Seniors Programming
Beginning in 2020, USR Cares expanded its stated mission to focus also on our senior community in Upper Saddle River in an effort to address loneliness and isolation in the growing segment of our neighborhood.
We deliver and proactively support programming, events and initiatives for the Upper Saddle River seniors community.
Since December 2022 we have offered 83 separate programs which attracted more than 1,600 total attendees (growing from 5 in December 2022 to more than 40 routinely at our events in 2025). These include:
73 separate events at the library
33 Lunch before the USR Library’s Movie Screening events between December 1, 2022 through August 2025 growing this base from 5 to more than 40 attendees at each lunch over that time.
30 Third Thursday events providing mid-morning snacks and different speakers / activities between September 2023 and August 2025, growing attendance from 15 to more than 30 attendees on a routine basis.
10 Senior Saturdays at the Library (a program developed in collaboration with a student who created the programming in connection with her pursuit of a Girl Scout Gold Award.
120 singles or couples have joined at least 1 of our events at the library since December 2022 and 30 have joined us more than 20 times at those events.
Other programs delivered for seniors include outings to plays and performances at Bergenstages at Bergen Community College, St. Joe’s, Northern Highlands, the Papermill Playhouse, Pascack Valley high schools as well as the Lorimer Sanctuary.
Cheer Visits
Since 2020, USR Cares volunteers have developed lasting relationships and conducted more than 1,000 cheer visits with 150+ seniors households. In 2025, we will conduct six separate visits which deliver cheer, serve as wellness checks and help us build neighborly spirit in meaningful ways.
For nearly six years USR Cares has increasingly focused on building enduring relationships with USR seniors. Our Cheer Visits serve as the foundation of this simple objective – to be good neighbors to members of this vital segment of our community. We now visit with more than 120 senior households on a bi-monthly basis each year and, in many cases, on a much more frequent basis.
Our goal is to brighten the day for our seniors, to address loneliness and isolation experienced by members of this community and to offer support where needed.
More than 20 volunteers participate in these visits, pairs of volunteers visit with the same 10-12 households throughout the year.
We receive overwhelmingly positive feedback from the seniors we visit with and from our volunteers themselves – it is a truly a wonderful feeling and beyond heartwarming to be part of this program.
