Interact Club plans new venture to aid ‘helpers’

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield’s Interact Club is embarking on a new program to give back to the community’s elders.

The program is called the Interact Community Assistance Program, and will focus on serving the “helpers of the town” such as teachers, doctors, firefighters, veterans and “anyone else who has helped.” Interact members will assist these elderly people with a variety of tasks while building a relationship with them along the way.

Interact is the youth arm of Rotary, and Fairfield’s club includes about 20 members from both Fairfield High School and Maharishi School. The club’s director is Beth Alonso, but this particular program is being spearheaded by Interact Club member Polo Altynski-Ross, a junior at Maharishi School.

Polo said he came up with the idea for the Interact Community Assistance Program, or ICAP, because he is inspired by what teachers have done for this community, and wanted to give back to them.

“This program is a simple yet effective way to do so,” Polo said.

Among the first activities Interact has planned in this program are providing brunches for the local teachers, one for teachers at Maharishi School and another brunch for teachers at Fairfield High School. Polo said the Interactors will prepare the brunches, featuring waffles and scrambled eggs, and put on a presentation to inform the teachers about ICAP.

Polo said ICAP will focus on helping teachers, active and retired, and then expand to other “helpers.” The tasks that Interactors will be assisting these people with include grocery shopping, cleaning, mowing lawns and gardening, cooking meals and simple companionship such as spending time with them or making them tea and coffee.

“If a young 25-year-old teacher is just starting out, we want to help them, but the purpose will be prioritizing people who have already helped a significant amount,” Polo explained. “We will prioritize elderly people, but we’re not going to restrict it for now. We’re going to start with teachers because that’s an easy group for us to reach, and we want to expand it other groups.”

The Interact Club went on a tour of the Fairfield Fire Station last year, and got to speak to firefighters.

“They told us incredible stories, and we learned that reservists don’t get paid much. We’d like to help those people, too,” Polo said.

Polo is working with an attorney and with the Fairfield Volunteer Center to ensure the group has liability insurance. The Interact Club is also planning to launch a website soon specifically for this ICAP program.

To learn more about ICAP, email Polo at paltynski-ross@maharishistudents.org.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com