JCA Insights, January 2025

SCSEP Graduate Volunteers with Kensington Clubs

Melake Belle is an exceptional SCSEP (Senior Community Service Employment Program) graduate. He has worked with Kensington Clubs on and off since the pandemic. After his graduation, he insisted on staying on as Eli’s Loaves of Love of Love Volunteer. Thank you Melake!

Mark your calendar for the performance of the first JCA L’Chaim (to life) Chorale. The chorale will perform at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 23, at the Ring House,1801 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852. Special thanks to our musical leader, Yvonne Quilop MA, LPMT, MT-BC, and our sponsors, Aging Well, SmithLife Homecare, and The Sephardic Foundation on Aging.

We are excited to welcome Strathmore Bel Pre Village as the newest member of the JCA VillageRides family. Formed two years ago, SBP Village has been offering social, educational, cultural, and health programming to its community for over a year and a half. With nearly 30 newly trained volunteers and over 100 community members interested in their services, they are set to begin providing transportation and additional support services to their neighbors in early 2025.

As Kristi Hullings, Executive Director, shares:

“Strathmore Bel Pre Village is eager to begin offering services to our neighbors, and we are delighted to be partnering with VillageRides. We appreciate their experience, mentorship, and the wealth of marketing materials and training support they are providing.”

Strathmore Bel Pre Village will serve residents exclusively within the Strathmore Bel Pre neighborhood, offering services such as rides, friendly visits, tech support, home absence assistance, and more. To learn more about their offerings, visit the Strathmore Bel Pre website.

Creative Aging Exhibition

During the summer of 2024, middle and high school students joined Kensington Clubs members for a multidisciplinary arts workshop series to build connections across the generations and create a musical patchwork based on a melody and lyrics composed by the participants.

Arts for the Aging teaching artists, Peter Joshua Burroughs and Carlos Cesar Rodriguez, guided the

intergenerational group to arrange fabric of different sizes, shapes, and colors into patterns to develop melodic fragments.

The participants then collaborated to write the following lyrics for a melody:

Together we bring joy, Together we sing songs, Together we bring joy, We’re gonna get along. 

A special field trip to the Phillips Collection highlighting quilts and collages on view provided context and inspiration for their final masterpiece: an intergenerational collaborative musical quilt.

Special thanks to Arts for the Aging and the Phillips Collection for their valued partnership.

♦ On January 14, good friend of JCA and Connect-A-Ride (CAR) veteran, Brenda Feldman, volunteered to facilitate a presentation alongside the CAR team at Bauer Park Apartments in Aspen Hill. The purpose of the presentation was to inform the residents about the many free and low-cost transportation options in Montgomery County. The event drew 20 enthusiastic Bauer Park Apartments residents, a record turnout for any presentation according to the Bauer Park Program Director. Thank you, Brenda!

♦ In November, leaders from the Greater Olney Rides (GORides) program collaborated with CAR during a presentation at the Flats at Sandy Spring senior residence in Sandy Spring. Thirteen residents attended the session to learn how GORides, part of JCA’s VillageRides program, connects seniors with volunteer drivers for local rides to medical appointments, shopping, and more. The CAR team will collaborate with Cristina Obando-Lemos, JCA’s Program Manager for JCA’s VillageRides, to include representatives from similar programs in future outreach efforts.

♦ The primary focus of CAR’s Travel Training workshops is to teach seniors about using public transit to stay active and engaged. But at one recent seminar, it was the teachers that got schooled. One addition to the program is a brief tour of the Silver Spring Aquatic Center for nearby senior residences. Our group was checking out the gym equipment when a 94-year-old jumped on a full-body elliptical trainer—devices that wear out athletes a third her age. She pumped her legs and swung her arms for five minutes without breaking a sweat. After jumping off the equipment, she said she planned to use the Silver Spring Circulator bus to return to the Center. Active and engaged indeed!

Monday, January 13 was a great day at JCA. During our 10th annual art show, our members at Parklawn, Germantown, and White Oak Kensington Clubs got to show off their artwork to over 50 attendees. The theme of the exhibit was Still Vivid: Presenting a unique mixed media exhibition in black and white. Guests included family, friends, two members of the Montgomery County Council, JCA staff, volunteers, and board of directors.

Interages® Seeks Volunteers for OMA

The JCA Heyman Interages Center is looking for volunteers for an award-winning, evidence-based, intergenerational art-making program called Opening Minds Through Art (OMA).

Volunteers are needed to support JCA’s Kensington Club members (older adults with early stages of memory loss) as they create abstract art projects that engage the mind and break through cognitive barriers. Volunteers will also work alongside JCA staff to serve art supplies, provide artistic choices as well as

help with set-up and clean-up. The program runs weekly on Fridays from Feb. 21 to Mar. 30 at JCA. Please contact rlanman@accessjca.org for further details. SSL hours are available

In January, the JCA blog kicked off with a response to a New York Times article that anticipated a surge in dementia cases in the U.S. The blog post described the ways that Kensington Clubs provide valuable programs for people with early-stage memory loss and their caregivers. Another post linked to an article listing important nutrients that support brain health. On the subject of dementia, a Maryland Access Point assessment tool was provided for readers interested in a screening test.

The blog presented three articles on finances and estate planning. Donor Advised Funds, Letters of Instruction, and Holographic Wills were explained. Finally, a family reunion inspired a gerontologist to write about the importance of intergenerational connections, especially for marginalized communities. 

If you are a caregiver for an older adult, or you know one, check out the KC Blog as well.

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Cherrill Anson in memory of Beulah Lipshaw Alfou
Sanders & Sally Berk in memory of Harold Lichtenstein
Peggy Blake in memory of Dr. Clarence Napoleon Blake
Katherine Bramante in memory of Abby Levin
Jo Ann Cadeaux in memory of Morris & Elsie Gross
Phyllis Coburn in honor of Jay Goldman
Geral Ehrenstein in memory of Austin Heyman
Robert Fisher in memory of Josephine A. Fisher
David Heyman in memory of I. Austin Heyman
Teresa Hinze in honor of Ken Simonson and Jan Solomon
Carey & Richard Joseph in memory of Steve Spiegle
Phoebe Joseph in memory of Larry Michael Joseph
Stephanie Kay & Lee Rosky in memory of Marlene Ehrlich

Joyce & Stephen Loiner in honor of Lynn Fanaroff
Paula Morris in honor of Henry Morris
Richard Piper & Susan Blum in memory of Leon Levinson
Becky Plesset in honor of Elaine Looney
Howard & Rita Schlossberg in memory of Sonia Schlossberg
Margaret Seldin in memory of Herb Mintz
Terry Shuch in memory of Win Greenwald
Alice Torrey in memory of Bill Torrey
James Toupin in honor of Patricia Barald

Ilyse Veron in honor of Liz Dayan
Rivka Yerushalmi in memory of Samuel Mozersky