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Minutes 05-08-00 MINUTES OF SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD AT THE CITY HALL CHAMBERS, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON MONDAY, MAY 8, 2000 AT 3:00 P.M. PRESENT Betty Collins, Chairperson Amelia "Terry" Benell Bernice Joyce Esther "Peggy" Stranahan Christine Wilson Olive Field De nise Chamberlain, Alternate Elizabeth Jenkins, Alternate Steve Lulkin, Recreation Supervisor II Carolyn Sims, Recreation Supervisor ABSENT Jeanne Hasty 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER Chairperson Collins called the meeting to order at 3:05 P.M. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was recited, followed by a moment of silent prayer for all the seniors in the City, especially those seniors in need. 2. ROLL CALL Chairperson Collins requested the Recording Secretary to call the roll. A quorum was declared present. 3. APPROVAL OFAGENDA A request was heard to add "Seniors Helping Seniors" to the agenda, Ms. Joyce Moved to accept the agenda as amended. Ms. Field seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 3, 2000 MEETING Ms. Benell moved to accept the minutes as written. Ms. Chamberlain seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. 5. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Chairperson Collins welcomed the new member of the Board, Denise Chamberlain. Chairperson Collins reported that there needed to be an election for a new Chairperson. Ms. Chamberlain moved to nominate Ms. Betty Collins as Chairperson. Chairperson Collins agreed to do the job for one more year. MEETING MINUTES SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 8, 2000 Ms. Esther "Peggy" Stranahan was nominated as Vice Chairperson. Motion Ms. Benell moved to approve the above two nominations. Ms. Chamberlain seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 6. SENIOR CENTER REPORT Chairperson Collins said that the Board had been concentrating on the Senior Center for a long time and it was starting to meet the needs of the seniors in this City. The main things the Board wanted to offer were the noon meal and social services. The noon meal is a reality and the Chairperson Collins stated everyone was happy with the number of people who are coming but they did not get the social worker. Chairperson Collins stated that the social worker would be an eligible funding request for a multi- purpose Senior Center. She expressed concern that since there were so many needs in the Recreation Department the Senior Center needs may fall by the wayside. If a person looked at all the funding that was given out in Palm Beach County she did not see anything for Boynton Beach. Last year the City missed out. Chairperson Collins said that she was unable to talk with Debbie Majors about it but she planned a meeting to discuss this. Chairperson Collins spoke to a member of the Area Agency on Aging, which distributes Federal funding. What we get from the Florida legislature are the "extras". Mr. Ron Klein said we would get it but if we don't apply in time, we won't get it. We have to make sure the funds are requested. The City cannot fund us. One of the things I think we have to address this year as a goal is to determine what the unmet needs are, whether they are real, and what can be done for the seniors of the City. The Census report will be out and will, she predicted, have a very large number of seniors. Ms. Chamberlain asked if the City could request funds from the County. Chairperson Collins said they only had $10,000 and $50,000 amounts. Ms. Chamberlain said that on Tuesday night she heard they got funding for a park. Chairperson Collins said that was still in the hands of the City and that the biggest funding came from the Area Agency on Aging. They are the federal funding agency. That is how the food program is funded. The other is more or less a gift she explained. An agency presents its needs to the Florida legislature, This is money that each legislator tries to direct to his City. Boynton did not get anything this year. Chairperson Collins stressed the need for social services at the Senior Center and noted that she would be meeting with the new City Manager, Kurt Bressner to discuss how the City might be able to get a social worker for the Senior Center. Ms. Joyce asked if the City didn't get a social worker this year, would Mae Volen do something? Chairperson Collins said that the City would have to depend on Mae Volen 2 MEETING MINUTES SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 8, 2000 because the money for seniors is still going to them, but they did not get any extra this year either. Chairperson Collins asked for a report on the Senior Center. Mr. Steve Lulkin said that they did put in for a grant through the State legislature for Phase II of the Senior Center. They asked for $500,000. All the paperwork was done and Senator Klein was helping to sponsor the funding. Apparently, these programs go into a group of what they call "Turkeys" and this program fell in that and this is why it didn't enter into the House or Senate budgets. The Governor's Office sent our packet down to the Area Agency on Aging and we are in contact with them and are trying to get into their budget for this year for the Phase 2 funding for the Senior Center. Hopefully that will come out at the end of June when their budgets are supposed to be presented. They were one of the groups that wanted to see the