When Mary Sandy, 87, fell in her Canfield condo back in July, she was scared. She lived alone and couldn’t get up.

When her daughter and great-grandchildren found her later that day, Sandy was sitting on the floor. She said the children asked why she was down there.

“Well, I’m not here because I wanna be,” Sandy, a retired school teacher, responded with a chuckle.

She needed 16 stitches to repair her knee. It wasn’t the first time she had fallen, but she knew it had to be the last.

“If I fall again, they will put me away, and I’m not going away. I’m staying home,” Sandy said.

Luckily for her, unlike many other seniors, Sandy already had some of the assistance she needed to maintain her independence.

“Over a year ago, I had a therapist coming to my house, and I must’ve been in one of my moods because she goes, ‘I have somebody who could help you,'” Sandy said.

The therapist gave her the phone number of Paige Fortner, the program manager for Senior Support Action Group.

SSAG is a nonprofit organization that serves homebound seniors ages 55 and older in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Jefferson counties who live at or below 200% of the federal poverty threshold, according to its website.

It began in 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic when many senior citizens were reluctant to leave their homes. The group provided essential goods and services — food box deliveries, medical transportation and over-the-phone companionship — for those trapped at home.

As the pandemic eased, however, the organization recognized there was still a need for its services and continued to grow its operations.

“We realized there have been homebound seniors before the pandemic, and there will continue to be homebound seniors indefinitely into the future,” Fortner said.

The nonprofit assists 328 clients in total, amongst all Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, with 44 regular volunteers, almost all of them client-aged.

Joe Nicolli, 78, of Canfield, has been volunteering with the organization since the beginning.

“Volunteering is something I need,” Nicolli said. “People don’t realize that by giving, you’re getting. Give first, and then you get blessed.”

Nicolli pulls double duty for the group.

Twice a month, on the first and third Thursdays, he assembles food boxes with items donated by Gleaner’s Food Bank in Youngstown. Then he delivers them to some of the 242 clients on the distribution list.

During the rest of the month, Nicolli assists with the transportation list, driving a few of those 51 clients to where they need to go. So, when Sandy called Fortner, who is in her third year with the organization, and explained her situation, Fortner reached out to Nicolli.

Shortly after, Nicolli began showing up at Sandy’s home to drive her to the bank, the grocery store and medical appointments.

These are the approved locations for clients. When volunteers transport clients to these places, they’re insured under SSAG and receive mileage reimbursement, with operating funds coming from United Way, Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, Western Reserve Health Foundation and Healthy Aging Grants program.

Anywhere else a volunteer wishes to take a client is on the volunteer’s time and dime.

Unless, of course, Sandy convinces Nicolli to stop for donuts somewhere along the way.

“It’s just an alternate route,” Fortner said with a smile.

Nicolli has no problem helping outside the program though, provided he has the time.

Nicolli has taken Sandy to church with him, and Sandy took Nicolli and his wife out to eat. The two have seen each other so often, Sandy regularly forgets to schedule transportation through Fortner.

“Mary will text me to see if I’m available, and I’ll remind her, ‘Make sure you schedule through Paige, because everything runs through her,'” Nicolli said.

“I am guilty because I just expect Joe to be there,” Sandy said, laughing.

Since beginning operations, SSAG has grown each year.

In 2021, they provided 11 transportation calls. As of Oct. 25, they have provided 283.

Last year, 1,762 food boxes weighing over 61,670 pounds were delivered. This year, that number has increased to 1,837, over 64,295 pounds.

They have also added in-home companionship, alongside over-the-phone. SSAG also now offers voice-activated Amazon Echo Dot smart speakers to clients, so they can make phone calls if they fall and can’t reach their phones, like Sandy did. She said she’d gladly take one.

“You don’t realize how many people are stranded, homebound, like me. I’m stranded. It’s very frustrating. People complain about the seniors, but most of the ones I know are ready to go. They want the fellowship. They want –,” Sandy paused, searching for the right words.

“Something to feel human,” Fortner continued. “We so easily forget that every single human has a story as to why they’re in the situation that they’re in. We need to know these stories, instead of viewing people as, I don’t know-,”

“Throwaways,” Nicolli finished.