Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will discuss city planning for seniors at Thursday’s Carquinez Village meeting at the Benicia Public Library.(File photo)

The new year will mark an important milestone for the Carquinez Village Project. Come April 3, it will no longer be a project. Instead, the Carquinez Village will become a reality.

The Carquinez Village Project was announced in 2015 with the goal of helping aging seniors in Benicia live full independent lives at home. The organization will assist seniors with certain needs and provide referrals for other services such as plumbers, gardeners, handymen and more.

The first monthly meeting for Carquinez Village Project was held two years ago this month, and co-chair Lois Requist said the attendance exceeded everyone’s expectations.

“(Co-chair) Judie Donaldson and I sent press releases and arranged for the meeting at the library,” she said. “We had no idea if anyone would show up. We put up about 20 chairs and kept putting more up as the room filled. About 80 people came. In February at two similar meetings, about 75 people showed up at each meeting. We said that we couldn’t move forward on our own, that unless people in attendance got involved it wasn’t going to happen. By March, 2015, we had a steering committee and were moving.”

The Carquinez Village Project has held speaker series on the third Thursday of every month at the Benicia Public Library. Speakers have included lawyers, doctors, health care professionals and even the Benicia Police Department, who delivered a presentation on how to avoid scams on the internet. This Thursday will feature a presentation on city planning for seniors. Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will discuss plans for the city in 2017 and issues facing seniors. She will be sharing a calendar of programs that will help support seniors in 2017 and take questions from the audience afterwards.

“We know and appreciate that the involvement of Benicia’s senior population certainly contributes to the quality of life for our community,” Patterson said in a statement. “Not only do we benefit from the knowledge and experience of seniors, we also need to focus on aging-in-place city planning, which takes account of the needs of that age group for the future.”

Requist noted that Patterson “has been supportive of our efforts since the beginning.”

Additionally, as the launch date for the Carquinez Village draws closer, Requist and Donaldson will provide information on memberships and the full launch. Members need to be 60 years old, with the exceptions of spouses or significant others of members. The cost of one member in a household will be $360 per year with $180 for each additional member. Residents of Vallejo are also eligible to join.

“We can make seniors’ lives in Benicia better,” Requist said. “We’ve been working toward that goal for two years. Just being involved in this effort has made my life better and my connections in Benicia stronger. So, to any seniors who feel isolated or uncertain about their future, I hope you will attend one of our information meetings this month and learn about how Carquinez Village can help you and how you can help make the rest of your life as positive as possible.”

The meeting with Patterson will be held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Benicia Public Library, located at 150 East L St. For more information, visit CarquinezVillage.org or call 297-2472.

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