• Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Big Freedia Offers Words of Inspiration to LGBTQ+ Youth at The Future Is Black: Renaissance
  • Center South Celebrates Three Years of Service in South Los Angeles
  • Slice, Slice Baby!
  • LGBTQ+ Youth, Seniors, and ‘Drag Race’ Queens Celebrate Chosen Family at Inaugural Intergenerational Thanksgiving Dinner
  • Dispensing Culturally Competent Care: The Center’s Patient-Centric Pharmacy Does Much More Than Fill Prescriptions
  • Get to Know the Center’s New Leadership Team
  • The Center Looks Back on 25 Years of Senior Services
  • Center CEO Joe Hollendoner: “Our Work Is Never Done”
Twitter Facebook Instagram YouTube
LGBT News Now
Learn about career opportunities at the Center
  • Equality
  • Community
    • Health
    • Youth
    • Seniors
  • Voices
    • From the CEO
    • Take Five
    • Why I Give
  • About the Center
  • Galleries
  • Calendar
LGBT News Now
You are at:Home»Community»Center Volunteers Make 5,000+ Calls to Seniors During Pandemic

Center Volunteers Make 5,000+ Calls to Seniors During Pandemic

0
By on August 11, 2020 Community, Seniors

By Greg Hernandez

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit with full force in mid-March, many of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s senior clients immediately found themselves stuck at home without much contact with the outside world.

They had become accustomed, during the previous 12 months, to being served a hot lunch by the Center’s Culinary Arts program and participating in other programs and activities at the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Senior Center on the Anita May Rosenstein Campus.

Nowadays, they are worried about how to get groceries and essential supplies safely and, simultaneously, coping with unexpected isolation.

To help the seniors get through this challenging time, the Center’s Volunteer Resources and Senior Services staff quickly created the Hello Club to provide human contact virtually. A growing army of volunteers regularly call a roster of more than 2,600 senior members to check in on them and to assess their needs.

“Many of our clients have been staying home for their safety — that’s what we want them to do. But that’s really isolating and can be lonely,” points out Stephanie Harris, Senior Services activities coordinator. “We check up on people — and not just clients who we interfaced with every day in the Senior Center or at Triangle Square. We are reaching out to folks who might have never come into the Senior Center but have accessed our services in other ways. Those people matter to us, too. Hello Club enables us to reach out to as many people as possible.”

Hello Club was able to launch five months ago with a grant from The Eisner Foundation that helped with start-up costs.  Since then, more than 100 volunteers have taken to the phones and made more than 5,000 calls. They can connect seniors to case management or to the Center’s Senior Angels grocery and essential delivery service, when needed.

“The Hello Club has also evolved into a social program with more than 300 seniors receiving bi-weekly calls from a volunteer to chat, to check in, and to reaffirm that the Center is indeed family,” explains Director of Community Engagement Rani DeMesme-Anders.

One of those seniors, Susan Phelan, describes those calls from Hello Club volunteers as “precious.”

“I don’t have family. My friends are my family, and they do check with me. But a fresh voice and a connection with the Center are real important to me,” Phelan says. “The phone calls I’ve gotten have been really sweet, and they really do brighten my day. Just to have someone check in, it’s a really smart thing to do for your senior people — especially now. It is scary.”

Volunteers say they feel the gratitude and grasp the importance of their work.

“A lot of times, I’ve been told that I made someone’s day—and it means a lot to me,” says volunteer Gina Cho. “It makes me feel really sad when I have a conversation with a senior who says they don’t have a great support system. They used to go to the Center in person, and they can’t do that anymore. But they said the Hello Club has been helpful.”

“There are challenging conversations sometimes with people who feel lonely and feel like they need mental health help,” Cho added. “I’m really happy to be able to put them in touch with someone at the Center who can get them connected to those resources.”

Another volunteer, Jeff, says making seniors aware of pantry food, other supplies, and various Center services is only one part of what makes Hello Club so valuable.

“I’m mostly a listener, and people have great stories to tell and really appreciate having someone to engage with,” he says. “It might be memories about a partner or a job they want to share.”

Want to volunteer at the Center? Visit lalgbtcenter.org/volunteer.

For more information about the Center’s Senior Services, visit lalgbtcenter.org/seniors.

