Do you live in an assisted living facility? Do you live in a nursing home? An independent-living retirement community? Do you go to adult day care or have homecare or a caregiver help you out so you can age in place as opposed to moving into a facility?

Most importantly: do you consider yourself an elder?

And do you have some wisdom to share?

Then think about entering the 2011 Elders Prose and Poetry Contest. Winning submissions will be included in “Gems of Wisdom: 365 Days of Poetry and Prose by Elders.” The book is scheduled to be published in May 2011.

Any resident of California who considers himself or herself an elder (meaning no age requirement) can enter the contest. AgeSong and Barnes and Noble — organizers of the contest — suggest that elders write about “real emotions and feelings and keep a special person or event in mind as you write. For example, questions to ponder: What is your relationship with the world? What do you want to teach someone?”

We work with seniors across the Bay Area, and all of them have a story to share. As we encourage our wise and diverse seniors to submit a poem or essay, we hope you’ll consider asking your mom, dad or spouse to also enter the writing contest.

Heard of the Make a Wish Foundation? Chances are you have.

Heard of An Elderly Wish Foundation? Chances are you haven’t. If you’re a resident of Contra Costa County you should learn about this amazing organization. They’re similar to the Make a Wish Foundation but grant last wishes for terminally ill seniors that live in Contra Costa County.

A geriatric care manager in Contra Costa County told me about An Elderly Wish Foundation in the summer of 2009. What they do moved me to contact them and learn more. Before I knew it I was having coffee in Lafayette with Mary Champman, the Executive Director of An Elderly Wish. She greeted me with a bag of peaches from her backyard and some amazing first-hand accounts of the myriad of wishes that they’ve granted seniors.

Their office is in a former jail cell (no joke) and their heart is in the right place. I’ve recently joined the board and am planning on helping them launch a new website and also spread the word about what they do.

The Contra Costa Times recently gave this great organization some much-needed press coverage, chronicling a last wish that they granted to an El Sobrante woman who wanted to go on a vacation with her son to Montana to see fossil excavation sites.

Contact An Elderly Wish Foundation today at 925-978-1883. Donate your time, your skills and spread the word about the amazing work that they do. There a unique San Francisco Bay Area organization and a an amazing resource for families in Contra Costa County.

The Belvedere-Tiburon Library in Marin County will host a senior week from Tuesday, July 13th through Friday, July 16th. This will be a great event for Marin County residents that are interested in learning about homecare, caregiving, aging in place, Alzheimer’s disease in Marin, dementia and anything else related to being an elder or having parents that are seniors.

Engage As You Age’s Ben Lewis will appear on several panels during the Marin County library’s senior week event. He’ll lead the keynote panel called “Senior Care 101″ which will address everything from how to screen and vet a homecare agency in Tiburon (and any other San Francisco Bay Area communities) to what local resources can help point you in the right direction (no matter your financial situation). This is a great panel if you’ve got an aging parent and are wondering about what is out there to help you. Learn how to save money and stress by asking the right questions in a largely unregulated industry.

Lewis will also lead a workshop on “Aging In Place Technologies” on Wednesday, July 14th. Contact Engage As You Age to learn more about Lewis’ panels or go to the Tiburon-Belvedere Library website to learn more about the event.

Also go to the Marin IJ for more details as well.

When most people turn 65, they retire. They start golfing, perhaps, or start that knitting project they always wanted to start but never found the time to do so. Maybe they begin to volunteer, or host dinner parties, or read more books.

Olga Murray is not most people. When she turned 65, she started a nonprofit. In Nepal.

The Sausalito woman didn’t let her age stop her and continues to plug away.

On June 11, she celebrated the 20th anniversary of her Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation — and her 85th birthday.

Engage As You Age attended the affair, which drew 200 people to the City Club to celebrate NYOF and the woman who gave it life.

The seeds for Murray’s nonprofit sprouted in 1984 when the retired lawyer (and California Supreme Court clerk) flew solo to Nepal. A chance encounter with an orphanage inspired her to independently sponsor five children.

From that, NYOF was created in 1990, and it has since grown dramatically.

