Virtual Senior Village: North East Seattle Together
Courtesy of Era Living, Emily Jones, executive director of NEST—North East Seattle Together—joins Suzanne to talk about connections. NEST is a virtual community connecting members with each other and with resources to age successfully in the place they call home. It’s a 501(c)(3) non-profit grassroots community founded in 2009. NEST makes it easier for people to connect in the ways that they want to connect, whether for social activities or a hand around the house.
Emily says, “NEST stands for North East Seattle Together. It’s a grassroots organization that was founded in 2009 by a group of neighbors who were interested in staying where they lived, and they didn’t want something like an achy lower back or arthritic hands to keep them from living in their homes. And so they realized that, through a neighbor network, they would be able to support each other. So if they needed weeds pulled, they could ask a neighbor to do it or take the garbage out to the curb. There was a movement that began in the Boston area for virtual villages. The idea was to create a network of neighbors who wanted to support each other through the transitions of aging. And so the movement came over here to the West Coast, and we are the oldest virtual village in the Seattle area. There are six now in the greater Seattle area.”
Emily adds, “NEST began a sponsorship program in 2015, and Era Living was one of our very first platinum sponsors. They have been loyal and incredible partners with us since then. And they’ve helped us in a whole variety of ways, from sponsoring programs and events, but also in ways that help us celebrate our members and our volunteers. Right now, we have a speaker series going on about creating connections. And this month’s focus is on finding connections to the holidays. So they bring in speakers that are of interest to our members and the general community. And then we also actually are holding a fall prevention workshop at Aljoya Thornton Place of their locations as well. So we bring some of our activities to them and they help bring some activities and events to us as well and to our members.”
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Originally published January 12, 2024
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