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Related Posts

Big Freedia Offers Words of Inspiration to LGBTQ+ Youth at The Future Is Black: Renaissance

Center South Celebrates Three Years of Service in South Los Angeles

Slice, Slice Baby!

Comments are closed.

Upcoming Events

Mar 16
March 16 - April 16

Menstruation: A Period Piece

Apr 22
April 22 - April 23

Arena: A House MUSIC-al

Apr 29
April 29 - June 24

A New Brain

May 13
May 13 - June 12

The Bottoming Process

View Calendar
About Us

LGBT News Now

LGBT News Now is a publication of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019, the Center is the largest LGBT organization in the world, dedicated to building a world where LGBT thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.

Follow Us on Instagram

lalgbtcenter

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society.

Los Angeles LGBT Center
Are you ready for a little #Lesbian 101? In honor Are you ready for a little #Lesbian 101? In honor of #WomensHistoryMonth, we pulled together some facts about the L in the LGBTQ+ movement. Swipe through to learn more.
“The Los Angeles LGBT Center keeps me together” – @gottmik 

We feel love all the way from #SXSW 💜

Thank you @kwprime @trevorproject @jaidaehall & @the_symone for having this amazing conversation on the importance of protecting drag in our community.

#drag #lalgbtcenter #dragrace #queen #SXSW #sxswfilm
As a part of Ms. Versace’s iconic visit to the C As a part of Ms. Versace’s iconic visit to the Center, she invited the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to bring Los Angeles design talent to meet with the young people we serve in our Youth Academy. Two of those designers, Sergio Hudson and Pia Davis (No Sesso), offered their time and talents in a very special talk with our students who expressed an interest in pursuing careers in the fashion industry. Both South Carolina natives, Mr. Hudson is a decorated American designer who recently dressed Mrs. Michelle Obama, and Ms. Davis is the first Black trans designer to be awarded membership to the CFDA. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the entire CFDA family for their support of the Center’s Youth Services department. Mr. Hudson said that the experience was a reflection of his purpose as a designer. “I want to inspire people and open doors for people who look like me. We’re there, but people hold us up like unicorns on a pedestal! We’re trying to put in the work to normalize it for others.”
Happy #InternationalWomensDay! We’d like for you Happy #InternationalWomensDay! We’d like for you to meet Bonnilee, one of the many treasured members of our Senior Services program. 

At 68, Bonnilee is newly retired after having spent her career as an educational diagnostician and special education teacher who worked to ensure that students with learning disabilities received the attention and care they needed. In her spare time, she also worked as a cosmetologist and makeup artist, using the craft as an outlet to express herself after spending long days of having to hide her true self at work.

“The Center was my first stop when I moved to L.A. 15 years ago,” she says. “I came out a million times in my life, as I'm sure everybody has to. But my parents were very unhappy about it, and that made for a lot of intensities. … But I’m feeling really content now. I’m older, I’m retired, and I have nothing to hide anymore. I feel like I'm really being my most authentic self, in a way.”

Today, Bonnilee spends her days traversing Los Angeles on her bike, stopping by the Senior Center for lunch or to visit the farmer’s market. She’s also found new outlets for her creativity in programs like the Still We Rise poetry writing class for LGBTQ+ women and a new 3D hanging art class offered at the Senior Center.

“I don’t think anyone at the Center ever knew how much hiding I was doing at work and in my day-to-day life because I’m so out and proud and clear and shining,” she says. “I figured out a way to play it safe and compartmentalize. But for the people coming up behind me, don’t compartmentalize, don’t be ashamed. Be free.”

Images by @mcfaddenphoto
We recently had the pleasure of hosting @donatella We recently had the pleasure of hosting @donatella_versace, the Chief Creative Officer of Versace, at the Center. To accompany her visit, Ms. Versace invited the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to bring fashion students and designers to hear her speak. After Ms. Versace’s tour of the Center, she sat down for a conversation in our Renberg theatre to a very packed and very lively audience. One of the highlight’s of Ms. Versace’s visit was when we asked her about her legacy. How does she want to be remembered? “I don’t want to be remembered,” she said. “I want to live!”
In celebration of #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re tak In celebration of #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re taking a look at some of the vibrant contributions of the #LGBTQ+ community and highlighting a few of the innumerable women whose contributions and achievements have shaped the culture of Los Angeles and helped push our society forward.
 
