Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.
It has been a good summer so far and we are delighted each time we see old friends and new acquaintances in person. We have been walking, excercising, practicing yoga, doing improv, celebrating birthdays, visiting friends in hospitals and assisted living, honoring those that have passed, standing strong for justice and so much more.
Here a some snapshots of summer activities from August
And from July – stay tuned more to come.Do you think San Francisco should spend more money on services to help older adults and adults with disabilities age at home?
We have an opportunity to encourage Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors to restore the annual funding for those services, through the Dignity Fund, in the upcoming budget.
Show your support by signing the letter we sent them by clicking here.
During the pandemic, the city suspended its annual $3 million budget allocation to the Dignity Fund. That was especially challenging for the people the fund helps: older adults and people with disabilities.
They’re the people most likely to have found themselves trapped in their homes and isolated. They’re more likely to be unable to access regular health care or transportation to medical appointments. We’ve seen increased food insecurity as well.
But now, with state and federal funding, the city has the ability to restore funding for these services. Here’s the Dignity Fund Coalition Sign-on Letter to Restore the Promise of the Dignity Fund.
You can join the fight by co-signing the letter to the Mayor and the Supervisors here, showing you agree that funding should be restored.
Alternatively, call or email your district Supervisor and tell them you want them to restore the annual $3 million allocation to the Dignity Fund. Click here to find out how to reach your supervisor.
For more information, visit https://sfdignityfund.org/.
An extraordinary year called for supersizing an annual holiday tradition. Earlier this month, Community Living Campaign was among the partners that helped distribute more than 5,600 turkeys and full Thanksgiving meals.
“We know there’s food scarcity in the City, and that sometimes, life can get hard,” said the Department of Public Health’s Veronica Shepard, Coordinator of the main event.
She admitted that keeping the volunteers safe in this time of COVID was no easy task, but high priority. For the past six years, San Francisco non-profits and faith leaders have come together to fund and organize this annual effort.
We all demonstrated that “the world is not as awful as it feels right now when we all help one another,” she said.
Volunteers and a coalition of meal program staff gave away the majority of the turkeys at the Cow Palace. Another 600 turkeys and fixings were distributed at the parking lot of Catholic Charities in the OMI with support from Glide.
Deborah Glen, Coordinator of the Community Living Campaign’s OMIHome Grocery Delivery Program, spearheaded the effort in her neighborhood. Chester Williams and crew distributed throughout the Bayview.
“This holiday tradition left volunteers with the knowledge they had brightened the holidays for so many struggling to make ends meet,” said Marie Jobling, CLC’s Executive Director. “A heightened COVID shutdown the day before the scheduled event was a worry. But what else could we do with more than 5,000 turkeys and fixings but find a safe way to deliver them — and we did!”
The San Francisco African-American Faith-Based Coalition and the San Francisco Department of Public Health sponsored the event, with more than 60 diverse collaborating organizations and faith communities delivering to seniors and families in need. Other funders include the Glide Foundation, the Cow Palace, Hellman Foundation, Salesforce, Fivepoint and 15 more donor organizations.
Good neighbors gathered around in the OMI and Bayview neighborhoods to deliver turkeys and fixings to those in needed – almost 1,300 household received this holiday blessing. This would not have been possible without the generous support of the Glide Food Program. Yet it marked the annual event where a broad cross-section of groups and individuals pitch in to identify families in need and help support in a multitude of ways. Special thanks go out -in the OMI, to Deb Glen and the CLC team, Patti Clement and Catholic Charities and all the organizations that help arranged delivery to 600 households in the neighborhood. In the Bayview, this would not have been possible without support from the SFHealth Department – Veronica Shepard, Tracy-Shaw Senigar, & Dr. Paula Jones; the CLC Team led by Chester Williams, Beverly Taylor and Jerry Mixon, Having Pride UNITI, Dr. Emily Wade Thompson, Joseph Lee Recreation Center and the Bayview Opera House, and the Faith Based Coalition. And we stretched to meet the extra need, thanks to A. Philip Randolph Institute and San Francisco Health Department for extra turkeys and Meals on Wheels for helping round-up turkeys to deliver to the site.
With this, we wish you and yours a happy, healthy, food-filled holiday season!
OMI Food Network, and its sister project in the Park Merced/University Park area, have mobilized neighbors to box and to deliver fresh, healthy food to seniors over 80 and people with disabilities unable to use the local food pantry.
Now there is yet one more reason for us all to start eating healthier.
A new study led by researchers at the Scottsdale-based Mayo Clinic in Arizona supports the idea that what’s good for your heart is good for your brain. The study, released last month, suggests that eating too much may double the risk for memory loss in people age 70 and older. The research will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 64th annual meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28.
“We observed a dose-response pattern which simply means: the higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of mild cognitive impairment,” said study author Dr. Yonas E. Geda, a neurologist and psychiatrist with the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He noted that 2,143 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss.
While the relationship between cardiovascular problems and overeating are well known, the study further documents the similarities of cardiovascular risks and neurological risks such as mild cognitive impairment, Geda said. The study involved 1,233 people in Olmsted County, Minn., ages 70 to 89 and free of dementia.
“Cutting calories and eating foods that make up a healthy diet may be a simpler way to prevent memory loss as we age,” Geda said.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Robert H. and Clarice Smith and Abigail van Buren Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program.
To see a video of Geda explaining the study, go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=gF47eyjW2Pk
