A Q&A with Suzanne Caton, President of the Board, Friends of the Lexington Council on Aging
LO: What is the Friends of the Lexington Council on Aging (FCOA)?
SC: In the 1960s, Massachusetts legislation created Councils on Aging for the cities and towns in the Commonwealth, the members to be appointed by the Board of Selectmen. The Town of Lexington Council on Aging was established at that time and still exists today. They provide policy guidance to the Senior Center, which was originally located in the Lexington Visitors Center, then moved to the site of the former Muzzey School.
In 1972, a bequest from a Lexington resident specified that half of the proceeds from the sale of her home would be given to the town, with the funds used toward a new senior center. To receive this gift, the Friends of the Lexington Council on Aging was established as a 501(c)(3) charity.
LO: How are you connected to the town and in which ways are you independent?
SC: The FCOA mission statement is included in its by-laws: The purpose of this [corporation] shall be to raise money through contributions and fundraising activities, which monies shall be disbursed to cover FCOA organizational costs, to support programs, and to purchase equipment and/or services for the senior citizens of Lexington Massachusetts, in coordination with the Lexington Council on Aging.
The money from the 1972 bequest is now invested in an endowment which is managed financially by the Lexington Trustees of the Public Trust, but the Trustees have no control over how the funds are used by the FCOA. The FCOA is independent of the Town of Lexington.
However, we work closely with the Council on Aging and the town’s Human Services Department. FCOA funds are used by human services to underwrite programs intended for Lexington seniors. Once handed over to human services, those funds are used at the discretion of human services staff.
We have sub-committees that independently run a couple of programs sponsored and financially supported by the FCOA: the Older, Wiser, Lifelong Learning (OWLL) program and the LEXINGTON LifeTimes magazine published twice yearly.
LO: What is the age range of the population you serve?
SC: We serve the seniors (60+) of Lexington. In this town that puts such a high value on excellent education for its children, we feel that often the needs of our senior population are overlooked. We are trying to help fulfill those needs for socialization, intellectual and cultural stimulation, and appropriate entertainment opportunities, in cooperation with the Council on Aging and the Human Services Department.
LO: How does FCOA operate?
SC: All the members of the FCOA board are volunteers and most of the sub-committees are volunteers except the Managing Editor of the LEXINGTON LifeTimes magazine, who is paid for her time publishing the magazine.
The FCOA board decides where our funds go, although we have an understanding with the Human Services Department that we will contribute a set amount twice a year to the department. Those funds are used at the discretion of the department to underwrite programs intended for Lexington seniors such as the monthly senior lunches and senior trips, and to support transportation programs aimed at Seniors.
This set amount makes up the largest percentage of our funds annually. Another smaller percentage of our funds is used to pay the LifeTimes Managing Editor and to pay for printing of a limited number of copies of the magazine. The magazine is almost self-supporting through advertising by several local businesses and by contributions from individual patrons.
The OWLL program is self-supporting, although we use the town Recreation Department’s online registration operation to handle registration for OWLL courses. The town returns the funds it collects for OWLL registrations to the FCOA, which we then use to pay an honorarium to the course instructors.
LO: How did the OWLL program get started?
SC: In 2013, the FCOA received a Dana Home Foundation grant to start the OWLL program. The OWLL educational programs features courses of four to six sessions and charges residents $25 per course. The OWLL program has grown from 86 registrations to more than 500, has offered more than 100 courses, and is self-sustaining. This year, 119 people signed up for our six Fall programs and we will offer 6 Winter Zoom programs and 6 Spring in-person and Zoom courses.
LO: Are there any FCOA goals that you can share?
SC: Our most urgent near-term goal is to increase our public presence in the town, to make more people aware of our organization and the successful programs we are sponsoring and have sponsored in the past to support Lexington seniors. We believe that more visibility will improve our fund-raising efforts. Another near-term goal is to add new members to our FCOA board.
Our long-term goal is to develop and implement a social media plan that will continue to make us visible and valued in the community in order to allow us to continue to fund programs supporting our senior citizens.
LO: What can Lexingtonians do to help FCOA?
SC: All the funds we raise are spent supporting programs and activities directed at Lexington seniors. We need the monetary support, in the form of charitable donations, of Lexingtonians to continue our mission.
To learn more about the Lexington Friends of the Council on Aging, visit https://friendsofthecoa.org