Seniors' services

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

exclusive event at bowers museum

 

A note from Katie Barraza, Director of Senior Services:

 

Dear Friends,


I am so excited that we have tickets to the upcoming dates for Bowers Museum. Let me know if you would like a ticket and I am going to add your name to the upcoming event. These tickets are only to be used for our adult/senior participants. I love the art project part of the event and hope that you will enjoy it as well:) Please bring it into the social to share with everyone! 


Many friends have asked about what galleries and this is the itinerary for the events. 


I also have 12 free tickets to go the Lecture: Art and Architecture: Workings of the Mind from Renaissance to Modern Times. Saturday< March 16th from 1:30 to 3 pm. 


3/21: 1-3 Gallery: Sendak/ Art: Cray on Pastel Illustration

4/4: 10-12 Gallery: Sendak/ Art:  Crayon Pastel Illustration

4/18: 1-3 Gallery: China/ Art:  Watercolor Chinese Brush Painting

5/2: 10-12 Gallery:  Gems of the Medici/ Art: Tooling Foil Medallion

5/16: 1-3 Gallery: Gems of the Medici/ Art: Tooling Foil Medallion

6/6: 10-12 Gallery: Missions & Ranchos/ Art: Oil Pastel Rendition of Missions

6/20: 1-3 Gallery: Missions & Ranchos/ Art: Oil Pastel Rendition of Missions

7/4: HOLIDAY

7/18: 1-3  Gallery:  Tsars’ Cabinet/ Art: Decorated Jewelry Boxes

8/1: 10-12  Gallery: Tsars’ Cabinet/ Art: Decorated Jewelry Boxes

8/15: 1-3 Gallery: Pre-Columbian/ Ar t: God’s Eyes made with yarn, sticks and feathers


Please email me with the dates you would like to attend and we will meet at Bower's and I will give you the tickets on the day of the event. Please tell the parking attendant that you are here for the "Treasures Project" and you will not be charged for parking. 


Please share thisl with your friends and they can join our group!

 

Best,

 

Katie


 

 

                                

Seniors' socials

 

Our 55+ Seniors' Social meets every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Women's Wednesday Social will take place every Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. starting on Wednesday, February 6, and our Gentlemen's Social Group meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. All meetings take place in our downstairs Community Room unless otherwise noted.

 

We have enjoyed OC Pride, Santa Ana First Saturday Art Walks, and dinners at Memphis. We are also included and have attended events with the Rainbow Club in Laguna Woods and Gay Neighbors Friends and Families in Santa Ana. We will continue to have an activity calendar and share all of the ongoing events.

 

For more information or to sign up for our seniors newsletter, call Katie Barraza, Director of Senior Services, at (714) 953-5428, ext. 204 or email her at katie.barraza@thecenteroc.org.

 

Our Goal

 

Our goal in offering programs and services to those 55 and older is to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning elders have equal access to the life-prolonging benefits, protections, services and institutions that their heterosexual neighbors take for granted.

 

Why LGBTQ Elders?

 

Today’s LGBTQ elders are a generation that came of age before the gay civil rights movement. Explicit discrimination from their families, employers, neighbors, landlords, faith communities and government was accepted as part of the “homosexual experience.” Their most successful survival strategies were to remain invisible and secretive, and to distrust the mainstream institutions that many heterosexual people assume are in place to help them (healthcare, government agencies, faith communities). To be gay has meant to live in shame and fear, and most of all in secret. Given these life experiences invisibility and reluctance to trust the "straight world" is understandable.

As a result many older LGBTQs are wary of revealing their sexual orientation or gender identity to helping professionals and would rather go without, even when sick, rather than turning to aging service providers for help.

We do not have strong data to identify how many LGBTQ elders exist among us; historically they have not asked and we have not told.

Here's what we do know:

 

making a difference in our senior program

 

Not knowing where to turn for support with discrimination issues after his partner moved into a senior care residence; not knowing who to call and concerned about things getting worse, Lu contacted The Center’s Director of Senior Services, Katie Barrazza.  Among many incidents, Lu was told if he held his partner’s hands or showed affection he would not be allowed to visit.  Lu’s status as a registered domestic partner was ignored.  Katie immediately phoned an Ombudsman and contacted Lambda Legal. After reaching out to Lambda Legal, the group sent a letter on Lu’s behalf demanding the discrimination end. Further, Katie went with Lu and met with the Director of the senior assisted living community and is working to resolve the inequality and unfair treatment Lu and his partner of 30 years were receiving. The Center will give a voice to our LGBT seniors and hold people accountable those who attempt to discriminate against them. This discrimination against  LGBT seniors is widespread.  Those who fought for our civil rights are going back into the closet because of the discrimination they face.  Through our senior program, we will support and fight for our seniors’ civil rights.

  

Another member of our senior program, Kaz, experienced the death of his partner of 30 years. Because the couple couldn’t marry, Kaz was not eligible for his partner’s pension.  The loss of the pension means Kaz has been robbed of the financial security he and his partner worked for. If marriage were legal, he would be receiving the pension. He and his partner spent their lives together, and Kaz deserves not only the money but the respect for maintaining a committed relationship with the man he loved.

 

Our Senior Program is new and we are already advocating for elders in our community.  The program can only continue with your support. Please consider making a gift to the Center so Lu and Kaz and others like them have an ally in the Center.

 

 

CONTACTS

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phone
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fax
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location
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Santa Ana, CA 92701

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