GAY AND LESBIAN ALLIANCE OF THE CENTRAL COAST
E Aging is a dicult part of everyone’s life. It’s even more dicult when we are alone or don’t
have anyone to help us with what used to be simple tasks. As we age, we oen lose family,
friends, give up driving or have medical issues and become isolated. This can be especially
dicult in the LGBTQ+ community, as many of us don’t have children to help care for us as we
age. SLO Village is working hard to ll that void for all seniors in SLO County. “
SLO Village is a community-based membership organizaon focused on empowering older
adults to live happily, healthfully, and successfully in their own homes as they age. SLO Village
provides easy access to a screened network of volunteers and local businesses, as well as
organize social events for our members,” according to the SLO
Village website.
“GALA was instrumental in founding the village,” said Tauria
Linala, one of the founding members and now Secretary. “The
whole idea of the village movement began in the 70’s. GALA
started a list of those who can help each other because there
was a denite need for the gay and lesbian community to be
helped. Eventually they all aged out and the system fell apart
aer 15 years. So we’re really carrying on a tradion of LGBT
people helping LGBT seniors.
In order to get started with the Village to Village Network,
John Alongi, one of the founding members and sll
member of the board, put up the inial funds to join the
network. Within a few hours of joining, they got a phone call from someone who was on the
network list and they started working together. The rst meeng for the group was held at
GALA with a packed house of more than 30 people wanng to get involved in the important
program. Aer brainstorming what they needed along with other senior advocacy support
groups, speaking in the community and pung out a survey to seniors on what they might
need, they realized they needed to do a non-prot organizaon.
GALA earmarked funds for SLO Village and aer a year, they raised about $6,000 to $7,000 for
the organizaon. The group cloned o their own 501(C)(3) not-for-prot organizaon and SLO
Village opened its doors in November of 2017. In just two years, aer a year of organizing, it
has a virtual village of 42 members and 42 volunteers and was recently honored as Senior
Cizen Organizaon of the Year by the Area Agency on Aging.
“For me, SLO Village represents the best of who we are as a community,” said Dave Kuykendall,
SLO Village Board President. “On a regular basis, people share their me, by providing social
Meg Kuykendall walking with SLO
Village Member Elizabeth Abrahams
connecons and help. What drew me to the Village was it was based on a simple and compelling
soluon, direct involvement and kindness were the only crical
ingredients.
The membership fees for SLO Village are $500 a year for a
single person and $750 for a household (2 people at the same
locaon). There is no addional cost for volunteer services.
With the extremely high cost of living in SLO County, SLO
Village oers a sliding scale for low-income households and
individuals. In an eort to not turn any senior away for the
inability to pay, SLO Village has received grants from The
Community Foundaon for SLO County among various other grants.
With the support of volunteers, they oer transportaon, home repairs, technology help, in-
home services and courtesy calls. For the services not provided by volunteers, SLO Village
provides veed businesses to provide access to plumbers, painters, home repairs, home health
care, housekeeping and more at a discounted rate. To date, every service call sent to SLO
Village has been completed.
“We want to engage our seniors to stay in the community and not become isolated,” said
Tauria. “We hold events to keep them engaged, oer walking companions and oer
transportaon for anything like seeing a show, vising friends, and shopping.” The many other
services provided are essenal to help support their day to day living such as minor home
repairs and technical support for phones, tablets, computers, stereos, home alarms systems,
etc. “We want people to be able to age in their own home, rather than going to assisted living if
they choose not to,” connued Tauria.
As any non-prot organizaon, SLO Village is always in need volunteers who can work with
older people. Volunteers just have to be 18 and be able to pass an extensive background check.
This is especially true outside of the current coverage area. As of now, the only members are
south of the grade unl they can get volunteers in the rest of the county.
They are also hoping to hire a sta in 2019 since the
organizaon has been completely run by the board
of directors. In an eort to raise funds, the board has
a campaign to match up to $25,000 donated. This
would be especially helpful in hiring an Execuve
Director and support sta that can help manage the
growth of SLO Village. “We love our members,” said
Tauria. “We try to do good things for them, and so
our best to help them in any way we can.”
SLO Village Board President
Dave Kuykendall
Village Board Members Meg Kuykendall, Sally
Kruger, Tauria Linala having lunch with vising
Village Members from St Louis SLO Village
