Hey Avon Seniors! Looking to Work Again Part-Time?

Seniors in Avon, West Hartford and surrounding towns will once again have a resource to assist them in finding part-time employment, and potential employers will once again have a resource to secure dependable cost-effective employment.

"For many years we’ve hoped that they can come back," said West Hartford Mayor Scott Slifka at Tuesday night's Town Council meeting, informing the public that he had just ceremoniously handed a key to Bob Cave, one of the directors of the reincarnated Seniors Job Bank (SJB).

The key is to the door of Room 216 at Town Hall – where the SJB was housed until it ceased operations in 2008.

Although located in Town Hall, the Seniors Job Bank is not part of the Town of West Hartford. It is a privately-funded non-profit corporation. Funding difficulties forced the organization, which was first established in 1974, to shut down in 2008. Slifka said that funding has been secured for at least the first year.

According to a news release from the directors of the new Seniors Job Bank, the impetus for bringing the organization back came from a task force established by the West Hartford Seniors Advisory Council, along with the encouragement of Deputy Mayor Shari Cantor. According to the release, "The task force determined there was a great need to restart the Seniors Job Bank and to help seniors stay in their homes."

Organizers will be reaching out to the community to recruit seniors (defined as anyone over age 50) to offer expertise as "Service Providers." In the past, the Seniors Job Bank served individuals over age 55.

The hope is that the SJB will be operational by May 1, matching up those Service Providers with interested employers.

The release states that the objectives of the Seniors Job Bank are:   

• "To encourage seniors (50+), who are seeking part time employment, to sign up as a Service Provider.
• "To provide an easy to use “work project” referral service for residents and small businesses in SJB service area."

The service area includes not only West Hartford, but also Farmington Valley towns as well as other local communities such as Newington and Bloomfield. Services include home repair work such as painting, carpentry, electrical, and plumbing, as well as landscaping, driving, and office work.

According to the release, members of the Board of Directors are: Anne Danaher, Anne Selden, Bob Cave, Dale Wolfe, Dian Plapler, Henry Boulton, and Jim Doran.