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On August 15, 2017, Boomers 'R Heroes Caregivers Support Group celebrated 6 years of reaching out to the Caregivers of our community. We had a small party at my apartments where she shared food, drinks and laughter, forgetting about our troubles for a few hours. My Chosen Few are the heart of the meetings that we hold and they came out to the party as well. Thank you for your continued, loving support. It just so happened that upon the arrival of my first guest I received a call to inform me of the passing of dear friend of mine, Estelle Crossley, who fought a valiant fight against cancer. (Her picture is below in pink) I miss you so much Estelle. Rest in Peace.
 We're all just hangin' out. Thanks, Jay for taking these pix.  More of Jay's genius, much brighter pix. It was a good night!!! Thanks for coming out. Our meeting on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 was blessed with Guest Speaker: Vindetta Palmer of The Grief Recovery Method
Topic: Working Through Your Grief. She was greeted warmly by 4 group members in attendance, two of which recently lost their loved ones. Ms. Palmer spoke to us clearing up many misconceptions of grief and the management of one's grief offering her program to resolve these issues individually and in a group setting. We are seeking to add a Grief Recovery component to our support group lineup. Thank you for coming out to bring us this blessing, Ms. Palmer. Humbly submitted, Jean Kirkley Greetings Heroes, Family and Friends,
May has been a good month and some interesting things have been happening. Our meeting @ the Coleman library was attended by 4 live participants and one on the phone. It was a lively event in that a long-time member who cannot come out much as she has charge of her husband came out and shared with us. Everyone was eager to talk about what's been going on since our last meeting together, offering support and suggestions to each other. Ms. Barbara successfully secured a meeting place for us at the Wesley Enhanced Living Stapeley in Germantown @ 6300 Greene street beginning on June 21 @ 7:00 pm. This way those who are working will be able to make it to a meeting without sacrificing time to commune with other caregivers. Our purpose is to help caregivers, not to add to their stress levels. On Saturday, May 14, Enon Tabernacle Baptist church, West, hosted the Alzheimer's Panel Discussion with the Alzheimer's Association and I met Beverly there and also saw Valerie whom I hadn't seen in almost 2 years. It was good to see her looking so good since she went back to work and still cares for her parents. Hopefully she'll be able to attend our meetings again. Beverly, my friend, was at our Germantown meeting as well and she gave us some important information relayed at Enon. She, too, is about to start a new job. Good luck to Beverly, she's taking such good care of her mom. Immediately after the Enon event, I ran over to The Haven for our Caregivers' Respite Workshop afternoon. That was not well-attended, but the Hero that came out was lucky to receive special focused attention to her and the relief of her stress. It was a good afternoon of healing and sharing conducted by Sis. Kind Essence. Thank you, Kind, for your attentiveness and opening your doors to us all. Meanwhile, I'm working with my business partner, Mattie Thompson, developing our Age-Friendly. Info Expo - What Caregivers' Families Need To Know. We making great headway as we sign-up vendors and sponsors of our event which will be at First Corinthian Baptist Church, 51st and Pine Streets on Saturday, July 9th. I'll post information once the flyers are ready for distribution. We could use your help with marketing this event, so keep your eyes peeled for the updates as they come out. Thank you for reading this post. Love y'all Jean Dearest Heroes,
On Thursday, April 14 @ 11-12:30, we had our first meeting at the CityLife Neighborhood Clinic @ 37 S. 40th Street. The topic: Caregiver Stress & Management was led by Behavioral Health Specialist Tracy Rhoads of CityLife. There were six participants in attendance in person and via conference call and everyone shared their fears, emotions and solutions with each other. As a first meeting it was very lively with lots of interaction. Ms. Sarina Issenberg of Lutheran Homes CARES Caregiver Support Group participated offering some valuable information for our members. We all work together for the good of the caregiver/caretaker community. I’m so happy to be affiliated with CityLife and with CARES as we all want to bring some relief to our community. For those who missed our meeting on Tuesday night at Coleman Library, it was a lively, information swapping, soul cleansing time. We had five members, one of which was a first timer, and good information was flying around. I'm so glad this meeting was well attended and blessed with the attendance of such good people. I was personally experiencing a very strange day, but this meeting fixed all of that weirdness...LOL. I needed the meeting as much as everyone else did, as seeing you get the soul food that you need helps me, too.
Please take advantage of the upcoming CAREGIVERS RESPITE WORKSHOP on Saturday, April 2 @ The Haven. See the meeting schedule Updates page for details. Our meeting last night was very lively as we discussed CAREGIVER BURNOUT. All attendees had something pertinent to contribute and there was a lot of helpful information shared by all. Two of the attendees were first time group members and gave us lively input and participation. It was a good meeting and it was helpful to us all.
I believe that you can help choose the topics of discussion that will be helpful to you personally. Please send a COMMENT to make suggestions. Sincerely, Jean Where do I start. The summer was good and we had some great moments with some very productive meetings, thank goodness. My ongoing prayer for each meeting is that He send people out who really need the help, be it one or many. It always works out for the best. No effort is too great or too small when a caregiver takes the time to come out.
October, so far, has been a very busy month for which I'm very grateful. There are THREE Health Fairs we're participating in on 10/10, 17 & 24. BOOMERS is receiving invitations from professional organizations to participate in these events...that's always a good thing. Meetings are regularly set at three each month, 2nd Thurs. in West Philly, 3rd Tues. in Mt. Airy/Gtn. and 4th Sats. in SW Phillly. This is the month that I have submitted our first grant application for support of our mission and advancement into the Caregiver Respite Retreats that are in our future plans. Yes, this is a great month. Thank you for your continued support and love. Respectfully submitted, Jean It's hard to believe that it's the end of July. Where did the time go??? I'm happy to report that the meetings for June and July have been going well.
Respectfully Submitted, Jean Kirkley Dear Heroes,
SPRING IS HERE, AT LAST. After this winter's blasts of everything possible, it's good to thaw out and we're now ready to begin holding our face-to-face meetings. Please take a look at the new schedules on the Home and Meeting Schedule pages. For those of you who participated in our telephone meetings during these wintry months, thank you for reaching out to each other. These meetings were intimate and very helpful. It was wonderful to hear your sharing and helping each other along in very difficult situations. That's what the group is all about, caring and sharing. Our new meetings are currently in the Southwest and West sections of the city, but I'm seeking a place in Germantown/Mt. Airy and will announce it as soon as I locate the best facility. Any suggestions...I'm open to your suggestions for a good location. I'm also looking to hold meetings in any part of the city that's requesting us. Your help is appreciated. Anyway, thank you all and stay healthy. Love y'all. Jean Dear Heroes, Family & Friends,
2015 has gotten off to an interesting start with all of the false weather reports which, happily, didn't bury the city under mountains of snow!!! The Telephone Meetings have been very intimate events, at best. The reason I've decided to do the meetings in this manner is to help you caregivers be better able to be involved and not feel an additional pressure to be yet somewhere else with all that you already have on your plates. Please, please,please make an effort to reach out and participate on these phone meetings. They're conveniently scheduled at 7PM 2x a month to accommodate you. The schedule is listed on the Meeting Schedule page, okay. I've received invitations to participate in 3 events in the month of March giving the spring a great start and some forward motion. Please look at the Activities page for upcoming events. Looking forward to hearing from you folks on our upcoming phone meetings and in the spring when our face-to-face meetings presume. I'll keep you posted. Thank you. Jean |
