Hospitality and mobility aid loans by the numbers

GOLDEN AGE FOUNDATION

The Golden Age Foundation (GAF) has many free programs to enhance residents’ experience in Leisure World. The GAF runs six programs: the Hospitality Center; mobility aid loans; federal income tax filing; shredding; battery and e-waste recycling; and the Salvation Army donation program.

Among those, there are two programs GAF runs Monday-Friday, except holidays, and they are the Hospitality Center and Mobility Aid loan programs.

The GAF sponsors the Hospitality Center, which provides free coffee and cookies to residents and guests in Clubhouse 6, from 9-11 a.m. The club also opens on three special days: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The club serves special themed treats on those days, including pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and assorted pastries for Christmas, with entertainment provided for those who don’t have a place to go to enjoy the holidays.

For the GAF’s 2025-26 fiscal year, volunteers at the Hospitality Center served an average of 2,000 cups of coffee a month, or 24,000 cups of coffee a year, with a budget of $8,000.

According to Hospitality Chair Pat Whisnant, the center has at least two volunteers for each day, with seven backup volunteers on call.

On the second and fourth Mondays of each month, GAF volunteer Stephanie Mathews hosted coffee with cookies, pastries, and fresh fruit.

At the Mobility Aids Office, residents can choose between five different mobility aids to rent for free for up to six months.

This year, the budget was $5,000, with income from donations totaling at $3,826.50. The office’s expenses were $7,915.28.

From July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, mobility aids volunteers handled 2,396 separate mobility aids transactions including: 480 rollators, 175 transport chairs, 88 wheelchairs, 147 front-wheel walkers, 25 knee rollators, and 41 three-wheel walkers, for a total of 956 loan transactions.

During that time, the volunteers processed 1,228 return items, including 693 rollators, 215 transport chairs, 117 wheelchairs, 144 front-wheel walkers, 32 knee rollators, and 27 threewheel walkers.

The GAF received a total of 491 mobility aids from LW residents: 67 rollators, 18 transport chairs, 15 wheelchairs, 56 front wheel walkers, one knee rollator, three three-wheel walkers, 125 canes, three stand-up walkers and 36 crutches.

In addition to loaning out aids, the GAF donated 270 pieces of its inventory to other nonprofit organizations including 36 rollators, 21 transport chairs, 24 wheelchairs, 62 front-wheel walkers, 10 canes, 24 crutches,and three stand-up walkers.

As of June 30, the office has 19 rollators, 20 transport chairs, 23 wheelchairs, 45 front-wheel walkers, four knee rollators and 12 canes in its inventory.

The GAF seeks unaccounted- for equipment, including 55 rollators, 12 transport chairs, six wheelchairs and 10 walkers that are missing from its inventory.

For the 2025-2026 year,the Mobility Aids Office team consisted of one director, 10 office volunteers, and eight phone volunteers. All volunteer positions are currently filled.

A loan renewal process is in place for those residents who need to retain their mobility aids beyond the six-month loan window.

Information gathered by Hospitality Chair Pat Whisnant, and Mobility Aids Chair Cheryl Falconer, and complied GAF President Anna Derby.

Golden Age Foundation volunteers at the Hospitality Center.