Your Support Empowers Older New Yorkers
2021 was a year of both heartache and hope for New York City’s seniors. While older New Yorkers were the most likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19, our community finally began to see relief this year as vaccines became widely available. The pandemic made it all too clear how important it is to plan for the future.
In the below email, we are proud to share 2021 highlights from the Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) Senior Law Project. Please consider a year-end donation to VOLS to support the efforts of the Senior Law Project through our #BrooklynGives campaign, powered by the Brooklyn Community Foundation.
This fall, VOLS changed the name of our Elderly Project to the Senior Law Project to better reflect the broad range of ages and circumstances of the older New Yorkers whom we serve. They include more than 2,000 seniors and their loved ones who benefited from VOLS legal assistance over the past year. Read below to learn about the story of VOLS client Ms. Esteva and to read the thank you note we received from the daughter of another VOLS client.
Helping seniors to plan for incapacity and for the end of life ensures that their wishes are clear and are carried out by the people that they love and trust the most. Having the right plan in place can enable our clients to access the benefits that sustain them and to stay in the community for as long as possible. New York City’s senior centers have now reopened, and VOLS has resumed client service in person, even as we continue to incorporate the best practices of remotely-provided service and online legal education for the long term.
The VOLS Senior Law Project team heads into 2022 ready to help our City’s seniors. We could not do our work without our dedicated volunteer attorneys, community partners, and supporters. Thank you for being a part of the VOLS community.
All our best,
Pete and the VOLS SLP Team
Peter Kempner
Legal Director and Senior Law Project Director
Volunteers of Legal Service
Support VOLS’ Year-End Appeal Campaign
Resilience is on our minds at VOLS as 2021 comes to an end. Please help New York City’s seniors to bounce forward. Donate today to help fund VOLS’ free, citywide legal services through #BrooklynGives, an initiative of the Brooklyn Community Foundation
Senior Law Project Client Stories
Our client Ms. Esteva* was served by VOLS’ La Extensión Comunitaria para Adultos Mayores, launched in 2021 to focus our outreach and life planning resources for Latinx seniors. The Project’s new Spanish language webpage includes fact sheets and educational videos aimed at making our services accessible to as many seniors as possible.
Ms. Juana Esteva, a monolingual Spanish-speaking 98-year-old widow with multiple health conditions, was in the process of recertifying for various government benefits including her housing subsidy that she needed to keep a roof over her head. Because of her health conditions, she was unable to complete the paper work and she was in danger of losing her benefits. She wanted her son to help, but the agency refused to allow him to be involved because he did not have the right paperwork. VOLS was able to intervene and provide Spanish-language services, meet the client within days of first contact, process her documents, and execute them. The next day, her son was able to take care of all her mother’s government benefits on her behalf, as her agent under a Power of Attorney.
This is just one of many examples of how our services allow seniors to age in place in the community with dignity and respect. Following is a thank you note we received from the daughter of another VOLS Senior Law Project client:
Thank you so much for your assistance in helping my mother and I in securing the legal documents needed, for her business and health affairs. I appreciate you understanding the urgency of my situation and getting us legal support as soon as possible. Yesterday my mother and I met with the volunteer attorney and his colleagues. Now we have every legal document needed to manage her personal affairs. My mother was completely overwhelmed by the attorney and his colleagues’ respectful and kind demeanor. They made our brief time in their office seamless and stress free. Once again, my mother and I thank you and your organization for your assistance. Having these documents puts us both at ease.
Client name changed for privacy purposes
Legal Education & Analysis
In 2021, VOLS expanded our legal education resources for seniors and their loved ones by creating a new guide for Voluntary Administration; our 2021 Guide To Obtaining Financial Assistance For Burials And Funerals In New York City; and a Guide to Veterans’ Burial Benefits. We also continue to team up with our community partners like PSS Life University and the NYC Department for the Aging for their Chat with the Expert Series; the NYS Division of Veterans Services and the New York State Health Foundation’s conference on veteran suicide prevention; and so many other great organizations.
VOLS addresses the broader policy concerns of older New Yorkers. In the past year, we advocated in support of New York State legislation to reform Power of Attorney guidelines, which were finally updated after a decade of advocacy by the elder law and disability rights community. We advocated on issues affecting veterans through the New York Veterans Law Working Group, co-chaired by VOLS Legal Director Peter Kempner, including promoting the targeted legal services for older veterans. We testified at New York City Council hearings on the expansion of right to counsel in housing court, on “seniors aging in place during a pandemic,” and the important need for future planning for older veterans, as well in favor of a proposed law that would provide protections and supports for seniors who could experience eviction or homelessness stemming from the consequences of a bed bug infestation and a lack of support to address that problem.
The VOLS Senior Law Project thanks our many pro bono and community partners, financial supporters, and our client community for ensuring in 2021 that older New Yorkers are afforded the dignity and security they deserve.
We wish you and your families a happy and healthy new year!