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Dear Friends,
If you have a little one in your home like I do, you might know the song “We take care of each other” from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. The first verse goes like this:
“If you feel sad I'll try and make you smile
And I'll stay and talk with you awhile
I'll lend a hand if you need some help
And if you fall down I will help you up.”
It’s a simple concept, but surprisingly difficult to live up to in our day-to-day lives.
One of the things I love about Meals on Wheels Diablo Region is that it is a place where people really do this every day! Volunteer drivers lend a hand. Friendly visitors stay and talk. The fall prevention team helps people stay safe. Care managers help those going through difficulties. And it doesn’t end there…
This newsletter has inspiring stories of people in your community taking care of each other, and ways that you can join the work. Including:
- Meeting an urgent need for meal deliveries in East Contra Costa County
- A donor who turned grief over gun violence into a gesture of love
- How MOWDR’s Care Managers are helping hoarders
- A dedicated C.C. Café manager who is hanging up her apron after 32 years of service to seniors
- How you can eat pancakes AND help seniors at MOWDR’s Pancake Breakfast and Health Fair Fundraiser on October 6
Thank you for being a part of this wonderful community. Thank you for helping us take care of each other.
“If I care for you and you care for me
That's what makes us friends and family
So we take care of each other
We take care of each other”
Warm regards,
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Carrie Blanding
Interim Executive Director
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BE PART OF A POWERHOUSE MOVEMENT OF EVERYDAY PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT SENIORS!
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Did you know that people 85+ represent the fastest growing segment of the American population, and the number of seniors is projected to double over the next three to four decades? In order to keep pace with this rapid growth, it will take a huge increase in volunteers and resources to meet the need. As eye opening as these projected statistics are, the current need for volunteers is immediate.
Currently MOWDR needs drivers in East Contra Costa County, including the cities of Antioch, Pittsburg, Bay Point, Discovery Bay, Brentwood, Oakley and Byron. Nancy Raniere, Nutrition Services Division manager for MOWDR explains that the need for drivers is becoming more urgent. “I see the driver shortage continuing now through the end of the year. Many of our drivers are retired, and they often begin to travel once schools are open. During the holidays our need increases again, as people are busy and traveling.”
MOWDR has
several volunteer options to meet different schedules and lifestyles. When applying, volunteer drivers can tell us the days that they are typically available and select the areas they want to deliver to. There is also an Adopt-A-Route program which allows groups to deliver to local seniors through a rotation-based schedule – perfect for small businesses, churches, and service organizations to give back to those in need in their community.
By becoming a volunteer, you’ll join more than 1000 MOWDR volunteers locally and more than two million others nationally. It doesn’t take much from each of us to improve the lives of so many. Together, we can make a huge difference for seniors.
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"My favorite thing about Meals on Wheels besides the meals are the volunteer drivers. They are all so courteous and friendly and they do an excellent job. Without Meals on Wheels, I would not have anything to eat. I’m 81 years old and housebound. God bless Meals on Wheels and the kind people who visit me every day!"
RUTH C.
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HABIT OF GIVING: FROM SENSELESS
TRAGEDY COMES A LIFE-GIVING GIFT OF HOPE
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Meals on Wheels Diablo Region often receives honorary and memorial donations. Sometimes it is a donation of five hundred dollars and sometimes it is a donation of five dollars; sometimes the donation is in honor of a young woman who has graduated from college or in memory of a parent or a dear friend who made a difference in the donor’s life. This month, a month when the headlines have been filled with the senseless mass shootings in El Paso, Dayton, and Gilroy we received an anonymous donation in honor of the victims of gun violence.
The donor sent us this message with their donation. “My grandfather was a victim of gun violence. I was born a few months after his senseless death. I have heard from my parents that he was a man who cared about his community. I would like to make this donation not only in honor of my grandfather but for all those men, women and children who have been victims of gun violence.”
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The donation contributed by the anonymous donor will make a difference in seniors' lives. It will be used to deliver hot meals to our homebound elders, to provide vital nutrition and a sense of community to seniors attending our C.C. Cafés and to foster connections between isolated seniors and our dedicated Friendly Visitors and Friendly Callers. This thoughtful donation in honor of the victims of gun violence will help enable us to install fall prevention home modifications and make homes safer for seniors, teach Tai Chi classes and allow our Care Managers to connect seniors with vital services.
