Award for Mercer County Office On Aging

We have a lot to be thankful for this time of year and I am reminded of how much the Mercer County Office on Aging contributes to senior issues.

Eileen Doremus, Executive Director of Mercer County Office on Aging, was recognized by the city of Trenton Monday evening, December 19 at the Marriott.

In an email to Staff and Advisory Council Members, Ms. Doremus noted, " This is a team award." and proceeded to include each member's contributions in her thank you.

I can affirm that her leadership and teamwork is what makes this group so effective.

The City of Trenton's Annual Senior Gala is an opportunity to network and to acknowledge the concerns of senior citizens and ways to meet their needs. The presentation of the highly coveted "Community Award" noted how Director Doremus succeeded in helping older Americans "connnect" with the community. Doremus expressed her thanks again to Diane McKnight, Director of the Jennye Stubblefield Senior Center, and Katherine Woods, Nutrition Site Manager, for the certificate recognizing Mercer efforts in this area.

This community "connection", highly debated and funding compromised, is always vulnerable to funding cuts on a regular basis. The Office On Aging gives seniors opportunities to give back to their friends and families while they enjoy nutrition programs and social interaction. Hopefully, dedicated professionals like Executive Director Doremus can ensure that this positive direction will continue.

I read once that a hive of wasps, for example, sends its oldest members to the front of the hive to defend it if threatened. The theory seems to be that the younger wasps are the most valuable to the hive and have a preferred status for survival.

Thank goodness we are not shoving senior citizens to our front lines because they are considered expendable. I like to think we are more advanced on the evolutionary scale and, as such, value seniors and the elderly for the enrichment of our entire society. This is something that sets us above lower forms of life...or does it?

Congress is jammed up again on budget issues. Everytime this happens, there is a hue and cry about Social Security entitlements and the barrel of that cannon swivels around again...kapow!

When a community like the City of Trenton reaches out and acknowleges the Mercer efforts and teamwork for seniors, we all cheer. It recognizes senior issues as a productive direction for the future. The Office on Aging here in Mercer keeps chugging along, hoping for more funding, working on schedules that would knock Rocky to his knees, but always with determination and the gift of foresight that has been finally honored.

Let us keep this in mind in our next election and hold candidates accountable to our needs and issues.

Seniors rock!