joins Board of Directors
• Two members of Newton at Home are serving the city of Newton - Dorothy Anger as a member of the Council on Aging and Sallie Craig Huber as a member of NewCAL
• Jimmy Tingle “Humor for Humanity” Fundraising Event 
• Grants received from Rotary Club of Newton and the Rebecca Pomroy Foundation
• Article about NAH published in Newton Neighbors magazine
• 3rd year of NAH member yard cleanups in Fall and Spring
• "Meet The Members" series initiated
• Steve Logowitz reelected as President
• Newton at Home members appointed to Newton’s Council on Aging and the Newton Center for Active Living (NewCal) Commission

2018

• Summer of Flowers Tour"- including Kelleher Rose Garden, Tower Hill Botanic Garden and the Harvard Glass Flowers
• Steve Logowitz reelected as President
• Kathy Dolan becomes our office assistant
• Two river cruises – Concord and Essex
• Christie Jacobs becomes Coordinator of Volunteers
• Second Guided Autobiography class
• Thurgood with Johnny Lee Davenport fundraising event
• Bill Novak Night of Laughter fundraising event
• Amy Kraus joins NAH as Program Coordinator

2017

• First Guided Autobiography Writing Class
• NAH again sponsors "Telling Our Stories" at 2017 Festival of the Arts
• First Small Appliance Repair-a-Thon
• Newton Senior Center Chamber Ensemble concert & brunch fundraiser
• First Memoir Writing Class
• Chamber Music Playing Group begins
• Christie Jacobs joins as part-time Member Services Coordinator
• Keyes Drug sponsors Health & Wellness series for the year
• Steve Logowitz reelected as President
• Tracing our Treasurers, Antique Appraisal and Fundraising Event
• NAH and Villages across the world sponsor Dr. Atul Gawande’s simulcast on “Value of Community and Choices as We Grow Older”
• Aileen Murphy, our Programs Coordinator, also becomes our Coordinator of Volunteers

2016

• Newton’s Mayor Setti Warren in his State of the City address said, “Newton at Home has been a fantastic resource for Newton seniors.”
• NAH invited to participate in several City of Newton task forces
• NAH sponsors "Telling Our Stories" at Festival of the Arts
• Current Events/Politics, History, Knitting, Conversational Spanish, Reading Aloud, and Scrabble & Rummikub groups each begin
• Sharing a Supper program started
• 211 members at year end
• Steve Logowitz becomes president
• First Newton at Home cookbook published
• Small Appliance Repair group moved from SOAR55 and grown
• Fifth Birthday
• Monthly Newsletter/calendar of upcoming programs and events for Newton at Home community begins

2015

• Aileen Murphy joins staff as part-time Programs Coordinator
• Tango Mango partnership starts
• We co-sponsor “Telling our Stories, Celebrating our Lives” as part of the Newton Festival of the Arts
• Singing Group and Spanish Conversation Group start
• Steve Logowitz and Deborah Jackson Weiss become co-Presidents
• 198 members at year end
• Second Whole Foods 5% Day
• Bakery goods deliveries started
• Weekly Calendar of upcoming programs and events begins

2014

• Hannah Goldberg, who started as a volunteer, joins staff as part-time Member Services Coordinator
• Food Matters Affinity Group (now Nourish group) and Cooking classes start
• First Whole Foods 5% day
• Flower deliveries start
• New NAH website introduced
• Tiger’s Loft luncheons start
• Major grants to support the reduced-fee memberships from Loretto Community and Newton Rotary Club
• 183 members at year end
• Food To your Table Partnership starts

2013

• Newton-Wellesley Hospital partnership starts
• “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” byline introduced
• First Volunteer Satisfaction Survey
• Theatre Group and Dining Club formalized
• Six-month trial membership and Nine-month partial-year (breakaway) memberships added
• Support Group for Caregivers of People with Dementia started
• Major Donations from Sovereign Bank for reduced-fee memberships and Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew for technology
• 181 members at year end
• Dining Club begins to meet regularly

2012

• Maureen Grannan becomes Executive Director
• First partnership with Newton North High School (carpentry)
• Barbara Butterworth, who started as a volunteer in 2011, becomes a part-time Member Services Coordinator
• Winter Buddies program starts
• First Member Satisfaction Survey
• Second Book Club starts
• Fessenden School/Newton at Home Reading Group established
• 160 members at year end
• Over 100 volunteers during the year
• First Birthday party

2011

• Opens with first members and volunteers
• Julie Plaut Mahoney joins as Coordinator of Volunteers (later, also, becomes Coordinator of Partnerships)
• Maureen Grannan joins as a volunteer and becomes first part-time Member Services Coordinator later in the year
• First Book Club
• First Theatre events
• Health and Wellness Committee formed
• Reaches 100 members
• By end of year, over 85% of member service requests are fulfilled by volunteers (well over 90% by 2012 and over 95% since 2014)

2010

• Over 70 volunteers planning for opening in Member Services, Provider Services, Volunteer/Staffing, Transportation, Marketing/Communications, Program Planning, and Finance/Fundraising Committees
• First (trial) activities for potential members (attending plays and concerts)
• First Connections newsletter
• www.newtonathome.org created
• Raised over $70,000 prior to opening
• Office opened at Scandinavian Living Center
• Hires first Executive Director
• Join newly-created Village-to-Village network

2009

• First Board of Directors chosen
• Incorporated and receives 501(c)(3) status
• First committees established – Planning, Membership, Marketing/Communications, Finance, Fundraising, and Programs

2008

• Mission Statement created
• Name “Newton at Home” adopted
• Tamara Bliss becomes President
• Survey of Newton Seniors conducted

2007

• Jeremy Warburg Russo and friends begin meeting to discuss the Village concept and plan for a Village in Newton