Continuity...

Their October meeting was the last for Richie's retiree club and the annual Christmas lunch will be the last - ever. Or, so it stands now...

At today's case conferencing (Beach Cities Health District's Friend 2 Friend program) one of the volunteers said that her client had invited her to a retirement club's annual Christmas lunch. She'd seen the tickets ($20/person) and wondered if it would be proper to accept? (BCHD corporate policy is: volunteers cannot receive anything worth more than $20 from a client.)
The client had said it would be her treat. At the meeting we offered a solution. If it's a Toys for Tots program (it usually is) she could tell the client - "Okay, you get lunch and I'll get the toys."

I remember last year's lunch when my fellow volunteer, Jerry Kelly, escorted her client, Rosanna, to it. It was an unexpected treat and I can still the two of them - tall, slim, erect posture at it. Jerry died of lung cancer in May, 2009.

The retirement club is going, Jerry has gone and yet, her client (age 86) is still alert, alive and interested. Bless her and Beach Cities Health District - still thriving and providing some 700 "friends" with people to visit them.