Thirty years ago Community Assistance Resources for Elderly, also known as CARE, began its mission to provide programs and services to seniors residing in Rhineland Municipality.

CARE formed in 1988 in partnership with Manitoba Health's Aging in Place initiative, by a steering committee made up of health-care workers and community members. In June of that year the organization began operating and by fall it had several programs running.

To celebrate three decades, CARE will debut its new Handi-Van in the Manitoba Sunflower Festival Parade at the end of July. The new vehicle has more seats than the current one which will allow for more recreational group outings and services.

Annually, the organization delivers approximately 8,000 meals (through the Meals on Wheels service), provides 200 to 400 taxi and handi-van services and 800 to 900 information resources, according to Ann Kroeker, the board's executive director. These programs are operated through user fees and fundraising.

CARE operates mostly out of senior's housing buildings. Since the average age of residents in one of their facilities has dropped from low 90s to high 70s, Kroeker said user numbers have been impacted, but for the most part CARE has been able to compensate by offering services to other community members rather than only to residents in senior's housing centres.

She believes this will eventually change though as the age of baby boomers rises.

"We are at the beginning of the baby boomers reaching 65, so that's still very young. In this community people primarily access services at around age 80, so that increase in the number of services will probably come in the next 10 years," Kroeker said, adding that CARE is prepared for this influx.

The organization's services are set up so that it can accept more users without needing to increase the number of staff members by many, she said. Currently there are seven board members, nine part-time staff, and 120 volunteers.

It also helps that "more than half" of families in the area supply most care and services to their aging family members, she added.

"Altona is still a very village-oriented community because neighbours and families and churches still provide a lot of services to their families, and so that impacts the need for us to support them," Kroeker said. "That's wonderful. It's a much healthier, emotionally supportive way for an aging person to have a good quality of life."