Los Tainos Senior Citizens Center

Los Tainos, founded by Anna Cotton - recipient of numerous community services awards - in 1968, is a unique organization of low income Hispanic volunteer senior citizens who offer their assistance to other senior citizens and their families. Because many of the members are bilingual and, in some cases, multilingual, Los Tainos members, numbering about 400, are able to extend their assistance to both the Hispanic community as well as communities of other cultures. Recognizing that as volunteers, they are unable to offer consistent programming without staff, the organization maintains several key founded programs that provide a minimal staff presence: Executive Director, Programs Director, and a van driver. This relieves the volunteers from the more technical administrative responsibilities required of human service delivery programs. These staff members serve as both coordinators and advisors to Los Tainos members who may actually assist in the deliver of most of the services to other low-income seniors.