Letter from the Executive Director

Letter From Ruth Sperber

Dear Friends of ElderNet:

What we do at ElderNet is fairly simple but vitally important. Take a minute to think how you'd get around without a car. How would you shop, or get to the doctor and dentist? The suburbs are a beautiful place to live, but awfully isolating if you don't have a means of conveyance parked outside your door. Life threatening, too, if you're alone on the third floor, can barely make it down the steps, and have no one to help you or check on you.

Our volunteers vary in age, gender, and talents, but what unites them, and endears them to the clients, staff and Board, is their fundamental sense of decency and compassion.

The ElderNet experience is a revelation of the power of caring for others. Volunteers help the clients, and in return, many of the clients return that care to the volunteers. Clients have access to healthcare, someone to bring them food and to call them to make sure they're all right. Volunteers often have, in return, the wisdom of an older friend, and somebody who really wants to hear what they have to say. Both parties are enriched by the exchange.

This quote was given to me recently and it seems to sum up what ElderNet is all about:

"After the verb 'to love,'
'To help' is the most beautiful verb in the world."

Thank you for helping.
 
Ruth Sperber, M.S.S., Executive Director