Made In Walker
The Made In Walker Podcast connects you to the people, stories, and ideas shaping our community. From local innovators to everyday change makers, we are diving deep into what makes Walker Michigan a great place to live, work, and grow.
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Made In Walker
Aging with Purpose: Senior Neighbors of Kent County
Growing older doesn't mean giving up independence, purpose, and connection. Discover how Senior Neighbors of Kent County is transforming the aging experience for adults 60+ throughout our community, including right here in Walker.
Suzanne Callahan, President of Senior Neighbors, takes us inside their comprehensive approach to enhancing seniors' lives through two key service areas: personalized support and vibrant community centers. With their unofficial motto of "we figure it out," the organization walks alongside older adults facing any challenge—from home repairs to transportation needs. Their Walker center, attached to Fire Station 3 on Three Mile Road, creates a welcoming hub where seniors connect over coffee, wellness classes, technology training, and intergenerational activities.
Transportation emerges as a critical lifeline, with Senior Neighbors providing over 51,000 rides last year alone. This mobility service prevents isolation when driving is no longer an option, allowing continued access to medical appointments, social activities, and volunteer opportunities. Funded primarily through the Kent County Senior Millage and philanthropic support, these services remain accessible regardless of financial circumstances.
Perhaps most refreshing is the organization's perspective on aging itself. As Callahan notes, "If you've met one 80-year-old, you've met ONE 80-year-old"—challenging stereotypes by recognizing the diversity, vibrancy and unique needs of each individual. Whether it's learning new technology, participating in wellness programs, or finding purpose through volunteerism, Senior Neighbors focuses on the fundamental human desires for community, independence, purpose, and vitality that transcend age.
Ready to explore Senior Neighbors for yourself or a loved one? Visit seniorneighbors.org, check out their social media pages, or simply drop by the Walker center Monday, Wednesday, or Friday between 9am and 3pm to experience their welcoming community firsthand.
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects you to the people, the stories and the ideas shaping our community, from local innovators to everyday changemakers. We're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work and grow. Here's your host, nicole DiDonato.
Speaker 2:Well, today we're talking about a topic that affects most families, that is, caring for older adults, whether that's staying physically active, independent, socially connected. It can be a challenge for some older adults, but there is one organization that is helping to change that. It is Senior Neighbors of Kent County, and I'm here'm here with President Suzanne Callahan. Thank you so much for joining us today To be here. Yes, and so hopefully folks have heard about Senior Neighbors, but, in case this is their first time, what exactly is that organization? What does it do?
Speaker 3:Okay, well, first of all I'll talk a little bit about who we serve. Senior Neighbors serves older adults throughout Kent County. If you're 60 or over and I'm going to put an asterisk by that for a second if you're 60 or over we serve seniors in Kent County and we have a variety of services to enhance the lives of older adults to help them stay independent and engaged in their community. Yes, wonderful, and you guys?
Speaker 2:have been around for a while, serving many thousands of seniors over the years, and you just keep kind of expanding upon that with all kinds of programs and things like that. What are some of the things that you can offer seniors so?
Speaker 3:instead of going through a big list, we've had to figure out how we can talk about the breadth of services that we offer, so I'll put it into a couple of buckets.
Speaker 3:The first one is personalized services and the second one is centers and community life. So personalized services is, if you think about the one on one, support somebody might need. So we get phone calls where people will say I need help with this. It could be a chore around their house, it could be a ride, whatever somebody needs. We walk alongside older adults to help them navigate challenges that they face. So that's the first bucket. The second bucket is centers and community life, and we have a center right here in Walker and we have four other centers throughout King County, and centers are what you would, I hope you're thinking is a fun, active, vibrant place for people to come together, and there there's activities, but also tech programs, wellness classes, things like that, so keeping people connected. And then the one thing that draws all those together are transportation services, whether we're coming to you or bringing you to our centers.
Speaker 2:Yes, and how can this? Whether this is an older or an older child who's listening? To this, maybe wondering if this is something that their parents can go to. What is the best way that they can kind of start that process checking you guys out?
Speaker 3:Well, the easiest way would be to go to seniorneighborsorg on the Internet and you can email or call from there. We also are on social media Facebook and LinkedIn where we try to keep people updated on activities that are happening. But that's the best way and I will say that is typically who we hear from is the older adult, or a lot of times it's a family member saying I'm looking for someone to help my mom or my dad or my grandparent with something, and that's we figure it out. That should be our tagline, really we figure it out.
