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Director’s Message

Summer 2022

Dear Volunteers, Donors and Friends of Love Is The Answer,  

LITA’s Music Compassion Project continues in strong demand.  LITA has donated tablets, plus required accessories like chargers, cases, ear buds and headphones for patient use to Legacy Nursing Rehab, in Martinez, Greenridge Senior Care, in El Sobrante, Lone Tree and HIllcrest  Convalescent in Antioch, Pittsburg Skilled Nursing, Bayberry Health Care in Concord, Windsor Rosewood Manor Care in Pleasant Hill  & Vale Care in San Pablo. LITA responded to the request for ipads and phones from Contra Costa County Regional Medical Center in Martinez for a growing group of patinets waiting month after month without a permanent room, until they could find  a bed  for them in a nursing facility.  This Music As Medicine program now continues there with funding from a large non-profit back east, but LITA is proud to have launched it for CCCRMC. Tablets, iPads  and smart phones are used constantly  for vital, safe and prized family of friends facetime and for certain safe physician visit zooms.

 

Since April 2020, LITA has produced a free one hour musical variety zooom show for any SNF that can join. From the bay area and from all the way across  country talented music volunteers entertain on Fridays from  2 to 3 pm. LITA provide a  free link to all shows on Youtube so activity staff can help the residents watch anytime.​

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Share The Spirit granted LITA a generous amount to set up hands on interior patio gardens for patients to participate in growing flowers and herbs. To date that program has launched in Pittsburg, Martinez, El Sobrante and Walnut Creek. Covid quarantines frequently close facilities to volunteer visits, but Acivity Directors are managing with free supplies and support from LITA.

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Your donation to LITA goes directly to improve quality of life for the especially lonely, isolated individuals living in skilled nursing facilities.  Budgets for things like personal electronics for streaming are still being cut back at all for-profit SNF.  Delivery of LITA’s tablets, headphones and garden activity support  services at those facilities are more valuable than ever. Your gift will make a substantial difference for hundreds of disabled, and unfortunately in these times often quarantined senior’s quality of life.  

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Love is the Answer

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Victoria Ryan, Director

LITA of Contra Costa

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                                   2022 LITA Appreciation Awards

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Mae Wygant Award  for Best Activity Director 2022 Melanni Reyes, Pittsburg Skilled Nursing Activity assistant for Mona Silviera for several years. In spite of an always overwhelming ratio of patients to staff, together they set up many PSN residents to enjoy LITA donated iPads or tablets to enjoy YouTube and zoom entertainment like LITA’s live Friday musical variety shows. Melanni loves LITA's Gardening  project  and has really involved residents and made a lovely and welcoming area in the interiour patio. LITA is donating, at her request, a starlite projectors for each PSN patient room, to help residents make it through those long dark hospital nights. It is a pleasure working with Activity Director Melanni Reyes.

 

Kathleen Berner Award for Best Individual Volunteer 2021-2022 goes to Katie Avila.  As of yet, nursing facilities are not open to volunteer events like LITA produced, prior to COVID.  Katie and her mom eJnny Lin gor a student group to produce a holiday medley video with choreography that we palyed with our lIve zoom show in December. LITA expanded our garden project all the wqy to Tampico in Walnut Creek, thanks to Katie volunteering to support that project. Katie, now age 15 is the Queen of hand made holiday cards  LITA patients, She has done  this since age 9 and later  when she was a girl scout. in 2021 and 2022 Katie and Jenny  involved student friends who made many hundreds of greeting cards for Legacy and other LITA served facilites.

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 Iris Suhl Founder’s Award for  Generous Donor 2021- 2922 goes to Franklin Jurik

 who began his support as a retiree from Johnston and Johnston with a corporate matching gift each time he donated. Then he went the extra mile and helped us to apply for an extra  J & J  grant, since we so perfectly fit the niche of services for seniors.  This grant was received by LITA in September 2022  

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