SACO — Community group Age Friendly Saco has partnered with the city of Saco to offer a service to help seniors treat their icy walkways and make their properties a safer place to walk in the winter. 

Through the newly launched Saco Sand-Buckets for Seniors, Saco homebound residents over 65 can receive a free delivery of a five-gallon bucket of sand treated with salt. The city continues to provide sand-salt for free to those who pick it up at Public Works, as it has for many years. 

Age Friendly Saco Chairwoman Jean Saunders said the new treated sand delivery service is one of the ways the group is optimizing the health and safety of seniors.

“Our intent is to help people stay in their homes as they age,” said Saunders. 

Age Friendly Saco was able to launch the program with the help of Dupuis Hardware in Biddeford, which donated buckets. Saunders is also reaching out to area grocery stores for used buckets and the group is accepting donations of buckets.

Those interested in getting a bucket delivered or donating buckets should call the Age Friendly Saco office at 710-5029, ext. 815, and leave a message if no one is in the office. 

Age Friendly Saco is a local effort that is part of a network of a national network of communities working to make their area a great place to live for people of all ages.

Saunders and fellow Age Friendly Saco volunteer Lynn Steed said they learned of a similar sand bucket program in another part of Maine, and thought Saco could benefit from the service. 

The group has an office in the Saco Community Center and is working on other programs to support its mission. For more information on Age Friendly Saco, visit the group’s Facebook page. 

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].