(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A Hawkeye Community College program that has served Waterloo residents for nearly 50 years has been forced to halt activity after its federal funding was placed on hold, leaving close to 90 people without aid or a consistent, friendly face. The community college announced this week its Senior Companion Program, an Americorps-funded initiative, has paused operation as its funding is being held and reviewed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Hawkeye Community College Provost Lynn LaGrone said.

Americorps provides funds for programs working with volunteers ages 55 and older to help older adults with special needs live independently and comfortably through the Senior Companion Program. At Hawkeye Community College, LaGrone said the program operates with a $500,000 budget, $400,000 of which comes from Americorps. College officials, program participants and clients are waiting and hoping the program is deemed valuable enough to the community to get the funding that was already approved by Congress.

Hawkeye Community College has offered the program since 1976, LaGrone said. Before the halt of operations, 52 senior companions helped 78 clients with what they needed most, whether it be transportation, cleaning or just camaraderie. With other federal grant uncertainty in higher education, she said the college was aware this could happen. To ensure clients are aware of what’s going on and understand why their companions are no longer stopping by as usual, Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing Mary Pat Moore said the program head is calling each client personally to “let them know that we’re not abandoning them” and provide advice and resources to try to fill the gap.

(From left) John Bruce Jr., Vicky Buss, Gloria Morgan and Alice Reed celebrate a milestone in volunteering for the Hawkeye Community College Senior Companion Program. (Photo courtesy of Hawkeye Community College)

Vicky Buss, a second-generation companion who followed in her mother’s footsteps, said she gets paid $4 an hour to meet with three clients multiple times each week. What she does depends on the client’s wishes and needs, she said, but they are always overjoyed to see her stop by and sad to see her go. “It’s not the money, per se, but it’s just that I feel like these people are people, human beings, and they need the companionship, they need the hugs, they need the caring, you know, and they don’t get that other (than) from us,” Buss said. With many of the clients homebound and volunteers all being older adults, the program helps alleviate isolation alongside more practical problems.

The college has started exploring other funding options in case its federal dollars are permanently lost, but LaGrone said she is remaining “cautiously optimistic” that the funds will be released and the program can continue on like normal. As one of the college’s oldest programs, the community doesn’t want to let it slip away. Some of the companions are still going out to visit their clients, on their own time and dime, LaGrone said, because of the deep connections and caring the program has facilitated. Buss said she plans to keep seeing at least one of her clients, who has cerebral palsy and always cries when she has to leave. “I just don’t understand why the government ain’t working with us and helping us out to help them, because in the long run, we’re helping them out, keeping people in their homes,” Buss said.