Seniors vs Crime in The Villages Region 4 continues to lead all of the regions in Florida in cases reported and money recovered.
Region 4 Director Steve Renico was addressing a training session Friday for more than 60 volunteers at Hope Lutheran Church in The Villages. He noted that Region 4 had 568 cases in 2021 followed by 724 cases opened in 2022. Renico told the volunteers that their efforts in 2021 resulted in recovering $287,430 for seniors who had been the victims of scammers. He expressed pride in their efforts when he told the volunteers that their efforts in 2022 recovered $384,914 for senior victims. He also noted that realized gain (a combination of dollars recovered plus the completion of work done by contractors who had been reported by seniors as not completing paid-for projects) totaled over $1.7 million, dwarfing the total gain reported by the other districts by more than $1 million. All of this was accomplished by the volunteers who put in 19,521 hours working to aid seniors over the two-year period.
Renico expressed admiration for the volunteers when he told them that the return per volunteer hour was an astounding $115.09 per hour worked.
Villager Bob Makela who has worked out of the Seniors vs Crime Marion County office for two decades received his 20-year pin as did Barbra Harmon for her 20 years service out of the Citrus office. Seven Villagers received 10 year service pins and a large group received five year service pins.
The Sumter County office, the Citrus County office and the Marion County office were all awarded certificates for the 20 years that those offices have been aiding seniors. Villager Royice Robbins was presented an award by Don Ravemna, the statewide executive director for Seniors vs Crime. Robbins was instrumental in creating a case management software package which is used by all five regions of the organization.
Additional information on services or volunteering opportunities can be accessed at the Seniors vs Crime website https://www.svcinthevillages.org.