Senior Center become a focal point in this area of the County so we were hoping they would put us in their budget so the second phase could be completed. The sign has been ordered and is being worked on at this time. They are bringing over a City logo and once that is approved they can finish the sign. Mr. Lulkin spoke to Mr. DeBeck about the door closers but he has not had a chance to have them installed - they have been ordered and have arrived. Membership cards have come in and we are starting to fill them out now and we are also doing a national background check on the volunteers throughout the City. On May 16 from 9:00 to 3:00 the first Senior Health Fair will be held. There are over sixty vendors coming out. The street in front of the Senior Center will be closed down as some of the vendors would be outside and some inside. We are also giving away a free 27" color stereo TV to a senior. The television was purchased through fees charged to vendors. Two weeks ago the first Senior Easter Party was held. There were about 60-70 people there which was a great success. There was an Easter Bonnet contest and somebody donated an organ to the Senior Center and a presentation was made to that person and it turned out nice. They had a Spring Fling Dance, which had about 50-60 people. We are seeing a slowdown with summer coming up. They have gone from 150 meals to 100 meals and now today down to 67 meals. A lot of the people are going away and some of the volunteers are leaving. They are coming 3 MEETING MINUTES SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 8,2000 up with new progrems, which will, hopefully, draw more people to the facility for the summer. There has been a question about trying to get more input from the people in the north end of the City so Ms. Sims and Mr. Lulkin are putting together a small Gospelrama, which will showcase some local talent. They will be picking people up, bringing them to the event, and bringing them back home. Hopefully this will get more people from the north end to come down to the Center. Ms. Carolyn Sims said that with the teen club, she went from door to door putting out programs for the month. Hopefully there will be a response from that. 6. NEW BUSINESS Chairperson Collins spoke of reading in the paper where some seniors in a community took it upon themselves to look for those who needed help. As far as transportation was concerned, Chairperson Collins stated that even with a bus there were some people who could not get on a bus, Ten years ago Chairperson Collins started the We Care Pregram in her community that has continued over the years and takes people to doctor's appointments and shopping for food. It is particularly good for those with vision and hearing problems, Some of them are too timid to get on the Shopper Hopper bus. We encourage seniors not to drive so we work with volunteers. Chairperson Collins had done a lot of research on Seniors Helping Seniors. While they expect a lot of seniors to continue working up to 70 and beyond, they are looking for as many seniors as possible that would want to join a Seniors Helping Seniors program. This could be a program I'd like to present in the fall to the Commission and let it take off with volunteers. It could be down at the Senior Center or in another place. Sometimes there are people who never have a phone call, people who never get a birthday card, and when someone takes the time to respond to these needs, it is so very meaningful to the seniors. I know if any of you are in senior retirement communities you know there are people that are lonely. The longer they are at home, the more they are suffering from loneliness and they stop eating. It is sad in any city where people are living alone and frightened and if they just had a visitor it would make all the difference. I think if the City offered through our Senior Board that there would be somebody who would be willing to make calls just to check in it would be so useful. If we ever had a disaster the Police and Fire have a list of who lives alone and in a disaster would not be able to get out but we do not know where they are and the list is not complete. Neighbors do help but in most places in Florida a lot of people are seasonal so they pack up and go. This is when We find out that someone has a kind neighbor that is there for six months and the rest of the time 4 MEETING MINUTES SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 8,2000 they are alone. This is a big underataking but it has been done in many cities, not through funding but through kindness. I think seniors are a great source of volunteers. Sometimes churches have groups of people who work on this kind of thing. I think herewe need to identify those people who need help and if they do need help do they know where to go. Ms. Chamberlain said that she lived in High Point and sometimes this kind of information can be obtained by approaching the Boards of different complexes. Chairperson Collins stated the Board would meet in June but not in July or August and reminded the group that if they were not able to come to call the City Clerk's office. Ms. Chamberlain asked how they were to go about getting lists of those people who are alone. Chairperson Collins said people have to call and say "1 need some help". The City can't do it. We have no right to go to someone and say, "You need help." Ms. Chamberlain asked Chairperson Collins if she thought people would call? Chairperson Collins