When I walked into Ray's The Classics preview dinner last week I was so honored and proud that Michael Landrum and Don Rockwell chose to make a difference in the life of low-income elderly men and women in DC by making Emmaus Services for the Aging the beneficiary of a Ray's The Classics preview dinner.
I was blown away by the fabulous food, professional staff and conversation with members of donrockwell.com. I was also thankful for the opportunity to share the mission of Emmaus and let the great group that I spoke with know about how our services help seniors in DC that often suffer in silence. Our organization serves a population that is reluctant to ask for assistance or "make a fuss" when they are lonely, isolated or hungry. Many people sympathize with those living in poverty and the ordinary challenges of the eldery, but can you imagine what life is like for seniors who live on a modest budget of between $500-$550 a month in the Washington, DC area.
Emmaus Services for the Aging reaches out to build trust with seniors to provide support, advocacy and services that help them remain active, respected and independent members of their communities. Our approach is very simple...if seniors are hungry we feed them, if they are lonely we visit them, if they need advocacy we stand up for them. With a small staff of 13, we are able to stand in the gap for over 600 seniors with the help of over 300 volunteers in the community that give their time and generous donors that give their resources to help seniors in need.
This year Emmaus converted to a full senior center providing nutritious hot lunches for seniors Monday-Friday and fun activities in our center throught the day. Some of our new activities that have been very well received by our seniors is a supplemental/emergency food pantry called Feast for All Market and a Senior Cooking Class. Attached you will find a few pictures from our senior cooking class that is designed to teach seniors how to cook nutritious meals on a small budget.
THANK YOU DON AND MICHAEL FOR MAKING OUR MISSION POSSIBLE!!!!
For more information about Emmaus Services for the Aging, please feel free to visit www.emmausservices.org or call Mauri at 202.745.1200 x414.
