Transforming Aging One Senior at a Time!

Peninsula Volunteers, Inc. (PVI) was founded over 76 years ago in Menlo Park by a group of forward-thinking women in the old-fashioned spirit of giving back to the community. The members quickly recognized an urgent need for their help: seniors.  PVI is redefining what it means to be a senior in society. They are empowering this long-ignored segment of the community through care and connection and are helping them stay vibrant by enabling seniors to age in place in the S.F. Peninsula and Silicon Valley area. 

According to Peter Olson, PVI’s long time CEO/Executive Director, “Seniors live longer, happier and more fulfilled lives when they are able to stay in their own homes. Access to our life-affirming programs and services make this possible.”  PVI is creating a future where local seniors can age in place surrounded by the support and care services they need to thrive—without the negative health impacts of daily hunger, loneliness, and isolation.  

To help spotlight the urgency of the ongoing crisis facing seniors, the U. S. Attorney General identified loneliness as an epidemic in the United States. San Mateo County declared loneliness a public health crisis in January 2024, and PVI is working with Supervisor David Canepa who is now championing this critical issue.

In 1949, PVI launched Little House, the first suburban senior center in the United States. It became the paragon for senior centers that followed. In the 70s, they opened Rosener House, an award-winning facility, for seniors with cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s and dementia, again paving the way for dealing progressively with senior health issues that otherwise were not being openly discussed. 

The thrust of the organization’s work remains helping seniors to stay healthy and retain as much independence and social connection as possible through its core offerings. Addressing growing nutrition and food security needs among seniors and adults, PVI’s Nutrition Services/Meals on Wheels program delivers freshly prepared meals from their commercial kitchen to homebound seniors and adults with disabilities. Their “Got Groceries?” program has provided over 50,000 pounds of healthy protein, produce, dairy and staples in weekly bags of nourishing food to more than 500 families monthly, helping with financial shortfalls and the impossible choices of how to pay for essential needs. Their easy access RIDE PVI program helps preserve independence by providing non-driving older adults with on-demand transportation services.  

Their Rosalyn G. Morris Adult Activity Center at Little House and Adult Day Services program at Rosener House provide stimulating and supportive environments for the aging members of the Bay Area Peninsula to thrive. And PVI helps battle another major problem in the senior population: social isolation. “I cannot tell you how many people have said ‘this organization has saved my life,’” Olson emphasizes.

PVI has also launched Quiescence-Customized Solutions for Family Caregivers, a concierge service for family caregivers to create a nurturing framework to support this frequently overwhelming effort. PVI provides a dedicated “executive assistant,” to ensure that all necessary medicine, appointments and related needs are taken care of.

Today, PVI serves over 6,000 households annually with their core programs in the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley area, impacting over 400,000 families. 

  PVI’s goal remains unwavering – provide seniors with loving, supportive, compassionate care options giving them the opportunity to thrive and retain their dignity and independence in their own homes.