Today, we’re highlighting Hattie McDaniel, the trailblazing actress and performer who defied racial barriers and went from traveling across the United States with her brother's vaudeville troupe to becoming the first Black person to win an Academy Award for her role in “Gone With the Wind.”
 
Despite her success, McDaniel’s rise in Hollywood was met with intense discrimination and criticism. She was barred from attending the “Gone With the Wind” premiere—which was held at a whites-only theater in Atlanta—and at the 1939 Oscars ceremony where she had her historic win, McDaniel was forced to sit at a segregated table in the back of the room. 
 
She also withstood condemnation throughout her career from the NAACP, who took issue with the stereotypical roles she inhabited. In response, McDaniel reportedly said, “I can be a maid for $7 a week, or I can play a maid for $700 a week.”
 
Meanwhile, McDaniel used her fame and influence to fight against racial discrimination off screen. When she moved to the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1941, white residents filed a lawsuit against her and other Black homeowners, aiming to oust them from their homes on the grounds that property deeds forbade sales to Black homeowners. McDaniel led the fight against the attack, and a judge eventually ruled that the racial restrictions were unconstitutional, paving the way for the end of such restrictions nationwide (and leading to the Fair Housing Act). 

McDaniel’s home has been preserved as a historic monument, and those in Los Angeles can still visit the site to this day at W 22nd St. and S Harvard Blvd. (Stay tuned for more updates like this throughout the month!)
 
Image Credit: Criterion
Today marks the beginning of #WomensHistoryMonth—a celebration that would not be anywhere near as vibrant without the contributions of the #LGBTQ+ community. For years, the Center is proud to host the #OutForSafeSchools curriculum and lesson plans, a partnership with @OneArchives and UCLA to teach LGBTQ+ history to our students. 

One of our lesson plans is about The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB)—named after the lesbian poetry collection “The Songs of Bilitis.” DOB is believed to be the first lesbian rights group in the United States. Founded in San Francisco in 1955 by a diverse group of women (and later carried on by the couple Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon), DOB originated as a social club but quickly changed its focus to education and advocacy. Daring to embrace their sexuality in a time of relentless persecution and opposition, DOB brought women together to fight for acceptance in a culture that deemed homosexuality as deviant and abnormal.

In 1956, the group began publishing The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian magazine in the country. Aiming to provide an outlet for voices that had long been silenced, The Ladder included news, poetry, short stories, and essays relating to the lesbian experience, as well as updates on DOB meetings and activities. 

The Ladder encouraged readers to “come out of hiding,” offering employment advice and distributing a pamphlet titled “Your Legal Rights.” DOB continued to meet and publish new issues of The Ladder into the 1970s, connecting women across the country and giving rise to dozens of other lesbian and feminist organizations nationwide. Thanks to Internet Archive, we curated some of our favorite covers of The Ladder for your viewing—you can see how the tone and messaging evolves as the LGBTQ+ movement more firmly takes hold over the decades.

We’ll be posting more throughout the month, so stay tuned for other updates like this. (And if you don’t want to miss a beat from the Center, you can always turn those post notifications on. We promise we won’t spam ya!)
Do you know the latest about #tranq? As the opioid Do you know the latest about #tranq? As the opioid crisis tightens its grip on America, the newest substance sweeping through our city streets is a medication widely used as a livestock sedative. When #xylazine is mixed with opioids like #fentanyl and injected by humans, it can cause people to black out for hours. Withdrawal symptoms are said to be worse than those from heroin or methadone. The opposite of addiction isn’t always sobriety but it’s always a connection. Swipe to learn what to look out for—and how to access the Center’s life-saving resources by contacting 323-993-7448 or recoveryservices@lalgbtcenter.org
It’s on all of us to show up for Black LGBTQ+ yo It’s on all of us to show up for Black LGBTQ+ youth. Sometimes, living in our truth and our beauty can be hard—not because of ourselves, but because of how others treat and see us. Black queer youth deserve all the love and support that we can provide. Swipe through for some ways we can uplift our youth through community.
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Stay Connected
Subscribe
Copyright © 2022 Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.