said yes, that if the Board established a phone number they could call and advertise it. Chairperson Collins reiterated that she would like to present something on this to the Commission by the fall. Ms. Chamberlain asked if there was a Senior Hot Line and the response was no. Chairperson Collins continued by saying that there were things that were available and people don't know they are available for them. If you went into the mall on a hot afternoon in the summer, you will see a lot of people cooling off there rather than being at home where they would have to have the air conditioning. The other thing is people are not eating right. Chairperson Collins thought it was a shame the City did not have the Food Bank that used to be here. When people are alone and ailing, they do not bother to cook. Ms. Sims asked who was in charge of the Food Bank? Chairperson Collins said that it was a church group that had a little place and that without Meals on Wheels people were hurting because there were many people who cannot come out to the Senior Center. These are the people that have needs and I know there are churches that will help us. I know that at St. Marks they tried having' what they call Good Samaritans but they couldn't get people to continue doing it. Chairperson Collins stated that she thought more seniors were in need than any other group in the City. When people stop going to church because they don't have transportation it is very sad. It is most difficult to get anyone to take someone to church regularly. Chairperson Collins stated that more than just senior volunteers were also needed and that sometimes you needed strong arms. Chairperson Collins stated that much planning needed to be done before going out and getting volunteers and that the Board would have to make a presentation to the Commission to get permission to do the program. 5 MEETING MINUTES SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 8, 2000 Mr. Lulkin remarked that an idea would be that the Teen Advisory Board was looking for projects for their teens to do. This could be a great idea of the teens could put together a program to help serve the seniors of the City. A lot of them drive and have cars and would be able to deliver things to the seniors. He mentioned that he could speak to Ms. St. John of the Children & Youth Advisory Board. Chairperson Collins asked him to wait until the planning had taken place in workshops that would be held during the summer months. Chairperson Collins asked that when people came to the June meeting to come prepared with ideas on paper of the kinds of senior needs that could be met, and ideas on how the people could be identified. Chairperson Collins stated that a benefit of seniors caring for seniors was that the seniors did not have to ask a lot of questions like the Government does. Also, she said, there are people that could get help from FPL. Some people don't know how to ask. They don't know they are even eligible. Ms. Chamberlain asked if educational programs could be set up at the Senior Center or somewhere else so people could become aware of all the facilities and programs that were available to them if they were in need. Chairperson Collins stated that the trouble was that the people who come out to the meetings and who can read are not the ones that need to be reached. Chairperson Collins said that the June meeting would be a good time to try to get somebody in from Florida Power and Light to explain their programs. Ms. Wilson stated that she had a lot of people coming into the Senior Center asking questions on behalf of their parents who are in their 80's and 90's. One lady wanted to know why her light bill went up $5.00 and we ended up calling FPL for her. Ms. Wilson also stated that there was a daycare center at Lena Rahming's that had a program that would help people pay their light bill if needed. Ms. Wilson asked that this information be passed on. Chairperson Collins asked that this and other similar ideas be brought to the June meeting. She wanted ideas of places that are available, church groups that are doing something, and things of this kind. Ms. Stranahan remarked that there was a spot on the FPL bill that may be checked off if you wish to donate to a fund which pays for people that need help. Ms. Joyce commented that on two recent trips the seniors went on there were some snags involved. In one case they went to a concert which was attended by some handicapped people and the bus driver had a hard time finding a place for them to get out of the bus. Also, she said, at Sunfest on the past weekend, whoever.organized it didn't realize that it began at 5 p.m. so they had to shift around and took them to T.J. Friday's for lunch. Ms. Joyce asked if these things could be corrected? 6 MEETING MINUTES SENIOR ADVISORY BOARD BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA May 8,2000 Steve Lulkin said he was not told anything about the two problems that were mentioned. He did not see why finding a place to Park would have been a problem since all areas were handicap accessible. Ms. Field stated that the roads were difficult and also the music was not to their liking at all, it was hard rock and the seniors were very disappointed. Chairperson Collins stated that the next meeting would be on June 12, 2000 at 3:00 p.m. in the Chambers. The meeting was properly adjourned 3:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan S. Collins Recording Secretary (one tape) 7