Neighbors at Home started in 2017 when two members of the Northfield Council on Aging learned about Cheshire at Home, a Village group nearby in New Hampshire.

Through our service request line, 413-200-8183, we offer a nerve center for services. We recruit and train fellow Northfielders as volunteers who respond to service requests from members. 

N@H maintains links to our town's Senior Center, Life Path, the regional Area Agency on Aging, and other existing programs and services to help members easily find what they need. We strive to make and maintain social connections within the community as neighbors help neighbors  

We are part of an international network that began in 2001 when some people in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood organized a “virtual retirement community”. This community is a cooperative providing services and social activities enabling residents to remain in their homes as they age. Called a “village”, their project became a model for hundreds of similar organizations around the United States and beyond.

​Villages are nonprofit, grassroots groups run by volunteers. Some also have a paid staff as it becomes necessary and feasible. Neighbors at home is a volunteer organization.

The Beacon Hill project has grown into the national Village to Village Network (vtvnetwork.org), of which Neighbors at Home is a member.

Any resident of Northfield who has reached their 50th birthday is eligible to join Neighbors at Home. Annual dues are $60 for an individual and $90 for a household of two or more older residents.  Volunteers need not be members of N@H, though a significant number do belong. Anyone with an interest in supporting older residents may apply to become a volunteer. For more about membership and volunteering, visit the Join In page by clicking here or by selecting that page from the menu that emerges when you click the three lines at the top left wherever you are on this site.