The organization has provided  thousands of Nepalese children with educational scholarships, from kindergarten through medical school. NYOF also places children in group homes and pays for living, education and medical expenses.

Murray’s foundation also aims to end the practice of young Nepalese girls being sold into indentured servitude. (You can watch a video about this here.)

Even as an octogenarian, Murray continues to travel to Nepal annually and actually lives there half of the year.

Engage As You Age applauds Murray for her efforts and energy at 85.

Engage As You Age is 1 of 30 finalists in the Vertical Response New Deal Contest.

Please vote for us. You’ll need to create an account with Vertical Response.

We’ll put the money towards providing Engage As You Age’s 1×1 visits to a lower-income senior in the San Francisco Bay Area.

CLICK HERE to see the 30 video entries and please vote for Engage As You Age and encourage others to do so. Thank you for your support!

Are you a movie buff?  Would you like sharing your love of movies with others? The Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City is looking for a volunteer who would be interested in helping to run a program that meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month from 2:00-4:00 PM.  We need help in selecting unusual and interesting movies that would be geared for the adult and older adult population.  Ideally, the volunteer would be able to use the LCD projector (instruction provided) and would be interested in leading an informal discussion after the movie with the participants.  You would work closely with staff in making movie selections.

If you are interested, please call Rhonda Press at the PJCC at 650-378-2717.

The Castro Courier just wrote a great article on Engage As You Age in their March edition. The neighborhood newspaper is based out of San Francisco. The Castro Theater, Dolores Park and other attractions are part of the area.

Click here to read the it!

I was lucky enough this Saturday to see Stagebridge’s Sylvia’s Advice on How To Age Gracefully on Planet Denial. Based on Nicole Hollander’s comic strip Sylvia, the show was really really good. The two best performances (at least in my opinion) were done by Joan Mankin who played Sylvia and the female cat played by Sara Moore. The show closed out its two-week run this Sunday (February 21st) at the Ashby Stage in Berkeley, California. Hopefully it’ll have another run sometime soon in the San Francisco Bay Area. This was a great play for people of all ages (not just elders and seniors).

The play was done by a fabulous Oakland-based organization called Stagebridge. Stagebridge is the nation’s oldest Senior Theater Company. Go to their website to learn more about this great local San Francisco Bay Area organization.

Stagebridge does a wonderful job engaging seniors in theater, drama and storytelling activities. The common thread of the seniors that they serve is that they’re able to easily get out of their homes. Many of the 1.1 million seniors in the San Francisco Bay Area are able to do this. Engage As You Age is able to bring Shakespeare, theater, and the arts (as well as computer lessons and other fun activities) to the many other seniors that have a hard time leaving their homes in the east bay and other parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Our CBS 5 TV Special is now up on our website (in the videos section).

You can also see the videos in this blog:

Living Well Assisted Living At Home is hosting a great (and free) seminar on Wednesday, February 24th @ 6 pm. Living Well is one of Engage As You Age’s partners and we’ve co-presented with them and have seen first hand what a great job their CEO Dr. Tessa Ten Tusscher does. She’ll be co-presenting with estate planning attorney Robert Pollack and discussing “pitfalls to avoid while aging at home.” We’re positive that there will be lots of useful information and tips on how to cost-effectively age in place and stay safe and socially connected.

This is a great opportunity for people to learn more about what care options are out there for themselves and/or their elder or senior parent(s). There will most likely be a lot of baby boomers at this event.

This highly interactive seminar will cover subjects including dementia warning signs, intentional and unintentional elder abuse, costs of home care, isolation issues and caregiver respite.

90% of older adults want to remain living in their own homes until they die. This choice can lead to complicated medical, legal and emotional challenges. Growing old in Marin presents unique obstacles because of its large older population, high cost of living and large concentration of Baby Boomers.

Reservations: 1.800.805.7104 or events@livingwellalah.com

This event will take place in Marin County but anyone that lives in the San Francisco Bay Area should consider attending.

The address for the 6 pm seminar is:

Acqua Hotel
555 Redwood Highway
Mill Valley, CA 94941