Help H.O.M.E. Breathe Life Into its Garden Room

Originally sent in an email to our supporters

 

 

Human beings are social beings. H.O.M.E. is all about human connection. We focus on elders who are too often isolated, especially when they are poor, infirm, or living in a neighborhood far from amenities. That's why everything we do builds community with and for seniors, from our intergenerational housing to our Shopping Bus. 

 

At Nathalie Salmon House and Pat Crowley House seniors thrive because they eat and socialize with one another, the younger Resident Assistants who live and work with them, and the families with children who live there too.

 

As you can imagine, our present necessity for physical isolation is especially poignant. It is too familiar to the seniors we house, most of whom are "elder orphans." These days, we recognize all the more the importance of connection and the benefit of intergenerational living and sharing.  

 

To continue fostering joy, connection, and independence for Chicago's low-income seniors, this summer we are kicking off a new project to renovate and reactivate the Nathalie Salmon House Garden Room. 

 

 

We have a dream. We want to turn this usually empty but light and airy space into a conduit for intergenerational connection and a calming, contemplative space for all our residents. Fittingly, this started as a vision of one of our young Resident Assistants who imagined using the room for skill sharing. 

• a senior might teach neighbors of all ages how to make jewelry, or a group of nursing students might lead an art project.
• a quiet corner of the room looking on to the garden could be furnished with an easy chair or two for quiet, private contemplation.
• the space would be adorned with art and objects of beauty.
• best of all, the room would swirl with life!

In the spirit of Lilo Salmon's vision of "life encompasses all age groups" we plan to re-design and elevate the garden room into a space for intergenerational sharing, healing, and create more opportunities to bring the outside community, inside to our beloved community.

 

 

To support this new project, H.O.M.E. is happy to be a part of  the fifth-annual GIVE65, a 65-hour online fundraising campaign exclusively for senior-focused organizations like ours. This year, GIVE65 kicks off July 15 and runs through July 17, providing 65 hours for you to make a donation of your choice to help H.O.M.E. make space for our seniors.

 

Now more than ever we need your help to continue providing our services and programs to seniors in our community. Thank you for supporting our mission and bringing hope to seniors right here at H.O.M.E.  

 

Make a donation

Check “make a donation” off your to-do list early and schedule a gift on July 13 or 14 to increase our chance of taking home matching grants, or join us for the live GIVE65 on July 15. Your gift will go to creating a space of love, light, and connection for our friends, the residents of H.O.M.E.

 

Spread the word

If you are passionate about ensuring older adults are supported and provided the opportunity to live independently within the community, we need your help spreading the mission of H.O.M.E. Amplify our impact by following us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram and sharing our content. 

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*The GIVE65, a 65-hour online giving campaign, celebrates nonprofits serving seniors each July. GIVE65, a program of the Home Instead Senior Care Foundation, hopes to inspire people to come together and give in support of seniors and the nonprofit organizations serving them. Donations of $10 or more are accepted and always appreciated. Matching grants and financial prizes amplify charitable donations to make each dollar have an even greater impact on seniors throughout the United States.

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Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pioneers: #PrideInPlace

The month of June has long been hailed as “Pride Month”, and the year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Pride celebration. It is typically a time for the LGBTQ+ community to gather and celebrate their history and rights. But why June? To understand the origin of Pride, one must start at the beginning: The Stonewall Riots, also known as The Stonewall Uprising.

In the early hours of June 28, 1969 New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar. This led to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement and members of the gay community outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. 

Marsha P. Johnson, a black transgender woman was one of the central figures in the gay liberation movement for nearly 25 years is considered by many to have thrown “the first brick at Stonewall”, sparking the riots. No one truly knows for sure who threw the first brick, but what we do know is that the Stonewall Riots mirror the June riots we witnessed across the country in response to the unjust killing of George Floyd. In 1969, fed up with constant police raids, brutal beatings and harassment, a handful of people fought back and took to the streets. In 2020, fed up with constant televised police brutality, racial inequality, and systemic racism thousands have taken to the streets.

We have made great strides in the liberation of the American LBTGQ+ community since the Stonewall Riots of 1969. In 1982 Wisconsin became the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, legalized it in all fifty states, and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the case Obergefell v. Hodges. And most recently, on June 2020 the Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-bias law covers millions of gay, lesbian and transgender workers, meaning an employee cannot be legally fired for their sexuality or gender identity. The 2015 decision ruling of a right to same-sex marriage marked a climax in domestic life, however Monday's decision ushers in equality on the job. This is a landmark motion, and something to be celebrated. 

