Dear Editor, May is Older Americans Month
– a tradition dating back to 1963 to honor the legacies and
ongoing contributions of older Americans and support them as they
enter the next stage in life.
Seniors are doing more and more to support each other
Dear Editor,
May is Older Americans Month – a tradition dating back to 1963 to honor the legacies and ongoing contributions of older Americans and support them as they enter the next stage in life. The Centennial Recreation Senior Center is joining communities nationwide in celebrating this month with special activities and events.
This year’s Older Americans Month theme – Age Strong! Live Long! – recognizes the diversity and vitality of today’s older Americans who span three generations. They have lived through wars and hard times, as well as periods of unprecedented prosperity. They pioneered new technologies in medicine, communications and industry while spearheading a cultural revolution that won equal rights for minorities, women, and disabled Americans.
These remarkable achievements demonstrate the strength and character of older Americans, and underscore the debt of gratitude we owe to the generations that have given our society so much. But the contributions of older Americans are not only in the past.
Older Americans are living longer and are more active than ever before. And with the aging of the baby boomer generation – the largest in our nation’s history – America’s senior population is expected to number 71.5 million by 2030.
While keeping the growing population of older Americans healthy and active will increase the demand for senior services, what is remarkable is the extent to which older Americans themselves are supporting each other. As the new generations of seniors become better educated and more financially secure than their predecessors, they are spending more time making significant contributions in their communities through civic and volunteer opportunities.
In fact, older Americans are a core component of service delivery to seniors – embodying and modeling the drive to Age Strong! Live Long! They volunteer at group meal sites and deliver food to homebound seniors; they act as escorts and provide transportation for older adults who cannot drive; they help seniors with home repair, shopping and errands; and they provide vital counseling, information and referral services. Their energy and commitment reminds all Americans – not just senior citizens and their caregivers – to do their part to enhance the quality of life for older generations.
The annual commemoration of Older Americans Month is our opportunity to recognize the contributions of older citizens and join them in providing services and support that empower the elderly. Americans of all ages and backgrounds can volunteer with programs that improve health literacy, increase access to quality health services, offer food and nutrition services, provide financial and health care insurance counseling, sponsor social activities and community engagement and more. Individuals and organizations can contact the Centennial Recreation Senior Center by e-mailing su********@***rc.com, visit the Senior Center or call 782-1284 to find out what they can do to strengthen services for older Americans, this month and all year round.
Susan Fent, LCSW, Director of Senior Programs and Services, Centennial Recreation Senior Center
P.A. Walsh third-graders communicate with President Barack Obama
Dear Editor,
I teach third grade at P. A. Walsh Elementary School and my students have written to President Obama on three occasions; the beginning of school in response to a Time for Kids article about the economy, after his talk to school children about working hard and after his signing of the health care bill into law.
On each occasion we wrote “friendly letters” practicing the proper format. As part of our last letter we asked for a reply and a picture. We were fortunate to receive both. My class is very proud to have received a letter from The White House. Included in the packet was the letter, a signed picture and a card about Bo the First Family dog.
Laura Beale, 3rd grade teacher, P.A. Walsh Elementary School
Tomasello family gives thanks for support during difficult time
Dear Editor,
Rory Tomasello was formally honored April 24, 2010 at the 16th Annual Honor & Remembrance Ceremony. Facilitated by the California Transplant Donor Network, the ceremony recognizes and honors those who have saved lives through organ and tissue donation.
Tom and Kathee Tomasello (Rory’s parents), his brother Ryan, his sister Roslyn, and many extended family members were in attendance. There were touching testimonials from loved ones who had lost a family member; as well as from donor beneficiaries who are alive today solely because of the generosity of organ and tissue donors.
On behalf of the Tomasello family, we would like to thank our friends and extended family for the outpouring of love and support during this difficult time. We take great comfort in knowing that Rory’s selfless actions as an organ and tissue donor helped save the lives of at least three people. We kindly ask, in Rory’s honor, to please consider becoming an organ and tissue donor. Please visit the California Transplant Donor Network website at www.ctdn.org for more information. Thank you.
Tom Deneen, Rory Tomasello’s uncle, Campbell
School district needs a lesson in American patriotism
Dear Editor,
Kudos to the students who support our country and our flag, even on Cinco de Mayo. They and their parents are true patriots, and the school should support their patriotism. Instead, these patriots were sent home, while their classmates wearing Mexican flags were allowed to stay in school and participate in Mexican activities at Live Oak High School.
It is unfortunate that our schools are now teaching that we should be ashamed of our founding fathers and of America. In many classrooms today, no longer is the flag of our country saluted. This school administration needs a lesson in American patriotism.
Helen Doss, Diamond Bar, Calif.
All citizens have a right to celebrate their heritage
Dear Editor:
I am writing you from Maryland wondering what’s gone wrong in California? Kicking American children out of school for wearing their flag? Every person who supported this should be ashamed of themselves, as well as apologize to every soldier’s family out there that died to defend our flag. If we were a tougher country with a little more backbone, this would be considered treason.
Mexican-Americans must understand that in order to create harmony in America does not mean forget your heritage. If an American student had complained to the school that he was offended about a Mexican student wearing his flag on the 4th of July, he would have been labeled a racist! But yet these Mexican-American students were promoting racism and were supported in it. Does no one in California logically see this?
We allow other nationalities to celebrate their special events out of the thought that all citizens should have the right to celebrate their heritage, not because you have the constitutional right to. Its not a religious holiday, its the 5th of May.
Tiffany Thompson, Union Bridge, Maryland
At what point are the students culpable?
Dear Editor,
Is it me or is the excuse given by the five young men who went home from Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill Wednesday for wearing American flag tees to school that day incredibly naive?
To say (and I paraphrase) “we were doing what we always do sit and talk and eat during break. We were not instigating anything but showing our American patriotism. We were not going to start a fight.”
It causes me to think of five other young adults on trial right now for murder in Santa Clara County. They also said we were not doing anything; we didn’t pull the trigger of the gun that killed Larry Martinez in Gilroy in 2008 he was our friend and cousin.
At what point are you just as culpable whether by wearing an American flag T-shirt on Cinco de Mayo and then saying, but I wasn’t trying to start a fight or bringing a weapon to a fight and then saying but I wasn’t going to use it? You have to take responsibility for your actions and choices that you make. There are 364 other days to wear your American flag tees; three of them being Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day. I would hope that this group of five is all somehow involved in organizing and planning community events for these three days as they are such “American Patriots.”
Oh and for the parents, wearing a T-shirt that expresses your own point of view or view of a group you belong to is NOT a First Amendment right according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2008. Just ask the Garlic Festival Association, the city of Gilroy and the Top Hatters Motorcycle Club of Hollister.
Shawn M. Weymouth, Gilroy