Thank you anonymous donor. Not only for your monetary gift but for keeping the eternal flame of hope lit by changing lives. Gun violence shatters our communities and the bodies of men, women and children, but donations and the love with which they are given heal bodies and foster community and no senseless act of violence can ever destroy that.
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MOWDR'S CARE MANAGEMENT TEAM CO-HOSTS HOARDING WORKSHOP
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MOWDR’s Care Management and Fall Prevention Programs recently partnered with City of Concord, and Contra Costa Health Services to present a one-day workshop entitled
Hoarding: The Challenge for Caregivers and Loved Ones. The event was well attended and featured industry experts who spoke on a variety of insightful topics and offered practical advice on working with hoarding behavior and preventing falls in an extremely cluttered environment.
Hoarding is widely recognized as a mental health issue that affects people from all socioeconomic groups and has been the subject of a few popular reality television series, but there is still much to discover about why it happens and how to correct it. Often the hoarder’s loved ones are blindsided by the enormity of the problem and find it difficult to identify the proper resources to get the best help for their loved one.
Rosa Loya, MOWDR’s Director of Care Management, has seen firsthand evidence of the devastation this diagnosis can bring to a person’s life if left unchecked. “Hoarding is an issue that results in more than an overabundance of things. It can directly affect housing stability. People can be evicted from their homes and some become homeless.”
Workshops are a great vehicle to get the word out to families and caregivers who might otherwise not know where to turn or are reluctant to reach out because they are embarrassed. MOWDR’s Care Management case workers received six referrals shortly after the workshop in Concord.
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"The need is there because there are not enough resources,” Rosa explains. “With the right kind of help, hoarders can recover and begin living normally. We have a recent success story where the hoarder, with proper counseling and methodical management, got rid of her stuff and joined Hoarders Anonymous. Care Management has done follow up visits and we’ve seen a huge improvement! There is no overnight fix because every case is unique, but there is hope.”
Thank you to the Concord Senior Center Staff, Joyce Martin, MA, PsyD, Janet Flint of Space and Time Organization, Heather Argueta, OTR/L, Officer Jeff Connor with Concord P.D. and Michael Tynan for bringing important information to the forefront of this potentially dangerous, and misunderstood affliction.
A special thanks goes out to Nurse Next Door, Sunrise Villas and Provident Care for supplying refreshments.
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CONCORD C.C. CAFE MANAGER, KATY CHUMBLEY IS RETIRING AFTER 32 YEARS!
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At the end of this month, Katy Chumbley, Concord C.C. Café’s on-site manager is retiring after an impressive 32 years of service. Katy is pictured above, second from the left.
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One of the first things you notice about Katy when you meet her is her calm demeanor. As racks of food are wheeled through the kitchen and food trays are being prepared by busy volunteers and served to a room full of hungry seniors you get the sense that this is a finely tuned operation with Katy quietly conducting it from behind the steaming bank of food warmers.
Katy started with the Café in 1985 when it was opened for City of Concord employees. In 1987 Meals on Wheels Diablo Region (formally known as Meals on Wheels Senior Outreach Services) took over management of the café and hired Katy as on-site manager...
Read the rest of Katy's story
here.
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The Concord CC Café Hot Lunch Program by Meals on Wheels Diablo Region (MOWDR) is for Adults 60+. Meals are served daily at 11:30a.m. Contact the Café at (925) 825-1488 between 9:00a.m. - 11:30a.m. for more information and a menu or visit
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Join us on October 6,
at Pleasant Hill Senior Center
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What's better than a hot, fluffy stack of hot cakes dripping with butter and maple syrup? It's knowing that when you purchase a ticket to MOWDR's upcoming Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser and Health Fair you are benefiting our Fall Prevention Program, and helping to provide home safety modifications for seniors at risk for falls.
The breakfast menu includes a stack of pancakes with scrambled eggs, sausage and bottomless orange juice and coffee. Attendees will enjoy raffle prizes, a pancake flipping contest for the kiddies, information about fall prevention and in-person health related checks. Tickets are $5 for ages 11 and up, $3 for children 5-10, and under 5 are free.
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Welcome to the Meals on Wheels Diablo Region family of volunteers!
Click here
to see the list of our newest volunteers.
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A special thank you to the generous donors who have given in tribute or in memory of their loved ones.
Click here
to see the list.
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© Meals on Wheels Diablo Region 2019. All rights reserved.
Meals on Wheels Diablo Region
1300 Civic Dr, Walnut Creek, CA, 94596
United States
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