A Place To Call Home
The issue of housing for seniors is far more than simply having a roof over their heads. To the elderly it is really about the concept of “home”. The place where one lives is often profoundly connected with who one is and how one expresses this sense of self. Home is where all individuals can feel comfortable to be themselves, to drop social facades. Many older people also associate home with autonomy and control. For them it is sometimes the only place where they can feel certain of their surroundings and free from the control and restraints of others.
Home is an expression of one’s personality through furnishings, decorations, memorabilia, plants and pets. Ties to the past are maintained through personal possessions, household routines learned and carried out through the years, and through the memories surrounding these very personal expressions of one’s self. For an older person to have a home of their own is to have the opportunity to socialize, to give and receive invitations, to have privacy with chosen companions and to be alone when it is desired. Leisure World provides those homes for so many.
It is sad when the inevitable rise in Leisure World assessments begins to eclipse the ability of the few on low fixed incomes to pay them. Attempts to mitigate increases are largely insufficient for those few. Their only path may be to endure a sale and a move to totally strange surroundings for perhaps only as long as sale proceeds allow.
But now the Leisure World Cares Fund seeks to provide another alternative. Donors sustaining the Fund can offer small supplements to these few who are struggling with the assessments and keep them home. If you are inclined and able, please help the Fund keep them at home.
For more on the need in Leisure World and LW Cares Fund role:
Join in by contacting with email: lwcares@lwcaresfund.org or phone (408)406-6315