The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. These 1969 riots are largely credited with sparking the contemporary LGBTQ+ rights movement. The first Pride Parade was one year later in NYC, called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, and has transformed into the Pride Month celebrations we know today.  However, in the 51 years since, not everyone has benefited equally. 

For the elders in our communities, the riots that broke out in response to the murder of George Floyd was not the first riot they experienced. In Los Angeles in 1992 there was a series of riots lasting 5 days in response to the arrest and brutality of Rodney King. Following the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 a wave of civil unrest and uprisings swept the nation. Miami in 1980 saw three days of riots in response to the murder of Arthur McDuffie, a black salesman and former marine that died at the hands of police officers. In every instance of riots one common denominator has been the economic, social, and political oppression of a people based on their race or sexual orientation. These conditions produce mass protests contoured by bursts of violence, that can only be quelled with revolutionary policy changes, like the ones we have seen for gay rights throughout the last 50 years.

As we come upon Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, and continue to celebrate Pride Month we look to the pioneers that sacrificed in order to push our country forward: the men and women who many of us now call Grandpa and Grandma.  H.O.M.E. celebrates these individuals, and the community of radicals and leaders that have inspired progress and change in the United States. Without the Stonewall Riots, and people like Marsha P. Johnson & Harvey Milk, the LGBTQ+ community may not have the rights they have today. While our society still has a long way to go with mending the great racial injustices and disparities weaved into its core, we have our elders to thank for the progress that has been made and for inspiring a new generation of leaders. 

Our LGBT pioneers are no strangers to coming together to overcome adverse circumstances. In these unprecedented times, we look to our elders and the lessons learned from the history of our community to support one another with strength and compassion. That’s why we are joining SAGE,  to celebrate #PrideInPlace all June.

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For every person there is a story and every story matters. Thank you to all of our seniors for paving the way for us today.

A message of solidarity from H.O.M.E

Originally sent in an email to our supporters

June 2, 2020 

Dear Friend of H.O.M.E.,

We at Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly grieve with Black Americans today. “All life is interrelated,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said. “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” H.O.M.E. deplores all acts of violence inflicted on human beings for any reason, not least because of the color of their skin.

We serve primarily Black seniors on the south and west sides of Chicago. Our home repair, moving, shopping bus, and volunteer programs are a lifeline for them in neighborhoods with deplorably scarce access to vital resources. This is no accident but the result of nearly a century of racially-motivated political decisions that gave preferential treatment to white areas while siphoning wealth from Black families and businesses. 

Today, Black Chicagoans are the group most afflicted by COVID-19, with unacceptable rates of infection, inadequate care in nursing homes, hunger, and job loss. 70 percent of the first 100 Chicagoans who died of COVID-19 were African American.

The killing of George Floyd in plain sight under police custody in Minneapolis is the latest of what has been proven time and again as a disproportionate use of force against Black people in every corner of this nation. 

This must stop now.

We have the power to establish the Beloved Community that Dr. King spoke of, that place of equality for all. It takes political courage and social empathy; and white Americans in leadership positions have a responsibility to listen to and amplify Black voices. Because this system of “racialized inequality” was created by people, it can be taken down by people. 

We have done it. Through sheer force of numbers and a racially integrated protest, police had to make way for the people who traveled from all over the country to stand with the Black community of Selma to cross that Edmund Pettus Bridge and march to Montgomery. As a result, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted. 

We can do it. H.O.M.E. supports initiatives that promote neighborhood reinvestment, equity and inclusion, and justice for Black Americans – indeed, we all have a right to be treated with profound respect.

Thank you for all you do to promote racial justice and reconciliation. No gesture of humanity is too small and no heart is too big. 

Sincerely,

Gail Schechter

Executive Director

A Reflection on Food Access in the Time of Coronavirus

In the days before Governor Pritzker issued the shelter in place order in Illinois, I was overcome with feelings of insecurity. Stories of government mandated lock-downs and climbing infection rates had already begun to dominate traditional news outlets. On social media, friends shared pictures of packed parking lots and notes of relief for having scored a 32-pack of toilet paper the week prior. In the building I live in, a neighbor struck up a well-meaning, but unsettling conversation, “At least we’re young. We should be fine.”

I worried about what the future might hold for my community and my loved ones, especially my grandparents. It’s a running joke in my family that my grandpa could be a champion on the Price is Right, it’s not uncommon for him to visit four grocery stores in a day in search of the exact type of canned tomatoes. I was not surprised that he was on a first name basis with many of the employees of the Mariano’s local to his home, where he visits once daily to purchase my grandmother a fresh pastry. On top of the colossal threat COVID-19 poses to his health, the virus was sure to disrupt his social life, his daily routine, and other domestic comforts.

