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Lifelong Volunteer Spearheading Innovations in Aging

Posted 04/06/2010

For Barbara Yalich, helping others is not something you simply do, it is a way of life. And for her, it has a lot to do with growing up in Colorado Springs.

Yalich vividly remembers seeing the huts behind neighbors’ homes and converted sun porches that sheltered tuberculosis patients.

“People opened up their homes, and I would see these people sitting outside in the healthy Colorado air,” Yalich said. “Colorado Springs has always responded before to the great needs of an era.”

One of today’s great needs is preparing for the aging population in Colorado Springs. Yalich, along with several other community leaders, is launching Innovations in Aging, a grassroots effort to create new awareness among policy makers, agencies, organizations, the media and the general population about aging. She wants to connect older adults to the many resources and opportunities available in the Pikes Peak region.

Leading grassroots volunteer projects is not a new effort for the seasoned nonprofit professional and veteran volunteer. During some of the most tumultuous times in U.S. history, Yalich trained women volunteers from across the country as the international director for the Junior League of Women.

“Those were very tough days for this country,” Yalich said. “The world was falling apart: Vietnam, students rioting, shootings at universities, racial strife. I mostly comforted people; we were all just trying to makes sense of it.”

After leading the Junior League for six years, Yalich returned home to begin her career. At this point she had already raised two children. By 1973, she was director of alumni relations at Colorado College, where she would stay for the next 24 years. She retired as vice president of alumni, development and college relations.

She has continued as an active volunteer, serving on several nonprofit boards. The aging community has always held a special place in her heart.

“I have been watching friends and family struggle with issues of aging,” Yalich said. “There is a great need, especially for those living alone.

“Colorado Springs opened its arms to the military community, we are a caring community. Especially now, when nobody has any money and the political leadership is weak, we need to come together as a community.”

For more information about the Innovations in Aging effort, please visit www.innovationsinaging.org. 

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