Senior News: Become part of the 'Circles of Care' in your area

You may have read about Hood River Circles of Care in this paper last week. As Amy Mallett, executive director of the Hood River Adults Center, pointed out, Circles of Care connects older adults with trained and caring local volunteers to help older adults stay in their homes and age with dignity.

Circles of Care’s trained volunteers can lend a hand in assisting with everyday tasks such as transportation, meals, errands, light cleaning, technology support, minor yard work, and household maintenance — and often most importantly, friendly check-ins.

My mission as community liaison is to match an older adult with a volunteer. But that can only happen if there are enough volunteers.

So here is my pitch: Besides the rewarding feeling of personally assisting an older adult and often even becoming friends, being a Circles of Care volunteer allows you a wide range of flexibility. You choose how you would assist (several volunteers have chosen to share their musical talents during their regular check-ins), how often you would like to volunteer, or if you want to volunteer with others or would rather enjoy a one-on-one experience.

If you are interested in lending a hand and becoming a part of the Circles of Care community, go to the Age+ Circles of Care website, ageplus.org/circles-of-care, where you will have the choice of volunteering in The Dalles or Hood River.

You will be asked to create a username and password so you can log on to your Myimpactpage. Once you have logged on, you will find the application page where you will complete a questionnaire that helps me know when and how you want to assist.

Also, if you or someone you know is interested in receiving periodic volunteer assistance, go to the same Age+ Circles of Care webpage and choose The Dalles or Hood River. If you have any questions, you can email me at smckay@ageplus.org or call 541-397-0724.

AGE+ is a statewide non-profit that developed Circles of Care as one of its initiatives to champion a new vision for successful and equitable aging for all Oregonians by empowering communities and linking generations to make longer life an opportunity, not a burden. But in simpler terms, I see Circles of Care as the embodiment of the good old American value of “neighbor helping neighbor”.

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Brain Tease: This is a test of your lateral thinking. I had to kick myself when I looked at the answer.

A man rode into town on Monday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Monday.

How can this be?

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The name of the cartoon character created in the 1930s and is associated with the classical comedic opera Barber of Seville in the Looney Tunes episode “Rabbit of Seville” was Bugs Bunny. I received answers from Donna Mollet, Rhonda Spies, Lana Tepfer, and Patty Burnet, this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket. And last week I missed Mike Nagle.

When growing up, my family wasn’t into fine cuisine. I thought the only type of cheese was processed cheese which you had to cut with a wire. And I never knew what butter tasted like until in my late teens. But we always had this artificially orange flavored drink mix at the breakfast table because it was the drink of the astronauts!

For this week’s “Remember When” question, what was the name of this drink mix whose sales were poor until NASA used it on John Glenn’s Mercury flight in February 1962? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788, or send it with the video of Walter Cronkite reporting on the launch of the first American to orbit the earth.

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Well, it’s been another week, trying to keep my balance on an uneven dance floor. Until we meet again, never deny who you are.

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“Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.” — Brendan Gill, writer

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Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.

Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) — Mondays and Wednesdays; Hood River

Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center

(541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333)

For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services — Goldendale office

(509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068); Skamania County Senior Services (509-427-3990).

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Answer: Monday is the name of his horse.