I decided to go to the grocery store to quell my own nerves and stock up on food for my grandparents. It took some convincing, but I got them to agree to stay indoors for the weekend. I knew this was a reluctant decision on their part, and I felt like the least I could do is make sure they have the food they like. At my grandma’s request, I made a list of their “staples”: 1 dozen of large eggs, 2 frozen tamales, 1 bag of Cuties, 3 cans of spam, 1 package of iceberg lettuce, 2 cans of Dole pears, 3 chocolate long-johns. 

I am immensely grateful that my grandparents have most of the resources they need to weather this unprecedented storm. They are cranky. They are bored. But they have access to adequate healthcare and fresh food.

However, many others of their generation are not so fortunate, particularly seniors of color with low-incomes -- a population that H.O.M.E. strives to serve through our affordable housing and housing support programs. It has been said that this virus does not discriminate, but it certainly exasperates existing societal inequities, including structural racism. A study published last year found that residents of the Streeterville, a predominantly white neighborhood in Chicago, have a life expectancy 30 years greater than residents of the Englewood neighborhood, just 9 miles away. 

If you are reading this blog, I know that you share our passion for a Chicago in which people of all ages uphold older adults and their ability to access the resources they need to thrive, including affordable healthy food. In that spirit I share the following resources for seniors and others who are experiencing food insecurity in Chicago. If you or someone you know is experiencing food insecurity, I hope you will find these resources useful. And if you are able to, please consider supporting these organizations with your funds or your time. 

1. H.O.M.E. - That’s right! Thanks to a generous grant from the Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund we have a limited capacity to provide groceries to seniors in need of food assistance. Please contact: cassidyo@homeseniors.org for more information.
2. Greater Food Depository
3. South Side Weekly - COVID-19 South Side Resource Guide - provides an extensive list of food related and other resources for South Side communities
4. My Block, My Hood, My City - Community nonprofit providing care packages, food, and wellness calls for seniors 
5. Meals On Wheels - Serving Chicago’s homebound seniors and people with disabilities, Meals on Wheels has increased its capacity and continues to serve a growing number of individuals in need throughout the City of Chicago.

Resident Assistants at H.O.M.E.: Compassion Required

As you may or may not know H.O.M.E. owns, manages, and maintains three residential buildings dedicated to intergenerational living, which enables low-income seniors to live in either individual apartments or shared living.

The innovative concept of Intergenerational living  is based on the idea that the blending of families, students, and seniors together in social living activities builds a community that enhances our understanding of one another. Our intergenerational homes provide a congenial environment for those who wish to connect and share with other generations on a daily basis. Having opportunities for peer companionship helps eliminate feelings of loneliness and isolation that is sometimes associated with the aging population.  

A resident assistant and senior on an outing to Garfield Park Observatory, pre-COVID19

In these uncertain times where social isolation is the norm, our intergenerational living model has continued to be successful, and integral to our unique program. The support we provide our seniors would not be possible if not for the dedication of our resident assistants. They are able to improve the quality of life for senior residents in a unique shared-living environment.

In exchange for their services resident assistants receive free room and board. Typically working 20-24 hours per week a few of the tasks required are cooking and serving meals, keeping house, running errands, engaging with our senior residents in meaningful ways and helping our community to run smoothly. 

The type of support that we provide our residents is what sets H.O.M.E apart. We have current openings for Resident Assistants and seek individuals who are compassionate, with outgoing personalities. If you or someone you know may be interested in living in and supporting an intentional intergenerational community we would love to hear from you. 

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There are many ways to get involved at H.O.M.E. to help seniors in Chicago. Find out more and join us in our mission today!

Happy Mother's Day: Celebrating an ageless love

There is a saying about motherhood; The days are long and the years are short. In our current situation, quarantining in a house with twin four year olds, a dog that sheds and barks like it’s her job and a spouse who also works full time – the days are especially long. Almost five years ago, after years of trying and a very good doctor, I gave birth to twin girls, Adelaide and Isabella. My husband and I do not have a lot of family that lives in the state, so from the time we came home with our bundles of joy we were on our own island of overtired parents, a very confused dog, and two babies. 

Time passed and we finally found our sea legs and I decided it was time to reenter the workforce. I started working at H.O.M.E. when my daughters were about one year old, and being a new mom of multiplies returning to work life after being off for almost two years I could not have made a better choice. I found a second family-- my kids had 15 grandparents immediately.

I found a community where I could bring my kids to work and not worry about not being seen as a professional. I found a group of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and community members that had a lot of advice (some of it outdated ;) ) that I could lean on. 

