When our staff heard this performance for the first time, we all thought the same thing: This is LIFE ElderCare's 2020 theme song. 

Do listen to the Oakland Symphony's extraordinary Zoom rendition of Lean On Me. Trust me, you will love seeing young, old, Black, white, and brown artists transcending isolation to make a beautiful gift to the world.

Thank you, dear Symphony for making this right when we need it most and to Marshall for giving us permission to bring it in to our agency as our perfect theme song.
 
"Lean on me, when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on. 

For it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on."
Groceries-on-Wheels in Oakland
Remember all the elders LIFE ElderCare was helping to get to the store and shop? Well, in March that activity got too risky. Suddenly, they – along with hundreds of newly homebound seniors – had no way to safely get groceries. So our transportation team got busy picking up free bags from food pantries and doing no-contact drop-offs. 

In most areas of the county this worked out fine; but in Oakland we looked hard for a place that could accommodate our surrogate pick-ups in large numbers and there just wasn’t one. Many great pantries and the awesome Mercy Brown Bag operate there, but this need was so specific, we finally realized we had to start something. 

Supervisor Nate Miley connected LIFE Transportation Director, Andrea Mok with Liz Hillen, of Oakland's Senior Companions program - who was dealing with the same challenge. Within 2 weeks, the new food depot came together. We source, pack, and deliver weekly bags and boxes chock full of produce and staples. How did it happen so quickly? By the instant willingness and enthusiasm of so many.

Associated Coffee: pays their own truck drivers to pick up/deliver bulk food in their company trucks ♡
Hope4theHeart & Alameda County Community Food Bank: provide large amounts of produce and non-perishables ♡
North Oakland Senior Center : kindly allows use of their extra space for staging ♡
Daily Bowl: Paddy got us a free refrigerator and gets us lots of fresh produce through the CARES Farm-to-Table Program ♡
Hodo Soy: Donates fresh tofu! ♡
Veronica Foods: Donates cases of extra virgin olive oil! ♡
Staff, volunteers, drivers : assemble the bags 2 days per week and deliver them throughout Oakland ♡

We all leaned on each other and now almost 100 – and growing - seniors in Oakland get plenty of good food without having to put themselves at risk of infection.
Go team!!!
Preparing for Fire Season
It’s fire season. Please help your elderly relatives and neighbors be ready for possible power shut offs.

PG&E's Medical Baseline program helps customers that have special energy needs due to certain qualifying medical conditions .

  • Medical Baseline (MB) gives approximately 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity and/or 25 therms of gas per month, in addition to regular quantities

  • MB customers get extra notifications of impending shutoffs - additional phone calls, door knocks, whatever is needed to ensure they're aware
A doctor's certification is usually needed to become an MB customer but this is NOT REQUIRED at this time due to COVID-19.

If you know of a senior who needs assistance to  apply , we can help them apply online or we can send them  this form  in Chinese, Spanish, or Korean.

If you hear of an impending shutoff, please help ensure that everyone is aware by checking in on elderly neighbors to let them know.

And while we're on the topic of utilities: Republic Waste is offering  seniors a reduced fee for service and are also willing to assist seniors who need help to roll their bins to the curb.


LIFE ElderCare | 510-894-0370 | info@LifeElderCare.org www.LifeElderCare.org