Mission and Background:
The Shepherd's Center of
Greater Winston-Salem is
an interfaith ministry
whose mission is to
promote
and support successful aging
by providing direct
services, volunteer
opportunities and
enrichment programs for older adults. The
Winston-Salem ministry
was founded in 1985 and
is an affiliate member
of The Shepherd’s
Centers of America,
based in Kansas City,
Missouri.
The
local organization has
grown from a small task
force in 1985, to a
vital segment of the
aging services community
in the greater
Winston-Salem area with
3,000 members and
over 500 active
volunteers who provide
in excess of 25,000
volunteer hours yearly.
3,500 older adults
take part in our
programs and services
each year. Over 1,700
individuals and families
received services during
2011 through the Faith
In Action Care Program
that allowed them to
remain independent in
their own homes. These
services included
visitation/respite care,
transportation and minor
home repairs.
The
Senior
Center programs had an
attendance of over 24,000 participants
during 2011, providing
life-long learning
opportunities, health
promotion and fitness
activities, bridge, creative arts,
book and discussion
groups, day trips
and fellowship
opportunities. The
Senior Center is
certified as a Senior
Center of Excellence
through the North
Carolina Division of
Aging and Adult Services.
The Congregational
Nurse and Health
Ministry Program
serves as an advocate
and community resource
for the promotion of
holistic health within
Forsyth County.
Congregational nursing
and health ministries
integrate medical
knowledge, behavioral
science, and pastoral
care with the practices
of a faith community to
improve the health of
citizens. Based upon a
volunteer model, nurses
and lay persons from the
participating
congregations
are volunteers within
their own faith
community. Training,
continuing education and
networking are provided
through the program to
support the
participating
congregations. 58
congregations and over
200 nurses have participated
in the network since
2009 reaching over 25,000
individuals with
information and
services.
The Shepherd's
Center of
Winston-Salem is
located at 1700
Ebert Street,
Winston-Salem, NC
27103 . Our
telephone number is
336-748-0217. See
the following link
for a map to our
location.
Click here to see a map to
reach us
The Shepherd's Center of Greater Winston-Salem
is first and foremost a volunteer-based
organization. The use of older adult
volunteers has resulted in keeping operating
costs low and provides older adults with
volunteer opportunities that keep them active
and give them meaning in their lives.
Our Organizational
Concepts:
-
The
Shepherd’s Center views
older adults as a
potential resource for the
enrichment of the life of
the community, rather than
a social problem to be
solved. Aging is seen as
a process of becoming
fully human, rather than
of becoming less human.
Later life is seen as
potentially rich, exciting
and meaningful. Older
adults are seen as
possessing skills,
experience, wisdom, and
matured judgment, which
can be called upon for
service, and it is
believed that fulfillment
in later life requires
that adults be allowed to
assume significant roles
which they can enjoy and
which the community can
appreciate.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center is based
on the concept that older
adults must be challenged
and empowered to assume
responsibility for their
own lives and for the
development of programs
affecting them and the
community as a whole.
Older adults in the
community are called upon
to assume a central role
in the organization,
governance and operation
of the Shepherd’s Center.
Rather than being taken
care of by others, they
plan and carry out those
programs through which
they serve one another and
the community.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center is
also based
upon the concept of
community which implies
that older adults care for
each other because
they care about
each other. It
attempts to organize the
community as the most
effective coordination of
the delivery of resources,
for linking adults in need
with resources and for
generating whatever new
services are needed.
The Shepherd’s Center is
thought of as a watchful
presence in a community
concerned about all older
adults, not merely the
frail, homebound, poor or
dependent.
-
The Shepherd’s
Center seeks and
depends upon the support
and sponsorship of the
religious congregations in
the communities being
served. The Shepherd's
Center does not attempt to
do for the congregations
what they are expected to
do for their own members,
but it does enable
congregations to work
together to accomplish
what they could not do
separately. In this
building of community, the
Shepherd’s Center seeks to
enable individuals and
congregations to draw upon
and share their own
insights and common
values, without violating
particular individual
religious traditions.
Our Guiding Principles:
-
The
Shepherd’s Center is
predominantly a
volunteer organization.
We see the use of
volunteers not only as a
way of providing needed
services at a low cost,
but also as a significant way of
enabling adults to invest
their time and talents in
meaningful and
self-fulfilling ways.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center works to
sustain older adults who
desire to live
independently in their own
homes in the community.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center provides
retirees with the
opportunity to use their
life experiences, training
and skills in significant
social roles.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center enhances
life satisfaction in later
maturity and enables
self-realization through
artistic expression,
community service, caring
relationships, life-long
learning and discovery of
inner resources.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center
demonstrates life at its
best in later maturity so
as to provide attractive
role models for successful
aging.
-
The
Shepherd’s Center
contributes to the
knowledge base of what is
required for successful
aging, and experiments
with new approaches and
programs for meeting the
needs of older adults.
Our Values
-
Inspiring
– people’s lives with
faith, meaning and purpose
-
Educating
– for informed decisions,
personal growth and
self-expression
-
Serving
–
the needs of older adults
-
Supporting –
healthy, active and
independent life style
-
Enriching
– the quality of life in
later years
Our Vision
The
Vision of the Shepherd's
Center is to be the
leading interfaith
volunteer ministry in our
community that provides
older adults with
life-long learning,
volunteer and service
opportunities.
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