SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Attacks targeting Asian Americans have been on the rise since the pandemic.
The "To The Point" team sat down with ACC Senior Services who have been helping the Asian community for years.
They say something as simple as going to the grocery, for a cup of coffee or even a walk in the park alone is not something everyone feels safe doing. So, they've made an effort to change that.
"Our senior escort program, in particular, was formed in direct response to the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes," said Jeri Shikuma, programs administrator of ACC Senior Services. "The idea is to stop hate through being proactive through prevention because we know that a lot of times, the majority of these incidences happen to people when they're alone. And it targets the majority of time older adults and women."
Shikuma says the senior escort program matches trained volunteers to older adults, so they have a companion and feel safe doing everyday things that most of us probably take for granted.
"They just want to do simple ordinary things...go for a walk in their neighborhood, or they want to go to the grocery store, one of our participants, has a Tai Chi class that meets in a park near her home. But she doesn't really have a way to get there unless she walks there by herself, and she doesn't necessarily feel safe to do that," said Shikuma.
She also adds that many of their programs have seen a big increase in enrollment and there are ways you can help.
"I think a really simple thing that people can do is to just get involved. And so here at ACC, we have a lot of programs, and we talked about our senior escort program, we have our rides transportation program that provides rides to seniors. So again, they can get out into the community, go to the doctor's appointment," said Shikuma.
Learn more about ACC Senior Services here.
