East Valley Committee on Aging established 1980's +

North Valley Coalition on Aging founded 2013 +

West Valley Coalition on Aging founded 2016 = Arizona Coalition on Aging 2022

EAST VALLEY COMMITTEE ON AGING

The East Valley Committee on Aging started in the 1980's as a committee for Mesa's Community Council. The committee had a staff person assigned to it and was under the volunteer leadership of one of Mesa's outstanding dynamic pioneers - Clara B. Emmett. Clara devoted her services to EVCOA for more than 10 years. 

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Clara B Emmett, was heralded for her pioneering spirit and lifelong volunteer efforts, including helping to establish the Mesa Senior Center. Her fiery demeanor and unquenchable drive helped her become instrumental in everything from getting local schools to supply lunches to becoming statewide director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Bishop's Storehouse and Cannery in Mesa and helping run it for 25 years. She also helped start the state's Muscular Dystrophy Association and Sirrine Adult Day Care Center. Some of her other projects includes involvement in the Area Agency on Aging, the United Way, the Mesa Community Council, the Salvation Army Auxiliary, the Red Cross, Pre-Hab, the Mesa Association of Retarded Citizens, Tri-City Retired Seniors Volunteer Program, Catholic Social Services and the Governor's Council on Aging. "She was a woman who always did what she should. She never complained about what happened to her in life. She took the sorrows and joys and just kept going.

 

She was never too tired, or it was never too late for her to help someone that needed help or encouragement" said longtime friend Walter Merril, who worked with Emmett on the church storehouse. Fees said other projects of hers were the Desert Samaritan Hospital auxiliary and her 50-year involvement with the Republican Party. In recognition of Emmett's community involvement, former Gov. Evan Mecham named her one of Arizona's senior citizens of the year in 1987. Emmett was born in Burlington, VT and moved to AZ in 1929 from Wyoming. 

 

Arizona Coalition on Aging

 

In 2010, Steve Laughary was elected Chair of the Committee and had served for three years when Scott Savel, owner of Griswold Home Care, and Masha Goodman, Attorney at Law encouraged him to help them start a networking group in the north valley. The North Valley Coalition on Aging was founded in 2013 and meets monthly. In 2016, Kaye Baker, Vice President of the Friendship Foundation at Glencroft Center for Modern Aging encouraged Scott and Steve to form another to serve the west valley and the West Valley Coalition on Aging was founded. Glencroft still host the monthly meetings to this day.

 

After emerging from the Pandemic of 2020-2021, Dustin Jackson, co-owner of Griswold's Home Care, and Steve combined all three meetings to form what is now the Arizona Coalition on Aging. We are continuing to advocate for our older population and provide forums to share ideas and services.