November 25, 2021

Dear Friends,

On this day, when many Americans typically gather around the table with loved ones in thanksgiving, I send you this note of gratitude and acknowledgment. I'm humbled by the power of our collective imagination, compassion, and good deeds that keep Arts for the Aging nourished. Your support has helped us combat isolation and loneliness in aging, filling virtual spaces and delivering heART Kits during this time of pandemic; sparking joyful, healing, and artful connection across Greater Washington, D.C.

For this, I am grateful. Your passion, dedication, and thoughtful generosity continue to inspire me and the entire Arts for the Aging team as we evolve together through these uncertain times. I encourage you to visit our website to learn more about the transformative moments you played a role in bringing to fruition this year.

I am also humbled, recognizing that the Thanksgiving holiday holds complex and contrasting meaning. Some do not celebrate it, and millions will have empty seats around the table especially this year. For all the gifts of community support we cherish at Arts for the Aging, America today is built on land plundered from Indigenous peoples. Greater Washington, D.C. is here but for the ancestral lands of the Anacostan, Piscataway, and Pamunkey peoples. The first Thanksgiving proclamations made in 1863 by President Lincoln marked glimmers of hope that great sacrifices made during the Civil War would expand freedom and shared humanity to a wider, though still not fully inclusive, circle.

So, I am holding gratitude and acknowledgment together on this day.

While many of us are experiencing Thanksgiving very differently this year, or not at all, I hope that you and yours find moments of connection, comfort, and joy today. 

With gratitude,

Janine Tursini

Executive Director & CEO

Be Safe. Be Kind. Be Well.

Program photos by Stephanie Williams Images

Our Mission

Since 1988, Arts for the Aging has engaged older adults and caregivers in health improvement and life enhancement through regular participation in multi-disciplinary, therapeutic group-arts programs which take place in partnership with professional artists, community and residential care settings, and museums, cultural, and academic institutions

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Arts for the Aging, Inc. | (301) 255-0103 | 15800 Crabbs Branch Way, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20855



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