My daughters are accustomed to coming to work and playing chase with seniors in their rascal scooters. They visit with pet turtles and play with trinkets. They are given a lot of cough drops, but they are also loved as a community member that doesn’t see age as a boundary. 

Living in these times where we are all distancing ourselves from our family members and community (I miss drinking with my neighbors, a lot) I am seeing my small children processing everything about their lives changing. Vacations were cancelled, their first year of school is over, we can’t go to the playground or even to Target, and we cannot visit my “friends at work”. 

On the days when I am able to go into work, wearing my glove and masks, I always get stopped by residents who are eager to hear about Adelaide and Isabella. What are they doing, how is school going, but most of all “Do they miss us?”

The friendships that my four year olds have made with folks 55+ are a reminder that the communities that H.O.M.E. champions are natural. People want to be connected and loved, no matter what life stage we are in.

Even though right now my girls are keeping their distance from their friends of every age, we know that the connections are still there and it will make the reunion that much sweeter. 

Celebrating Older Americans Month: 2020

Every May we are given the opportunity to celebrate older Americans and focus on their contributions in our lives and communities. Led by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), the annual observance which began in 1963 offers a special opportunity to learn about, support, and recognize our nation’s older citizens. The theme for 2020 is “Make Your Mark”, selected to encourage and celebrate countless contributions that older adults make to our communities. Their time, experience, and talents benefit family, peers, and neighbors every day. This year’s theme highlights the difference everyone can make – in the lives of older adults, in support of caregivers, and to strengthen communities even in these unprecedented times.

Though we cannot be together physically, thanks to advances in technology we have the opportunity to connect in different ways. Through Zoom calls, Face Time, letters of encouragement, online bingo, and drive-by parades people across the world are coming together to ensure our most beloved community of seniors know they are not alone.

Along with the ACL we encourage you to engage with the seniors in your lives, this month and always. To kick off the month we have a few suggestions on how you can take advantage of this time home with one another to “Make Your Mark”!

Share Your Stories

Stories build community and connect us even when we can’t be physically together. Recalling adventures with childhood friends, that family weekend at the beach, a teacher who helped guide your life, or how you learned you would become a grandparent—all of those stories connect you with your past and the people who have mattered along the way. Sharing what we love about our friends and family members helps them feel stronger and more connected.

Stories can be told over the phone, on the computer, over the backyard fence. They can be told in letters, in pictures, in headlines and photographs collected from newspapers. We don’t have to be together to share our stories and build each other up.

Inspire Your Community

Encourage individuals to share stories with the people they live with, in writing, in pictures, or by phone or video call. Make the following ideas your own and promote them through social media, check-in phone calls, a flyer handed out with home-delivered meals, or another way you’re connected to your community. If you really like one of the questions or ways to share, focus your efforts there. This kind of inspiration can be as broad or narrow as you’d like—customize for your community.

This May, we invite you to make your mark by contributing to end social isolation and help H.O.M.E. continue to foster joy, independence and  for Chicago’s low-income seniors. Tomorrow is #GivingTuesdayNow and an opportunity to double your impact in the lives of Chicago’s seniors. No matter how small or large, every donation counts, every donation can make a difference. Please visit our GoFundMe campaign to learn more about this global day of unity and pledge your support to give the gift of connection to our beloved community. 

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Looking for a way to get involved with seniors in Chicago? Find out more by following the link below.

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Do you want updates and tips in your inbox every week? Remember to subscribe to Senior Moments from H.O.M.E. 

Helping H.O.M.E. is a Family Affair

H.O.M.E. is a special place for our family, and is so for reasons both unique and universal. In my 20s I was looking for somewhere to donate all my furniture when I moved. I don’t remember how I found H.O.M.E., but all of it went to the residents. Although I have given nominal and increasing amounts every year since then, I really knew little about H.O.M.E. until I finally visited.

Now, I know so much more about the lovely community that is H.O.M.E. We have stepped up our giving after I was invited, by Gail Schechter (H.O.M.E.’s Executive Director), to come visit the Nathalie Salmon House, which is located in Rogers Park.  After I was greeted by Gail and Nikki Moustafa (Housing Director), I spent some time with several of the residents and received a tour. The warmness and hospitality of everyone there demonstrated that this model is working. The residents were friendly and let me into their rooms, and I was able to meet the chef, an individual who needs to be very creative, as the quantities and varieties of food vary from week to week, depending on what they are able to afford and what is donated.

