The core of the senior-care industry is about helping families. Lane Kofoed, CEO of Assisting Hands® Home Care, and his wife, Tammy, represent this value throughout all aspects of their lives. Assisting Hands is one of the leading in-home care franchises, offering exceptional customer service and personalized care. By Nancy E. Williams
The core of the senior-care industry is about helping families. Lane Kofoed, CEO of Assisting Hands® Home Care, and his wife, Tammy, represent this value throughout all aspects of their lives. Assisting Hands is one of the leading in-home care franchises, offering exceptional customer service and personalized care.
In early 2020, before the pandemic took hold, the Kofoed’s launched the Assisting Hands Youth Service Program, which serves the elderly, disabled and low-income families in their community of Middleton, Idaho. The program provides hands-on experiences for the local boys’ basketball team, which helps residents who may need assistance. While the program had to pause to keep everyone safe, it has recently resumed operations.
According to Tammy, she and Lane decided to begin the Youth Service Program specifically for their local basketball team to learn the value of giving. “We felt that – since we are so frequently asked to sponsor our local sports teams who need help to pay for the team’s uniforms – we would make it a program that gives the team not only funding but also the opportunity to experience what it means to give to others,” Tammy explained. The Youth Service Program has been especially successful as it guides all involved to look beyond their circle of friends and family and see those in need who live right in their neighborhood.
The Youth Service Program deviates from typical local business sponsorships by adding a caveat to the financial support as a protocol for funding. The intention is to provide the team members with an opportunity to offer their “assisting hands,” so that a foundation of helping others can be fostered. “Kids are going to be faced with choices throughout their life,” Tammy explained. “We hope that this experience will help them make the best choices they can make both now and in their future.”
By simply using a mobile app, Tammy was able to find assistance opportunities within a 15-mile radius for the young people to help others in their Middleton community. The first activity, which a team of 11- and 12-year-old boys participated in, was called “Rake Up Middleton.” The team provided leaf-raking services to residents who were unable to do the yard chore themselves. “They were so excited to do this,” Tammy said. “They came equipped with their own rakes and gloves, and a great attitude to pitch in.” According to Tammy, the coaches and many of the boys’ family members also participated.
For another project, 13- and 14-year-old members of the basketball team provided meals to low-income children who stayed at the Salvation Army after school. Tammy and Lane purchased all the groceries for the young people to prepare the meals and made enough to give to the local homeless shelter as well. Tammy said the boys prepared and served the meals, interacted with the kids, cleaned up, and assisted the Salvation Army with stocking shelves and other forms of manual labor that were needed. “Not only did they come with enthusiasm but each of the boys made homemade cookies themselves, to bring to the children for dessert as well,” Tammy said.
When asked what he thought the young people gained from their experience with the program, Lane said: “The kids made a big difference in the community. They brought smiles to those they served and, in return, they were personally uplifted by the service they provided.”
The Assisting Hands Youth Service Program has been so widely received that Lane has decided to make it a nationwide company effort and encourages not only the 70-plus Assisting Hands locations to participate, but other companies as well. “There is no better way to ensure a brighter future than to teach our children to give,” Lane said.
To learn more about Assisting Hands, visit assistinghands.com/franchise.
– Nancy E. Williams