Program keeps seniors warm in Saco

Saco Age-Friendly volunteer Betsey Pace holds a window insert while Donna Beveridge shrinks the plastic with a blow dryer on Saturday. LIZ GOTTHELF/Journal Tribune

SACO — Several seniors will stay warmer in their homes, thanks to the efforts of Age Friendly Saco and Habitat for Humanity.

Age Friendly Saco, which strives to make Saco a better place to live for people of all ages, identified 14 senior households in Saco that would benefit from weatherization improvements.

Thornton Academy Students Yuegen “Winston” Zhou, Elizabeth Roy and Corinne Riddle-Pinkham wrap plastic on a frame at a window insert project at the school On Saturday. LIZ GOTTHELF/Journal Tribune

Representatives from Habitat for Humanity went to the households and met with the qualifying homeowners to assist in weatherization improvements. As part of the program, officials from Habitat for Humanity identified drafty windows that would benefit from window inserts.

Volunteers of all ages gathered at Thornton Academy on Saturday and formed an assembly line to make window inserts based on measurements taken at the recipients’ homes.

The inserts were made of a wood frame covered on both sides with heat-shrunk plastic and labeled with the window they were matched up with.

The window inserts are placed in the window frame to help keep cold air from leaking into the home. Habitat for Humanity staff Alana Shapiro said at times when there is a particularly drafty window, the difference can be felt almost immediately.

Weather stripping is added to the insert before installation.

“We want to make sure we get the tightest fit,” said Shapiro.

Tabs are put on the window inserts for easy removal and can be used year after year, said Shapiro. Should the benefitting homeowners have trouble removing the inserts or need their insert repaired, they can always Habitat for Humanity for assistance, said Shapiro.

Volunteers from Age Friendly Saco along with those from Thornton Academy’s Interact Club were lined up at different stations Saturday, assembling frames, attaching plastic and using a hair dryer to shrink the plastic for a tight fit.

“I think this is an incredible project,” said Thornton Academy Senior Elizabeth Roy. She said she enjoyed the multi-generational aspect of the project, as it wasn’t often that high school students worked alongside senior citizens. Roy said this was her first time making window inserts.

“I have never done anything like this before. When I heard about this I jumped at it. It’s amazing,” she said.

Local volunteers Donna Beveridge and Betsey Pace said they had made window inserts after purchasing a condominium last year and installed them this winter. Beveridge said the inserts have helped lower their heating bills and are hardly noticeable after installed.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.