The multi-generational living arrangement is, I believe, a more common concept in France, but is rather unique here. What a wonderful idea, to create communities that not only help seniors with providing food and rent, but also contribute to their quality of life. In addition, I was impressed that H.O.M.E. also provides for different living requirements, such as those who require extra support. Were I older and in need of financial, transportation, and housing aid, the Nathalie Salmon House is exactly where I would want to live.

In our current bizarre Coronavirus lives, seniors are particularly vulnerable, and so our whole family is getting involved to help ensure that the seniors are fed without risk and able to continue to remain in contact with their loved ones and with the outside world.. We hope to continue with H.O.M.E. to maintain a high standard of living for lower income seniors. Our kids are writing letters to some of the residents, and hopefully will become good old-fashioned pen pals. We’re bringing food directly to the Nathalie Salmon House and are donating Chromebooks to the residents. We intend to continue to contribute to this community which helps seniors thrive.

Lilo Salmon (1934-2020): "Life encompasses all age groups"

"Lilo died peacefully last night at home in Paris in my arms," writes her devoted husband of more than 51 years, Michel. On March 27, 2020, Lilo Salmon was felled by an abdominal aneurysm. Lilo and Michel were the founders of H.O.M.E. in Chicago in 1982.

"Life encompasses all age groups. It doesn't segregate by age. I don't think we should either," Lilo told Chicago Magazine as she planned for H.O.M.E.'s Nathalie Salmon House, in Rogers Park.

The building is named for Lilo and Michel's daughter and only child whose life was cut tragically short when she was hit by a car at age 16. What more fitting way to remember Nathalie than to create living, breathing intergenerational housing, something Nathalie enjoyed with her 12 "grandparents" visiting Pat Crowley House, H.O.M.E.'s first building.

Michel and Lilo retired to France where Michel is from. She subsequent wrote a history of H.O.M.E., which was an offshoot of what is now Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. Lilo was a German social work student who came to Chicago while Michel led Little Brothers.

Even with the ravages of the coronavirus, Lilo was thinking of H.O.M.E. As recently as Monday, March 23rd, four days before she died, she sent an email to Executive Director Gail Schechter. It was so like her to be thinking of H.O.M.E.'s residents first. 

Hello, Gail,

 

It feels as if the world is standing still……. Fortunately, Michel is doing well and a wonderful job nursing me.  I spent a week in he hospital the beginning of March,  am home now but do not seem to get my act together….

 

You must be very worried about many of your people!!!   Are you yourself alright???

 

LOVE,

 

Lilo

 

In closing his message to friends and family, Michel wrote:

 

According to her wishes, she will be cremated and her urn buried in the Calvary cemetery of Chicago on top of Nathalie’s grave when it is possible to travel again freely. Lilo was a very loving and compassionate human being loved by so many. She is certainly happy now to contemplate His face and to have rejoined Nathalie.

Laudate Dominum,

Michel

The entire H.O.M.E. family celebrates Lilo Salmon as we deeply mourn her passing. We join Michel in contemplating her reunion with her beloved Nathalie.

Peace and,

in the spirit of Lilo,

LOVE

Editor's Note: Original article stated Lilo Salmon was born in 1934, though she was actually born in 1933.

Happy Palentine's Day!

Valentine’s day is right around the corner, and while some of us love the day, some others feel left out in the cold. If you're not interested in spending valentine’s day with a romantic partner there is a new trend that has everyone celebrating; Palentine's day!

Palentine's day is a great way to show your platonic life partners like friends and neighbors that you care. Stuck on how to show your pals that you care? Check out some suggestions below:

1. Pass out baked treats - you don't have to be a master chef to pull off a yummy cookie or a tasty cupcake.
2. Pass out cards - it's a valentines classic with a twist! Instead of professing your romantic love to the receiver let them know what they mean to you as a neighbor and friend. You could even spread the intergenerational love like our seniors, and make valentines for children at Lurie Children’s Hospital!
3. Spend time with your pals by starting a game day, book club, or start a monthly movie day.

Did you know that research shows that loneliness effects the health of all of us, especially senior citizens living in isolation. Studies find that socializing makes our immunes systems stronger, lower blood pressure, sharpen our memories, and even improve our sleeping routines! One study actually showed that strong connections with family and chosen family helped seniors live longer, healthier lives! 

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H.O.M.E.'s Intergenerational Housing Program is designed to offer engagement that reduces isolation and increases quality of life. As a result, our residents often report that their health improves after they move into our buildings. Residents are also offered opportunities to attend community outings including movies, museums, and shopping. In many instances, our residents refer to residential managers, coordinators, and neighbors as the “H.O.M.E. family,” an extension of their own family and support system. Find out more about our program and how you can get involved or support us.

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