| Dear Families & Friends,
I’d like to share a story about one of the many special individuals who attended Friendship Center a few years ago and her daughter, Leah.
A single mom herself, Leah was caring for her daughter (a single mom too), her granddaughter, her sister with physical impairments, and her mother, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The doctor told Leah that her mom’s diagnosis came with a two-year prognosis.
But, like so many Alzheimer’s journeys, the road was longer (over seven years) and far more complex than anyone expected. She was neither emotionally, or financially, prepared to support even the initial prognosis of her mom’s condition. Hiring care for her mom wasn’t a viable option and she was not able to take time off or work, as she had four dependents, each with unique needs to support. Her daughter, therefore, had to drop out of SBCC to stay home with her grandmother, though the isolation got to them both.
It wasn’t until a year and a half into her mom’s diagnosis that Leah found Friendship Center.
“This place is stunning,” Leah said. “Mom’s sense of humor was appreciated here. People laughed at her jokes. They got more inappropriate over time but she always had an audience. She always felt special, you could see it every time we picked her up. It was impossible to not feel good seeing her like that, even with everything else going on.”
There aren’t many things a family like Leah can control in a journey like this. Not the timeline. Not the disease. Not the rising cost of care. But they could control one thing: her mother’s happiness.
Every morning, Leah could drop off her mother knowing someone would greet her with warmth, laugh at her wildest punchlines, pat her well-earned ego, and treat her with the love and dignity she deserves as a great-grandmother, a matriarch, and a woman of Santa Barbara.
This spring, we are working to raise $50,000 so we can keep saying “yes” to families like Leah’s. Right now, we’re 58% of the way there—with one month left to go.
If you’ve already given, thank you. If you haven’t yet, this is the moment. Your gift will directly support older adults living with dementia and their caregivers who are doing the impossible, every single day.
Please help us reach our goal. Because every family deserves support, and every comedian deserves an audience. |
