Senior Stewards Acting For the Environment (SSAFE) is a nationwide organization for residents of senior living communities. Members of the sustainability committee in Durham recently completed the application process and our community is now a chapter member! SSAFE was founded in 2020 by a group of residents at Kendal Communities and has grown to a total of sixteen Life Care Communities.

SSAFE’s mission is to share the experiences, resources, and talents of chapter community residents to forge a pathway to carbon neutrality by developing and implementing comprehensive community-wide sustainability plans, with the goal of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

RiverWoods Durham residents have been continually active with sustainability efforts since the community opened in 2019. The full list of efforts is in the annual reports, however, some of the projects and initiatives include:

• Community-wide recycling programs (including two facilitators on each floor to educate residents about recyclability and trash management)
• A quarterly swap shop event
• Quarterly collection of eyeglasses, hearing aids, other digital devices, batteries, and light bulbs
• Soft plastic collection for donation at Hannaford that are turned into Trex benches and decking.
• The bike reuse project (donating the bikes residents no longer use)
• A reusable bag project to reduce the use of plastic bags
• Working with dining to replace non-compostable products where possible. Examples include brown vs. white napkins at events and cloth napkins in the dining room.

The application process was completed online and described the efforts of the Durham Sustainability Committee followed by an interview and tour of the building and grounds to verify the efforts listed in the application. The SSAFE acceptance committee recommended inclusion, and the board voted Durham in.

The benefits of membership include access to more speakers and to innovative ideas and resources. This includes presentations, white papers, energy audits, case studies, recycling programs and more! It will be exciting to see what this exchange of information brings to the table at RiverWoods.

To learn more about sustainability efforts at RiverWoods Durham, schedule a tour, today!