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Seniors Program Provides Joy During Difficult Times

May 09, 2009

The Christmas season is a tough time of year for Tom. His mom passed away long ago, and he effectively has no family with whom to share the holidays. That’s why his Elim family means so much to him.

According to Dawn Elliott, coordinator of Elim’s Senior’s Program, many of the 200 adults with disabilities start getting depressed around this time of year, especially Elim’s senior members. Elim’s older adults aren’t any different than other seniors and have often lost family members and most of their significant outside relationships.

It’s often difficult to get them excited even about the things they like to do. Not only do they occasionally shrink from work activities, but they don’t even want to do those things they’ve always enjoyed.

That’s the challenge facing Elim’s staff members. In order to bring joy to these special adults, Elim’s staff members work hard to organize fun activities for Tom and others like him. Tom loves his outings to the Biela Center, a local senior’s center where he’s able to watch movies, enjoy a free lunch, and interact with folks from the local community.
Tom also loves learning new things. He loves visiting the zoo, reading all of the signs to learn about each animal. He also enjoys coming back to Elim and sharing this knowledge with his friends in the Adult Services program.

It is through the gifts of Elim’s partners that Tom is able to enjoy these outings and continue to experience the love of Elim’s staff members.

Thank you for your support of Tom and other senior adults with disabilities at Elim.