Senior Living Information Blog

Volunteers needs for the Alzheimer's Association Forget Me Not Days May 13&14th 2011

What are you doing on Friday, May 13^th? What about Saturday, May 14^th?

Could you spare a few hours that Friday or Saturday to volunteer for the ninth annual Forget Me Not Days^®?

 

What are Forget Me Not Days?

Forget Me Not Days began in 2003 as the annual fundraiser of Bankers Life and Casualty Company - the national life and health insurer - to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association chapters nationwide. On May 13 and 14, 2011 this ‘tag days’ fundraiser will bring Bankers agents and employees, and Alzheimer’s Association volunteers to streets and storefronts to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s disease. Since Forget Me Not Days began more than $2 million has been raised across the country to support the Alzheimer’s Association. Help us raise more!

How does it work?

Volunteers work with their local Alzheimer’s Association office to find out about tagging locations nearest them. Volunteers will be provided green gardening aprons to wear and canisters to use to collect donations on event-day. In exchange for donations, volunteers will hand out specially marked packets of Forget-Me-Not flower seeds, courtesy of Bankers Life. Seed packets list the Association’s 24/7 toll-free Helpline phone number and its website. 100% of the donations collected go directly to the Alzheimer’s Association to support Alzheimer care, support and research.

Please Volunteer!

With Alzheimer’s disease now the sixth leading cause of death in the United States – and the fifth leading cause of death for those ages 65+ in Illinois – we need your support!

If you’re interested in volunteering for a few hours that Friday or Saturday (May 13^th or 14^th) in Chicago or one of the 13+ suburbs where we’re securing tagging sites, please let me know. As of right now, in regards to the Chicagoland area, we have tagging sites secured and/or pending in the city of Chicago, Lake Forest, Schaumburg, Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Evanston, Lisle, Downers Grove, Lombard, Naperville, Oak Park, Palos Hills, and Joliet. We plan to add a few more tagging sites in the next few weeks. Our hope is that one of these sites is close enough to home for all of our volunteers.

The association takes care of planning the locations (outside of a Jewel store, in a busy intersection, etc) where volunteers are; all you need to let them know is what day(s) you’re free and in which city/village (from the list above) you’d like to volunteer. The hours during which this event takes place both Friday and Saturday are between about 8am and 4pm, with volunteer shifts lasting about 2 hours.

For more information and to volunteer, please contact Amanda Bogdanski, Event Specialist, Greater Illinois Chapter Alzheimer's Association at 847-779-6952! 

 

Volunteers needed to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association

If you’re free on Thursday, December 9th, the Greater Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association is seeking volunteers to help them collect donations at their Charity Drive at Union Station. We’ll be there from 7:30am to 6pm, so if you could help for a few hours, please let Amanda know!

Amanda Bogdanski|Event Specialist| Alzheimer's Association - Greater Illinois Chapter| 8430 W. Bryn Mawr, Suite 800| Chicago, IL 60631|847-779-6952|773-444-0930 | amanda.bogdanski (at) alz.org

Brain Fitness Programs for Seniors in Chicago

 
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
 
Hosted at Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly
            355 N Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60607
 
Free Seminar

 Presenter:
 Sheila Segal, MFT, Peer Counseling Program Director,
                      WISE and Healthy Aging, Santa Monica, CA



Reservations are required.  Register for this free seminar online or call 312.455.1000
 
Seminar Schedule:

Morning Session:
Professionals will explore the development of brain fitness programming to help the elderly maintain and improve their cognitive abilities.
 
Lunch Break
 
Afternoon Session:
Seminar participants will welcome 25 elders and will be interactive, sharing positive experiences in improving brain health as well as confronting obstacles to learning something new.  There will be an exploration of how these new skills might be utilized to improve quality of life.
 

Caregiverlist's "Care for the Caregiver Day" in Chicago

Free Training - Free Massages - Free Food and More!

Date:  Thursday, October 14, 2010

Time:  10 a.m. to 5 pm.

(Open House format)

Location:  Downtown Chicago (near El train and Bus stops)

11 East Adams Street at State Street, 2nd Floor

Classrooms of the Illinois School of Health Careers

WORKSHOPS:  Receive a "Certificate of Attendance"

Workshops lead by Health School Instructors/R.N.'s

Transfering Skills

Coping with Attachment and Grief

Communicating with Mentally Challenged Patients

Get Hired! Seminar

Caregiverlist Training Tools

Educational Opportunities

Learn more and RSVP:
http://www.caregiverlist.com/CareForTheCaregiverDay.aspx

(RSVP Suggested but not Required)

Caregiverlist has also partnered with the leader in online training,
aQuire Training Solutions to provide a specially designed 10 hour
training program which matches the training requirements for
non-medical caregivers in the state of Illinois.  Just send us an
e-mail if you would like to review for free.  The cost is $50 per
month for unlimited tests with secure password access provided to each
individual caregiver.

