Mrs. Ella Delaney is a Senior Companion for Child and Family Services- Senior Companion Program in Buffalo, New York.  She joined the program in May of 2005 and volunteers out of the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Center (MOOT), where she is assigned to work with two homebound seniors.  Mrs. Delaney stated she enjoys helping her clients achieve goals that many take for granted; for example, assisting clients with making meals and cleaning their homes, transporting clients to their doctors appointments or just being in the home giving that client the ability to hold conversations.   Mrs. Delaney explained, “Before I became a volunteer I took classes in gerontology to become more familiar to the needs of older individuals”, and what I learned has helped tremendously as I work with my current clients.    

Mrs. Delaney also spends her time helping others in her community.  For the past seven years, she has served as a spiritual advisor to local Girl Scout groups in Buffalo NY offering words of wisdom to young girls and their families.  She is the First Lady of her husband’s church (Mt. Moriah) where she witnesses to people who need encouragement, cares for chronically ill members and for the last ten years has given 15 young people the opportunity to attend college by financially supporting them.  On January 17, 2011, Mrs. Delaney participated in the Senior Companion Program’s “A Day On-Not Off” to celebrate the legacy of the late Rev. Martin Luther King.  The program volunteers chopped vegetables, set up tables and served over 100 homeless individuals at a local soup kitchen.

With all she does on a daily basis, she also has time to volunteer for the National Witness Project, which is a culturally competent, community-based, breast and cervical cancer education program through which cancer survivors and lay health advisors increase awareness, knowledge, screening, and early detection behaviors in the African-American population in an effort to reduce the mortality and morbidity from cancer.  Mrs. Delaney has been involved with this program since 2001 where she shares information with women 40 years of age and older, on the importance of having annual mammograms.    Volunteers are recruited at program sessions, as well as through personal contacts. Training sessions are scheduled as one day (8-hour) programs, where the new volunteer learns about available resources, breast and cervical cancer facts, and early detection.  This knowledge allows Mrs. Delaney to go out into her community (churches, organizations, community centers and local events) to share information with women about their body and the importance of caring for their body.  According to Mrs. Delaney she has recruited over 700 women and encouraged them to have a mammogram; she has offered to transport and babysit while the parent goes to the local hospital to have the testing completed.

In conclusion, the Senior Companion Program nominates Mrs. Delaney as the 2011 Service Impact Award Nominee, for all the “extra” things she does for others in her community.