In 1968, Congress became interested in creating a program that offers services by and for older persons. Five years later, the Senior Companion Program was established with the Domestic Volunteer Service Act. The first 18 Senior Companion Programs started receiving funding in August 1974.
The Senior Companion Program has since expanded throughout the United States.
While authorized and funded by Congress, the program is managed by the AmeriCorps, which monitors and advises local projects.
In September 1978, The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society received a grant to start the Senior Companion Program in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was one of five demonstration sites that tested placing Senior Companions in the homes of seniors. The home-based program used a written service plan to define client needs and Companion tasks. Up to then, Senior Companions visited clients in institutions, not in their own homes.
The first four Senior Companions in South Dakota were trained in January 1979. The Senior Companion Program of South Dakota started in Sioux Falls and gradually expanded to communities in the surrounding area. In 1984, the program received federal grant funding to start the program in Brookings and Lake Counties. Ten years later, the program began in the Watertown area thanks to a grant from South Dakota Adult Services and Aging. Services expanded to Yankton in 1995.
The program continued to grow throughout the state. In 1998, the Senior Companions Program started in Rapid City when the program received additional federal dollars. The next year, the program grew to offer services in Meade, Lawrence and Butte counties and to the Custer area in 2000.
Thanks to a grant from the AmeriCorps, the program started in Aberdeen and Redfield in 2001. Groton and Hot Springs were added as service areas in 2002.
In the fall of 2008, services began in Milbank. Services were added to Miller, Wagner and Lake Andes in 2009.
In 2018, services were added in Pierre.
