IANets Mourns the Passing of Janet Sainer
June 2007
Janet Sainer passed on Sunday, June 3. A memorial service will be held
Thursday, June 7 at 11:45 a.m. at Riverside Memorial Chapel located at 333
Amsterdam Ave. (corner of 76th St.), New York City. Aging Services Leader Was
'Grandmother' of Innovative and Pioneering Programs that Both Engaged and Served Older Adults The IANet mourns the passing of Janet Sainer, a
pioneer in the field of aging and a former NYC Commmissioner of the Department for the Aging, special consultant to the Brookdale Foundation, board member of the Council of Senior Centers and Services, member NCOA Board of Director, and most importantly dear friend.. "Janet Sainer was great leader who made many, many contributions to the lives
of older Americans. She used a unique blend of creativity and realism to develop
innovative programs that tap the enormous potential of older adults to give back
to their communities. She was also a wonderful friend and mentor to many of us
who work in the field of aging. She will be sorely missed," said NCOA President
& CEO James Firman. Sainer is known as the "grandmother" of the Retired and Senior Volunteer
Program (RSVP), an initiative funded under the Older Americans Act (OAA) that
matches older adults aged 55 and over with community-based organizations in need
of volunteers. Established in 1971, RSVP engages nearly 450,000 seniors in a
diverse range of volunteer activities, such as organizing neighborhood watch
programs, tutoring children, renovating homes, teaching English to immigrants,
and assisting victims of natural disasters. In 2005, RSVP participants served 66
million volunteer hours. RSVP grew out of a pilot program that Sainer developed in 1965 called SERVE
(Serve and Enrich Retirement by Volunteer Experience). As a social worker at the
Community Service Society of New York, Sainer started SERVE to encourage
hundreds of seniors to volunteer in their communities. Her research on the
success of the program and her testimony before Congress helped gain support to
create RSVP, now part of the national Senior Corps and one of the largest senior
volunteer organizations in the nation. For her groundbreaking work, Sainer
received a Presidential Citation. Sainer was a leader in the policy and practice of aging services for more
than 50 years. Most recently a special consultant at the Brookdale Foundation,
she also was a former commissioner of the New York City Department for the
Aging, the largest area agency on aging in the country. Sainer also catalyzed the development of CityMeals-on-Wheels and an innovator in the creation of national models of integnerational programs. Most recently she followed her passion to create programs for grandparents raising grandchilren. In fact, she was attending a conference on that subject when she past.
