Ada Sutton calls herself a
”
visitor,
”
someone who makes a point of spending time with seniors who are
homebound or ill and who can really benefit from some
heart-to-heart time and personal attention.
Ada Sutton calls herself a “visitor,” someone who makes a point of spending time with seniors who are homebound or ill and who can really benefit from some heart-to-heart time and personal attention.
On one visit to a nursing home, Sutton noticed a gentleman with one leg who just needed someone to help him change his position ever so slightly now and then in order to feel more comfortable. She also noticed that no one ever came to visit him.
“What a difference just a tiny bit of attention made to that lonely man,” she said.
Sutton is a part of a visitation program partially funded by a grant called the Beulah Older Adult Grant Fund, and I have just started a new job serving on the Beulah Grant Committee.
If you’ve ever served on committees or boards, you know how contentious they can be. There can be clashes of personality and disagreements over goals. So I have to say what a pleasure it is to serve on a committee whose main job is to deliver good news.
In my work with nonprofits, I have often been a part of groups who were on the begging end of grant money. But now, for the first time, I am experiencing the role of being one of those who determines who gets the money.
The Beulah Grant Fund is controlled by the United Methodist Women of northern California and Nevada. Gilroy, Hollister, and Morgan Hill United Methodist Women support the committee’s activities. The committee is made up of 12 Methodist women who determine grant beneficiaries.
I have to confess, it’s a lot of fun giving money away. You feel a bit like Santa Claus. Or Mrs. Claus.
“This committee is good for the soul,” our chairwoman, Sarah Pryor, said.
We got together in our state’s capital this past week for our first meeting of the 2010-11 fiscal year. In spite of the poor economy, the Beulah fund expects to give out nearly 50 percent more money in 2011 than 2010. Our foremothers made wise decisions when they set up the fund, and over the course of the last 20 years, it has grown to more than $5 million.
I travel to sites requesting funding to determine the feasibility of what is being requested and then make my recommendations to the committee. Funds must be used for programs and activities that serve the needs and uphold the dignity of our elders.
As I see some of our movers and shakers getting shaky in their older age, it occurs to me that in many ways we return to being more childlike as we age. We encounter new territory that requires us to learn coping skills, we have issues of balance and flexibility that require certain exercises, and we need to learn new techniques to help us remember.
If we have family or companions to help us along in this process, we are fortunate. For too many older adults, there is no one able or willing to help cope with the changes to mind and body.
Yet later life can be a time for self-discovery, a time to challenge oneself, explore personal inspiration, as well as to take the time to explore spiritually. Beulah funds seek to encourage this for as many “super seniors” as possible.
Beulah programs have included counseling, Alzheimer Day Care, nutritional support, providing Parish nurses, instruction in biomechanics, massage, meditation, activities for brain fitness, exercise, artwork, and creating opportunities for grandparents to interact with grandchildren.
Senior New Ways, one innovative program for healthy and active aging funded by Beulah, has a saying that captures the committee’s philosophy: “Elders are not an age group, old-looking, or a label like ‘retirees,’ but they are the jewels of humanity, and the keepers of wisdom.”
“I feel so energized,” Ada Sutton said, describing how volunteering with seniors has kept her going since the death of her husband. “They lift my spirits up. Whatever I give is so much more than what I get. It’s a total blessing.”