Speaker 2:And what is it like walking into these centers? Again, you'd mentioned that we have one in Walker. It is a part of the fire station three on three mile across from Orchard Hill Church. What is, what is that all about?
Speaker 3:As soon as you walk in the doors, Well, it could be different on any on any day. So when you walk in, there are some standard things that you would find on a regular basis, and one of which we don't want to forget about, which is very important, is coffee and conversation. So all of our centers are gathering places. Whether you come in at the time they open, mid-morning or early in the afternoon, there's always going to be people there that you can connect with. You can come in with a friend or come on your own, and there will be activities that are going on.
Speaker 3:We always have lunch, and then the activities range from maybe bringing in community people that would come and talk about a topic. Our mayor comes in once in a while, talks about the history of the area, the children from the daycare place across the street will come over for Easter egg hunts and things like that. So there are multi-generational activities, wellness classes, tech programs. So it really varies by day. We put out a calendar. I couldn't tell you what they're doing today, but there'll probably be three or four things today that would be happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and they meet Monday, wednesdays and Fridays typically Okay, sounds like from nine to three, and even on the we also have on some of the other days that, yeah, tai Chi programs, exercise classes.
Speaker 2:There's always something going on and I don't know if you, you know being president, I'm sure you maybe get word of some people's stories about what their lives were like, maybe before finding out that they do have a place where they can go and connect with their peers. What are some you know some of the thoughts that you have on that, or if you've heard from there are.
Speaker 3:I actually have had several stories that come from our board members that they've wanted to volunteer and serve with the organization because their parents were new to the area and this gave them a place to go and connect in with others. This gave them a place to go and connect in with others. One of the examples I'll share comes from our wellness program where people are coming to a wellness class. They develop that peer network and we've had a member recently that had a health challenge and when she went into you know for her recovery and everything after that, the doctors commented your recovery is going so well, it must be from your wellness class and all the exercise that you've been doing. So there was the physical component but all of her health her fellow exercise buddies were caring for. So it really is the physical, the emotional, the mental all those aspects play in and we get stories like that from our wellness programs all the time. That it's always good to have an exercise buddy and you get the physical but also the emotional benefits.
Speaker 2:So stories galore. For sure, Absolutely that social connection. And why is that so important? As we age to kind of keep friends relationships, just that connection.
Speaker 3:You know, I think the one word that we talk a lot about is purpose and independence. So we want to be independent at any age and do things ourself and you've been doing things yourself your whole life and you want to still have that sense of independence, being able to go and choose the activities that you do. But a lot of our older adults often say, through our volunteer efforts which is that asterisk about the 60, is they like to have a purpose, they want a reason to get up, that they're doing a school supply drive at Walker because they want to give back. They have purpose, they need to get in for the Easter egg hunt or they have something that they want to accomplish through volunteering and I think knowing that someone's counting on you really adds to the vibrancy of your life. So staying independent at home but having the independence to do what you want to do for sure.
Speaker 2:And what do you think some of the common misconceptions may be about older adults in general?
Speaker 3:I would say that if you've met one 60-year-old, you've met one 60-year-old. If you've met one 80-year-old, you've met one 80-year-old. And I think there is that picture that, oh, I can't do this or I can't do that. You'll meet someone that may have a lot of physical challenges and then you meet somebody else that's running a marathon. So I really think that people are always learning, always interested in doing new things, and it's fun to go to our centers because they're they're spunky, they're funny, they're a little bit spicy. You know they want to do fun things. So just knowing that everybody wants to have fun at any age and be connected with other people and I know that we have staff members that span the generations and we really emphasize that heart for multigenerational engagement, whether it's through volunteerism or through our staff it just adds a rich history or rich culture and I think that for younger staff members and volunteers to connect with those stories and the wisdom, it helps some of the folks that are a little younger keep life in perspective.
Speaker 2:Oh, that is a great point For sure.
Speaker 3:Things seem like oh, I don't know about this. You get that wisdom if you go and sit down at one of our centers and somebody will say it's going to be okay, that's great, that is so reassuring. They've been through it. All Right, they've been through it.
Speaker 2:And you mentioned and you did touch about the educational programs. But people always want to learn. You have tech programs, tech people that will come in and teach older adults how to use their phones, maybe to just stay connected, just all those things. It's not you're just, you're providing a lot for them, right?
Speaker 3:I'll use the technology programs as an example.
Speaker 3:There's an assumption that a lot of things need to be online and, oh, older people don't know how to use tech.
