Seniors Helping Seniors® In-Home Services Establishes Franchise in Dunedin, Florida
Wyomissing Hills, Pa--To help meet the growing demand of older Floridians who want to remain in their own homes and stay as self-sufficient as possible, Seniors Helping Seniors® In-Home Services (SHS) has established a new franchise in Dunedin, Florida, just west of Tampa along the Florida Suncoast.
The franchise will serve upper Pinellas County, including Dunedin, East Lake, Palm Harbor, Ozona, Oldsmar, Safety Harbor, Tarpon Springs and the northern part of Clearwater.
Seniors Helping Seniors--which has five master license holders and nearly 50 franchise territories in Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio and California--is a national caregiver and companionship organization and the only one that matches seniors who need in-home care services with seniors who provide them. Seniors He;ping Seniors also has a franchise at West Palm Beach.
The newest franchise is owned and operated by Mary and David Gosnell of Dunedin. Mary worked for The Nielsen Company for 35 years in Information Technology, starting as a software developer and later working as a project manager and IT Director. She is a graduate of St. Petersburg College, Clearwater, and also attended the University of South Florida in Tampa. David, who graduated from Belmont University and also holds a graduate degree in mathematics, is an Engineering Director for The Nielsen Company in Oldsmar, Florida. He also has experience as a high school science and math teacher and has been a bivocational church pastor.
Both Mary and David are members of North Dunedin Baptist Church. Each has personal experience providing care for aging family members and serving in various ministries in their church. They also have extensive business and management experience. Their greatest joy comes through working with people to help meet their needs, said Mary Gosnell.
"Seniors Helping Seniors had instant appeal to us for a variety of reasons. While working fulltime and raising a family I helped care for aging parents and an aunt. I understand the desire and need that seniors have to remain independent and to not feel as if they are a burden to their families," said Mary Gosnell. She has many friends who are dealing with the same balancing act of caring for their senior relatives while working and maintaining their own households.
"David sees Seniors Helping Seniors as a way to carry on his father's legacy of making life easier for aging seniors, while giving younger seniors a way to give to others. The main goal for our franchise," she continued, "is to become the premier provider of non-medical assistance to seniors in upper Pinellas County. We want to be the service that is the first choice for all seniors who need to receive help or want to give help."
Philip Yocom, who manages the national Seniors Helping Seniors franchise organization, said he is pleased to welcome the Gosnells as franchise partners. "They come to our Seniors Helping Seniors community with many years of business experience and a deeply personal knowledge about what it means to be a caregiver. They will make an excellent addition to our franchise family, people who are dedicated to providing the Seniors Helping Seniors brand of loving, giving, caring and compassionate service and who will fulfill our mission in expanding our care giving and companionship services into Florida and the rest of the South," he said.
Added Mary Gosnell, "The services offered by Seniors Helping Seniors will make a difference in many people's lives. By giving or receiving through SHS, senior adults will find a loving, caring, compassionate, and giving community where strong relationships will be forged. Loneliness, lack of independence, basic non-medical needs: these and more can all be alleviated by Seniors Helping Seniors."
Philip Yocom, and his wife, Kiran Yocom, co-founded Seniors Helping Seniors In-Home Services (SHS), which began as a non-profit organization serving Reading and Berks County, Pennsylvania. That first non-profit organization today encompasses more than 250 senior providers helping more than 600 senior receivers. In 2007, the non-profit Seniors Helping Seniors provided nearly 17,000 hours of service.
Philip Yocom said, "What began as a heartfelt mission to fill a need that was not being served by our local community is now being recognized as a prime business opportunity being fueled by the fastest growing demographic in our society."
He said, "We want the existing Seniors Helping Seniors organization and any future franchises to be the first place that seniors in need of non-medical services and those seeking extra income call."
"We will support all our franchisees with all of the expertise we have gained in running Seniors Helping Seniors. We'll also provide marketing, sales, management and technology support."
He added, "We believe we have found a practical, cost-effective way to help seniors remain independent and to continue contributing. As we grow nationwide, we remain committed to providing our brand of loving, giving, caring, compassionate service."
