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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. 

Leticia Sterna, LCWW Bingo Volunteer

Our first volunteer is Leticia Sterna who has been facilitating LCWW Bingo for 4 years. “I volunteer with LCWW because of the intent of the program. Being a part of keeping adults connected and providing fun and engaging opportunities that stimulate the mind is amazing. No matter how busy the day, volunteering to call BINGO is always a joy and ALWAYS results in a GREAT day!” 

Facilitating BINGO is no easy task, as the participants take it very seriously, and Leticia makes every session fun with her positive attitude and great BINGO-calling voice! On behalf of the entire LCWW BINGO family, thank you Leticia for all you do! 

The next volunteer is Chris Varney, the facilitator of Name That Tune, he found LCWW on Volunteer Match 3 years ago and has been a faithful and loyal volunteer ever since. “I volunteer because I love sharing music with everyone on the line! Every week I look forward to listening to music from across time with fellow music lovers across the country. We always have a lot of fun and even manage to guess almost every song – even if it takes a few hints of varying quality along the way.”  

Chris Varney, LCWW Name That Tune Volunteer

Chris comes up with a theme every week and has participants guessing tunes from many genres. Name That Tune is one of our most popular sessions and we are grateful to Chris for the energy and time he puts into every session! 

Karen Collier started volunteering with LCWW three years ago by facilitating our Pet Tales session. She transitioned to facilitating for Coffee Talk after its facilitator stepped down. Karen wasn’t sure about facilitating Coffee Talk at first, but quickly connected to the session and its participants. “I took over facilitating the Coffee Talk session in the spring of 2020 just as I was realizing that Covid was going to disrupt my usual activities for a while, and I’d need something constructive to do. I don’t know how I would have gotten through these past two difficult years without this group. They taught me so much about dealing with isolation and never losing your kindness, optimism, and spunk!” 

She does a wonderful job engaging participants each week on the topic of the day, week, or whatever’s on their minds, and we are so glad she’s a part of our volunteer team! 

The last volunteer we are highlighting is Mike Kurker, he’s been facilitating LCWWs Brain Aerobics for an impressive 8 and a half years – that makes him the third longest volunteer. Mike started volunteering for LCWW while he was a student at UT Austin and has continued to volunteer since graduating, moving from Texas, and other life changes. “I have always enjoyed volunteering with LCWW, particularly as facilitator of the Brain Aerobics session, because of the relationships you build within the group. The mutual friendship, respect, and admiration makes this group so special.” 

We are so grateful for his continuous service and for making Brain Aerobics a participant favorite! 
 

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 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.

Family Eldercare Logo

Reflections on Austin during Black History Month

During Black History Month, we are reflecting on Austin’s history and many of the policies that have led to two concerning and uncomfortable truths our community is facing: the population of people experiencing homelessness in Austin is disproportionately Black and increasingly made up of older adults.

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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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