Senior services again face threat of budget cutbacks

St. Mary Council on Aging is making available a new program just in time for Older Americans Month in May.
The program is called Sponsor-A-Senior, and according to Beverly Domengeaux, executive director of COA, it is one way COA intends to combat the purported 25 percent funding cuts she and COA expect from “Baton Rouge and Washington” this year.
“You can give a donation of anything,” said Domengeaux, addressing the Franklin Rotary Club Tuesday. “You can give a donation in memory of a loved one, $250 will sponsor a senior for three months, $500 for six months, $1,000 for the whole year or $5,000 would help me underwrite one delivery day (meal delivery to parish seniors).”
Domengeaux also mentioned South Louisiana Giving Day on May 10 as another sponsorship opportunity COA is taking part in.
SLGD is a way to support local non-profits, schools and churches. COA is accepting donations for SAS and SLGD, or if one wishes to donate to their resale shop—Treasures Under the Oaks accepts all reasonably usable donations, year-round.
Domengeaux continued, “So, what can you do? Just care… that’s all. If you’ve got a neighbor that’s older, see if there’s anything you can do to help. You’d be surprised how many people have outlived their families, or their families have moved on.”
She told a story of a fictitious figure, a woman she imagined, but whom she has also met in several forms over the years, who has spent her whole adult life looking after her family and her community and now, in her 90s, needs someone to help her care for herself.
Domengeaux said that’s where COA picks up the burden that some seniors are even too proud to admit is too much for them to bear on their own.
However, Domengeaux says the burden is now becoming too much for COA. She says she has had to trim down her staff to bare minimum levels and must rely now on donations, more than ever.
Yet she says she sees bigger societal implications in forgetting one’s own community.
“I remember growing up, everyone knew their neighbors, and if something happened, everyone was there,” she said.
“We’ve gotten away from that. I want to challenge every person sitting here. You’ve got a lot of talent. You’ve got a lot of history. Spread it.
“These kids nowadays, they don’t know their history. Spread the word. Talk to the young people about respect for their elders.
“We were taught that.”
The last story she told was about recently being at a local market and seeing a senior citizen struggling to reach something on the market shelf.
She said she noticed two young girls who, absorbed in the trappings of their youth, brushed the senior citizen aside and continued on their way, none the wiser of the assistance or even acknowledgement they failed to offer.
“C’mon folks,” Domengeaux said, “have a little courtesy. She may be moving slowly, but one day they (the youngsters) may be there, moving slower, too.”
She reminded the room of Rotarians, “There are a lot of non-profit organizations out there. Not everybody in this room is going to have cancer. Not everybody in this room is going to get heart disease. Not everybody is going to be a victim of domestic violence. But, you know what everybody in this room is facing? It’s called aging. We all are going to get old, and that’s something that we seem to forget about.”