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Senior Community Centers 2008 Heroes Luncheon Winners posted on Monday, 12 May 2008

This year's Heroes Luncheon honored dedicated volunteers ranging from Albertsons grocery store employees to a high school student. The one common thread: they are all making the world a better place for seniors.

By John Lincoln

On Friday, May 9, 2008 Senior Community Centers' held their 11th annual Heroes Luncheon at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Downtown.

Here is a list of the 2008 Heroes Award Winners:

Qualcomm Serving Seniors Group

Qualcomm Serving Seniors Group
The Qualcomm Serving Seniors Group has been serving lunchtime meals at the organizations Broadway Center for more than eight years. They’ve also organized a multitude of donation drives for the transitional housing program and supportive housing complex and hosted holiday parties. The company has also been a generous supporter of Senior Centers’ Health Preservation and Supportive Housing Programs.

Erica Schild, Teen Senior Connect

Erica Schild, Teen Senior Connect
After spending years helping her grandparents and their friends get familiar with technology, Erica Schild, a senior at Francis W. Parker School, founded Teen-Senior Connect to help seniors learn basic computer skills. Once a month, Erica and her fellow students come to Potiker Family Senior Residence to help teach residence how to type, send email, purchase items from online retailers and locate community resources online.

Albertsons Store #6745 Employees

Albertsons Store #6745 Employees
Employees at the Albertsons grocery store in downtown San Diego, at the corner of 14th Street and Market Street, welcomed their neighbors at Potiker Family Senior Residence with open arms. Employees regularly donate food, flowers and other items to residence and help them carry groceries to the complex, which is located across the street. Former store manager Bob Ring, a big supporter of Senior Community Centers, even hired seniors to work at Albertsons, giving them an opportunity to earn some much needed income. Albertsons also made a generous donation to Senior Community Centers’ Health Preservation Program.

Sam Ellis, City Heights Square Resident

Sam Ellis, City Heights Square Resident
In 2007, Sam Ellis found himself living in a small hotel room in downtown San Diego trying to survive on his Social Security payments. San learned about Senior Community Centers’ meals program and began eating breakfast and lunch at the Broadway Center. Not long after, he heard about Potiker Family Senior Residence and was so excited he filled out his paper work, got approved and moved into the facility a week later. Thanks to his engineering background, Sam was immediately pegged as the resident handyman, fixing broken TV’s, getting the computer lab up and running, and rehabbing the occasional toaster or radio. He also assists with planning field trips and put out the community newsletter.

Other event highlights included a heart touching video involving many of the senior residence and a vivid and entertaining story told by a professional story telling senior.

Here are more photos from the event:

Posted by John Lincoln