Tony's Blog

Congratulations to Jim Speir, president and founder of the Senior and Caregiver's Resource Network (SACRN) in southeast Michigan. Speir will accept the award for corporate leadership on behalf of SACRN from the Area Agency on Aging in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb.

From the Area Agency on Aging:

"The AAA 1-B is pleased to honor you for your achievements related to the formation of the SACRN, which has created an association of senior service organizations committed to the ethical and compassionate delivery of services to older adults in southeast Michigan.  SACRN represents an innovative business model that helps support the growth of businesses in our region’s aging industry, an emerging sector of the economy.  By creating SACRN as a nonprofit organization committed to community service, you have been responsible for raising thousands of dollars that have been donated to local aging organizations that serve our region’s most needy seniors."

See www.sacrn.org.

Just a quick note about a Michigan organization committed to helping families enjoy the Internet and avoid cyber crime.

The Washtenaw County Cyber Citizenship Coalition is made up of local, state and federal agencies with a mission to help web surfers experience the digital world safely and securely. I recently joined the group to assist in sharing specific online safety guidelines for baby boomers and their aging parents.

Take a look: www.washtenawcybercoalition.org.

20 million baby boomers are caregivers for their aging parents. At times, the amount of services boomers need to find for parents is challenging, from financial planning, to physical therapy, medical monitoring, establishing a medical power of attorney, even arranging a weekly in-home visit from a nurse. There can be a lot to do. Talk about time consuming and anxiety provoking. 

How's this sound? Rather than making several calls to individual companies offering individual services, how about one call to one group with access to everything a caregiver needs? One group of service providers? It certainly would save time, not to mention reduce stress.

Well, in Michigan, there is an organization offering this novel approach to supporting baby boomers. The Senior and Caregivers Resource Network is a non-profit organization providing an umbrella of caregiver services.

I am so impressed with the group's commitment to helping caregivers and their parents negotiate the sometimes weighty issues accompanying aging, that I recently signed up for membership, myself.

Take a look: www.sacrn.org.

50PlusPrime welcomes Jim Speir to our community. Jim is a boomer and an investment counselor. Read Jim's first column, here.

In this season of giving, Pam Good is pretty hard to top.

In 2002, Good, a 51-year-old baby boomer, founded Beyond Basics, a non-profit organization whose mission is to teach reading and writing skills to at-risk children in Detroit Public Schools.

Beyond Basics is committed to helping children achieve grade level or higher reading skills within four to six weeks of beginning intensive one-on-one tutoring. The numbers don't lie. Ninety-eight elementary school students who completed Beyond Basics' reading program in the 12-month period ending fall 2009 exceeded their grade level reading skills.  

But, that's not all. Beyond Basics has a writing center with an on-site student publishing center, where students publish short stories and poems in hard covered books. Did I say that the numbers don’t lie? 50,000 books have been published since 2002.

Hats off to Pam Good! For more information about Pam Good and Beyond Basics, visit www.beyondbasics.org, or call 248-250-9304.

Know a baby boomer making a difference in their community? Tell us about them.