COEUR d'ALENE - Jerry Boggs, a retired wildlife/conservation biologist, no longer heading out in the field fighting for endangered resources, was looking to be what he calls productive.

That's when he noticed a story in The Press: ElderHelp of North Idaho needed directors.

Boggs, already a Big Brother for six years, decided to check it out.

Fast forward a little more than a year, and today the 72-year-old is executive director of the nonprofit committed to helping low-income seniors in Kootenai County.

He oversees an annual budget of around $40,000, a part-time manager of their Coeur d'Alene office, and with the help of other volunteers like John Corcoran and Tom Lucas, this year ElderHelp will assist around 250 to 300 seniors.

They provide food, firewood, winterization, some repairs, companionship and plenty of smiles and good cheer, too.

Boggs wants to do more.

The need is there, he said. There are seniors they haven't reached, seniors struggling to survive. Boggs wants to find them.

"We're trying to reach a different level," he said.

How are things going at ElderHelp of North Idaho?

Good. They continue to be challenging because we're trying to grow. It's not really about ElderHelp. It's about low-income seniors of Kootenai County. ElderHelp is just a surrogate, something that people can focus on when they want to contribute their time or funds.

What led you to ElderHelp?

I was looking for things to do. I wasn't finding something that really grabbed me by the heart strings.

I wasn't doing anything for anybody, long term or short term. I wanted to be productive in the sense of helping seniors, low-income, have a more secure, physically safe life. That's what ElderHelp does.

We're not into psychological counseling. We are into helping people with the physical side of safety and comfort of their own homes.

You've stayed 10 months. What keeps you on this post that comes with plenty of responsibilities and no pay?

I wanted to help John and Tom because I saw how busy they were and then I started meeting seniors. They got to me, in a big way. It actually kind of angered me to see people in those circumstances.

They're nice to me, they're nice in general, they have fallen on some hard times for whatever reason. I thought, 'OK this is something I can do.'

How many seniors are you working with?

We helped about 200 to 300 last year and should do about the same this year. We want to do more. We're trying to build ourselves. We want to go over 350 seniors helped this year. I doubt we will reach that, but we're trying.

How will you do that?

We have to be more effective at reaching people, seniors, volunteers, donors and sponsors for our different events. Seniors are continuing to increase in numbers. 10,000 baby boomers are hitting 60 every year. Some of those are here. We already have thousands of seniors with low-come in Kootenai County, and every year, there's more. Every month, there's more. And we're not reaching some of them. We need to do that. We need to at least be there so they know we're available to help them.

What's the criteria?

Our criteria is 60 years of age, $1,200 a month or less, unless you're disabled. A lot of people make less than $1,200. I'm talking to men and women on a regular basis who are surviving on $600 or $700. That really gets to me in a very negative way, as a citizen of this country, to know that people are in that kind of a jam. It just doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem right that people find themselves in that circumstance, whatever the reason. They may have to choose between meds, food, heat. That's not a right choice.

What's your motivation?

We're trying to help them, one at a time. That's my big motivation, when I go out and get to talk to a senior and drop off a load of wood, or go on a winterizing type project, talk to them, get to know them. In our circumstance, almost everybody is nice, almost everybody is thankful. We're just doing it. There's no motivation other than to make life better for them.

When you came on with ElderHelp, were you aware so many seniors needed help?

As a conservation biologist my whole career, I never thought about these people. They were invisible to me, and they still are invisible to a lot of our population and should not be.

That's one of the tasks of ElderHelp, remove that cloak of invisibility and make people in our community aware there are folks in that kind of a circumstance, and we're doing it, but not as much as we need, too. We need to start letting people know these folks are out there and they need your help.

What influence did your work as a biologist have when you joined ElderHelp?

I loved being a wildlife biologist. I loved being a person who worked with endangered resources, endangers species.

Sometimes you're fighting a losing battle. As the population increases, the natural resources take it in the ear. That's the truth, no matter where you are. We're not going to save caribous and wolves and California gnatcatchers if it means humans are going to have to sacrifice.

In my career, I saw greater and greater endangerment of resources, so in a way it was a losing battle, but I believed in it. I also believe that life for my grandchildren and great grandchildren should be at least as good as mine in terms of quality. It's not going to be. I think that's a pretty predictable.

What more can you do?

For starters, just calling people to make sure they're OK. We don't do a lot of that right now, but we're going to do more of it as time goes on.

I think that's important, especially to seniors who are isolated, maybe feeling uncomfortable, a little scared, just to know there's somebody out there they can talk to.

We're putting ourselves out there as much as we can.

Can you talk about some of the seniors you've met?

There's an 84-year-old man in Post Falls, lives on $900 a month, has a manufactured home, roof is in terrible condition, and he's going up there despite having a series of strokes, going up on the roof, making repairs. The house is kind of falling down around him. He also has his daughter and grandson living with him. And the inside is replete with stain spots from water creeping in on the ceiling and walls. I suspect probably mold problems if we rip down the wall. We can't do that kind of stuff. We can't replace a whole roof, normally, but we've gone out there and helped with winterization.

I'd like to help him get a new roof. We may be able to do that with collaboration through other organizations.

Another example that really got to me is a very nice lady in Hayden. We helped her move. She had a $25 or $30 increase in her rent, she could not pay it. She makes $675 a month and receives $25 in food stamps.

We helped move her to a slightly cheaper, still nice apartment. What's that poor woman going to do if something happens, something drastic happens?

And then there's another woman in Rathdrum spending a third what she gets on her heating, $300 a month, out of $800, $900. Where does that leave her?

Those are desperate straits.

How can people help?

We need volunteers for two major things. One is for our office. We need somebody that would help us manage our phone. The phone is a lifeline for people that are trying to call us.

The other program we really need help in, we always need help with firewood. We need guys who are willing to come out with their chain saws, splitters, and who are willing to load up their pickup and take it to a senior.

Can't someone else, family, friends, churches help these folks?

People we're dealing with typically don't have family in the area. They may have friends, but friends are likely to be in the same category, low income and not able to help out financially.

How difficult are their situations this winter?

Some were wearing multiple layers of clothes in their own home during the winter time, minimizing their heat costs, not going anywhere, eating a lot of Chef Boyardee.

Is ElderHelp having an impact in North Idaho?

We are having an impact, one senior at a time. That's how I see it happening.

What's the nicest surprise in all your efforts so far with ElderHelp?

The number of people who are willing to give of their funds, their energies and themselves to help out others in need. There are a lot of really nice and giving people in Kootenai County.

Information: 661-8870