RXR boosts United Way’s Safe at Home program

RXR Realty has given $25,000 to the United Way to help launch its Safe at Home program for seniors.

The program will support seniors in Town of Hempstead neighborhoods hard hit by COVID-19. Local agencies Choice For All and Uniondale Community Development Council are partnering with United Way in the effort.

While social distancing protects the health of seniors, it also severs ties to critical resources. In the Town of Hempstead, the over-65 population has nearly doubled since the 1970s and an estimated 14.1 percent of the town’s residents are now over 65, according to a United Way statement.      

Safe at Home will allow seniors to remain in the comfort and safety of home, where they are best protected while maintaining social relationships. United Way will work in partnership with its community agency network to select interns to train as care specialists, who will focus on care and provide linkages to supportive services, purchase essentials, delivery of food and family support. 

The Safe at Home program is targeting community hotspots which place culturally diverse senior citizens at great risk, including Elmont, Freeport, Hempstead Village, Roosevelt, Uniondale, Valley Stream and North Valley Stream. In these neighborhoods, 22 percent live alone and 33 percent have a disability.

“RXR’s support demonstrates their commitment to the future and well-being of Long Islanders. They are experts at rebuilding and developing infrastructure, so it only seems natural that they are our supporters of Safe at Home,” Theresa Regnante, president and CEO of United Way of Long Island, said in the statement. “This investment is critical to helping protect and safeguard our region’s most fragile and our partnership is a great example of a united solution.”

Scott Rechler, CEO and chairman of Uniondale-based RXR, said that seniors who have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus, will have to remain sheltering in place for some time.

“We are grateful to United Way for continuing to address their needs, as well as to all the Long Islanders who have stood up in support of our communities at this tenuous time.” Rechler said in the statement. “Though we haven’t been able to rush to each other’s aid in the same way we would in other crises, Long Islanders, like RXR volunteers, have shown their mettle through this. Together, we will emerge on the other side a stronger Long Island.”