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Older American’s Month

There’s one thing you must know about Olivia Ussery. She loves to help people. “I’ve always had love in my heart. Even as a child,” she says. “I guess I was born this way.” Olivia’s got sunshine on a cloudy day. If you face a struggle, she’ll rush to your side. She’s 89-years young and she’s here to make everything better.

One piece of her big heart belongs to James–her husband of 69 and a half years—and their six children. You might assume that with such a big family, she wouldn’t have time for anything else.  You’d be wrong. While living in Germany as a military wife, she volunteered for the Red Cross. As she puts it, “there’s always time to volunteer. Even with 6 children, I could volunteer.” Over the years, Olivia has volunteered and served on several boards, including Family Eldercare’s.

In her late 30’s Olivia discovered another way to help people. She became a Licensed Vocational Nurse and worked in both hospital and home health settings. For 52 years, she was a bedside comfort, an encouraging voice, a quiet, loving presence. Olivia officially retired in 2019 at age 88.

Now, there’s one last thing you should know about Olivia. She’s a DIVA. A Divinely Inspired Virtuously Anointed Sister, thank you very much. Olivia’s joyous, vibrant soul is fed by her lifelong connection to church. The DIVAS is a women’s ministry at the David Chapel Baptist Church, where Olivia’s been a member 30 years. Among other good works, the DIVAS donate fans to the Summer Fan Drive–always in colorful bags which the recipients love.

Olivia says, “Prayer is the answer to everything.” And she strives to be a beacon of hope and love to anyone who needs it.

Let your light shine on, Olivia. For it is resplendent.

Read More from FEC

Jaime’s Journey Towards Independence

Jaime is a Rapid Rehousing client at Family Eldercare. He is an immigrant who has been a permanent resident since his early thirties and has spent decades paying Social Security taxes out of his wages. Without a doubt, Jaime qualifies for Social Security benefits. However, he has one barrier preventing him from accessing those benefits — a permanent residency card needs to be presented at the time of application and Jaime’s permanent residency card was recently discarded by his old roommates.

Thank You Volunteers!

Volunteers are especially important to all of us at Family Eldercare, in fact, for some of our programs it’s essential. To wrap up Volunteer Week, we have highlighted 4 of our Lifetime Connections Without Walls volunteers to share some of their favorite parts of volunteering with us. 

Thank You Social Workers!

Social Work Month in March is a time to celebrate social workers and their dedication to service. We asked Family Eldercare social workers to share their stories of why they chose to pursue the profession and received a diverse array of responses.

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Call us at: 512.450.0844
Fax us at: 512.459.6436
info@familyeldercare.org

Austin
1700 Rutherford Ln.
Austin, TX 78754

Georgetown
By Appointment Only

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