E-mail for a free Webinar:  erin@caregiverlist.com

Chicago Memory Walk Re-cap

Sept 11, 2010 - We had a new location - in lovely Lincoln Park - but our old familiar friend, the rain joined us even though we did not invite it!

Once again, the rain did not stop thousands of people from showing up to show their support and to raise some money!  So far the walk has raised $564,281.00!!  Over half a million dollars!

I have included a few photos from the event.   I want to give the award for the best Memory Walk Team name to Team Edward below!  Wonder if they are vampires?  Vampires like rainy days don't they?  At least that was one of my take-aways from reading the Twilight Series... anyhow...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we have a photo of Paula Levy from AP Lifeline and I dancing with a brain - from Marbles, the Brain Store.  See, you can have fun in the rain if you set your mind to it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of Rachelle Blough and I - Rachelle runs one of the BEST memory programs in the area at Lexington.  I used to work with her at Sunrise and I think she is so outrageously good at what she does.  Amazing person!  Nice taste in hats as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of Melissa Trinidad from St. Joseph's Village in Chicago.  Next to her is Susan Scatchell from A-Abiding Care.  She had the big job of helping to organize the event.  As a person who held that job on the memory walk committee for several years - I can tell you it is quite a responsibility.  I think she did an excellent job - organized so many side events to raise money, I could hardly keep up.  Great work Susan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And at this point, I was soaked.  This was just before the walk started and I had already been there helping to set up since around 6am.  I have no idea who this is.  But he's cute and I can't imagine having to dry that outfit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you have any other fun pictures to share with everyone and I will post them!!  Thank you to everyone who came out and participated... See you next year!

Chicago Memory Walk Fun Fundraiser - "Memory Rock" at Joes on Weed Street

The Alzheimer’s Association - Greater Illinois Chapter will be rockin at the annual Memory Rock concert on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at Joe's Sports Bar from 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Co-chair Steven Monroe had this to say about this great event, “Memory Rock is in its fourth year and has become the annual end of summer event. This event really offers young adults an inexpensive way to help fight a disease that has affected their families, grandparents and parents. Attendance has increased each year - in no small part because it’s a great venue to hear Dr. Bombay (whose other performances cost more to attend). Ultimately, it’s proven to be a wonderful fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Illinois Chapter, as well as “fun-raiser” for people that attend each year.”

Memory Rock is a third party event chaired by Steve Monroe and Richard Klein. The entry fee is $30, of which the Alzheimer’s Association receives $15. This year Memory Rock will be emceed by Comcast SportsNet's Sarah Kustok and live music is provided by Dr. Bombay. You may purchase tickets online or at the door. Click here for more information.

The Chicago Department on Aging has moved

As of Sept 11, 2009 the office of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services - Senior Services Division (or as I call it the department on aging..) has moved from 30 N. LaSalle to:

1615 W. Chicago Ave, 3rd Floor, Chicago IL 60622

All phone numbers have been changed and the new phone number is:

312-746-8541

"You have to have love in your life."

That is a quote from Catherine Walker who just celebrated her 99th birthday this past Monday with those that she loves in her life.

When you live to be 99, you tend to outlive many of the people that you love.  This did not stop Catherine from finding new life.  Not only does she live in a local retirement community, but she volunteers in their Alzheimer's wing.  She has a great sense of humor and enjoys herself there and her neighbors and friends appreciate her time. 

I first read about her in the Chicago Tribune where you can read the original article.

By the way, she makes "damn good cake."  I hope she had some damn good cake for her birthday - she deserves it!!

(Great!) photo by David Pierini, Chicago Tribune / August 13, 2009

100 Charitable Activities You Can Do With Your Family

A reader named Suzane emailed me about a post on her blog called 100 Charitable Activities You Can Do With Your Family.  Since I get emails all the time about volunteering in local nursing homes and assisted living communities I knew I had to share it.  Lots of great suggestions on there. 

It also helps us answer the call to action from President and Mrs. Obama to give back!

One of my favorite's is the first one because I know they can match up some opportunities with seniors.  Volunteer Match - with over 65,000 participating organizations, this site has many opportunities to choose from. Just type in your location and interests and VolunteerMatch will find many options for charitable families.

Have fun and feel good!

If anyone else has suggestions of valuable articles - please feel free to email me directly.

Little Brothers 50th Anniversary Benefit

In honor of half a century of relieving loneliness and isolation among Chicago’s elder population Little Brothers are throwing an intergenerational bash at Rockit Bar & Grill THIS Saturday, May 2 from 1-4 p.m. There will be food, drink and games from generations past and present (think 80 year-olds playing Wii and 20-somethings playing checkers). 

cost: $35 per person

Saturday, May 2, 2009
1:00 - 4:00 pm
Rockit Bar and Grill
22 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago (btwn State & Dearborn)

for more information just click here to go to Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly's website.
Or you can call 312-455-1000