Speaker 3:They actually want to use tech, they're curious about tech, and there are also things where you could be taken advantage of in a technology space. However, that really spans any age, because anybody, regardless whether they're we all, have somebody in our life that said, oh, I clicked on that email, so we really look at that, and a lot of our business partners are very eager to make sure that you know. Banks and financial institutions want us to help older adults stay safe online, so that navigating my chart sitting down and we do it in classes or one-on-one, which then goes right over to that other bucket of the personalized services, where, if somebody is having some financial challenges or with their housing situation, our case managers can come in and help in that regard. Their entree to us may have been through a wellness class, may have been through a tech program or through one of our centers, but we have people that can walk alongside them if they have an individualized situation that they need to figure out.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, wonderful, and one of the ways you also provide is that transportation. You kind of touched on it briefly, but if there is not a way for seniors to get there, you all are making it happen.
Speaker 3:We are for sure. We are part of RideLink, which there are several providers in the community, one of which is Senior Neighbors, and then also the Rapid, which we are through our transportation. We provided over 51,000 rides last fiscal year and that's a combination of. Now that you know, people may not have seen our buses, but after they hear this they'll look around and they'll see our buses and vans around town.
Speaker 3:But through providing reduced cost access to the rapid, people could use the go bus or the regular bus tickets to get around, or through our vans we will come and pick people up at their house, take them to fun things like the center, take them on field trips, activities to their church, to volunteer, to doctor's appointments. We regularly will take older adults to dialysis treatments. So if you need to go somewhere, we are there and a lot of older adults want to stay independent, but it may be after they've quit driving and that makes the world really small if you can't get out, and we don't want the world to be small. So, yes, calling us directly, but because we are part of RideLink, it connects in with the bigger transportation system in the area.
Speaker 2:That's wonderful and for anyone who may be wondering, is there a cost for any part of the services, or how do you work with folks who may be not able to provide as much?
Speaker 3:We are a not-for-profit organization. Some of our funding, a good chunk of our funding, comes through the Kent County Senior Millage. So thank you, voters. A good portion of our funding comes from that and the rest of our funding comes from that. And the rest of our funding comes from philanthropic support and then a small portion comes from program income. So a lot of times we'll offer a service and there will be a suggested donation or a small contribution. We ask for so different programs, we ask for some support, but we'll never turn anybody away from a meal or a service if they can't afford it. That's wonderful.
Speaker 2:And what is your personal experience? Kind of walking into these centers, checking in, seeing that. What do you feel when you see that?
Speaker 3:I would say they all have. We have five centers and they all have common things that we talked about the activities, and each has their own vibe and culture of the community that they're in and the one thing that I would say is it is very welcoming, there's music playing and you know, it's just uh, you feel good and you want to sit down and visit with the people that are there. So, yes, very welcoming.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it's so important again to have that connection and um you know kind of combat that feeling of isolation. That could probably be very. That could come on kind of quickly or unexpectedly.
Speaker 3:I would say a lot of people. The one thing that I think spans all ages is it's hard to go into a restaurant all by yourself and sit down, that you think, oh, you're waiting for your friend to come and meet you, or when a child is going into school. There's that apprehension that doesn't go away at any age and I think that our staff and volunteers that are at the centers are very welcoming and want people to come in so you could check out a specific activity or just drop in. We a lot of times we'll have family members come in and say, oh well, let's just go and check it out together. So have a lunch, have a cup of coffee, meet with our center coordinators and see if it's a fit.
Speaker 2:And if there is one message you could share to everyone, just about the importance of valuing our seniors as they age, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I would say there are several. You know our mission is to enhance the lives of older adults and I think the pillars that we look at in our work are the things that are actually important to seniors, are the things that are important to us, which is that sense of community which we started right out with we want to focus on. Community is important across ages. Having that sense of independence that you can choose to live where you want to live, do what you want to do, and have that support and then purpose why do we get up in the morning, whether it's coming in to volunteer? And then vitality and vitality doesn't mean running a marathon, but being fit and energetic mentally and physically to do what you want to do. Those are the things that are important to us and I think those are important to seniors, and I see it every day.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being here explaining all what Senior Neighbors is and, of course, for opening a center here in Walker.
Speaker 3:We love being here. It's a happening place, oh that's wonderful.
Speaker 2:So again, you can find it attached to the fire station on Three Mile just across from Orchard Hill Church. Suzanne Callahan, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Made in Walker podcast. If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us an email at podcast at walkercity. Made in Walker is the official podcast of the city of Walker, Michigan. You can find Made in Walker wherever you get your podcasts.
