Our Elder Home mission is to address the critical lack of affordable, in-town housing for seniors, with a focus on those who must leave their current homes and want to stay in Anderson Valley.
Our wonderful community continues to sustain our project and mission through donations and volunteer support. We are most grateful.
Our fundraising goal last year was to cover the cost of providing each of our rental units with a new, state of the art heating/cooling system. With your generous support, we met that goal! Our most sincere thanks to everyone who contributed. An energy-efficient electric "split unit" has been installed in the Cottage, the House now has a heat-pump system that provides heating and air conditioning, and work is on-going to finish upgrading at the Duplex.
Our 2024-25 fundraising goal:
We have two important projects for the coming year. First, as we continue implementing our objective of making the Elder Home as senior-friendly as possible, we want to upgrade the access to the House. This includes installing a more secure concrete path to replace the gravel path that leads from the highway to the porch and from there to the driveway. We also need to upgrade and resurface the driveway and parking area to eliminate possible trip-and-fall sites.
Second, we need to complete the painting project that was begun this year. Because it has been well over 15 years since the House and Duplex were painted, and because of the buildings' age, when we assessed the situation with our local painter (we hire locally whenever possible) it became clear that intensive preparation work was needed to remove decades of buckled and blistered paint layers and to replace rotting siding and trim. We hope this year's donations will cover the work needed to finish the on-going painting job and to do the concrete work. This will allow us to put more money toward our building fund.
Property upgrades:
In addition to the new heating/cooling systems, at the House we replaced the front porch and added railing and upgraded the back porch with new roofing. We also finished installing the landscaping and drip irrigation in the front yard, using low maintenance, drought tolerant plants. Many thanks to Pam Callaghan for the design, plant choices, and help with installation.
Fundraisers in 2024:
We had great fun as well as financial success at our three fundraising events this year. In April we again provided the volunteer "staff" at the AV Brewing Beer Fest's back gate. A big thank you to the 18 loyal volunteers who helped us out. Thanks, too, to AV Brewing for donating its Beer Fest profits to local non-profits, and also for their donation to the wine/beer booth we hosted at the Olde Time 4th of July event. This was our second year helping out at that venue, and we hope to continue, though it would be good if next year the temperature stayed under 100 degrees.
And, for the 13th year our wine and conversation niche at the Apple Fair offered generously-donated fine Valley vintages as well as a comfortable community gathering place.
AV Hospice volunteers were also present to introduce folks to their new service. Together, these events brought us $9,300 closer to building the next cottage. We would love to hear from anyone who would like to help us organize on-going or new events. If interested, please contact us and let's brainstorm.
A new Elder Home Board member:
Susan Bridge-Mount joined the board this year. She has lived in Anderson Valley for the past 40 years. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is also a member of the Hospice of Ukiah Board of Directors and the social worker for the program in Anderson Valley. A long-time supporter of the Elder Home, she feels that joining its board is in line with her professional interests of working with seniors and helping them to navigate the health care systems. Susan also enjoys working in her garden and designing and sewing wearable art and jewelry.
A new tenant in the Elder Home Cottage:
We happily welcomed a new Cottage tenant in April 2024.
AVEH's positive financial picture:
With strong community support we continue to reduce our mortgage and increase the building fund. Since last December, we've received contributions of $24,100 toward that fund. This generosity, combined with the net income from our rentals has increased the building fund to $191,400.
Moving into the future:
The Elder Home recently had a preliminary meeting with the county's Planning and Building Department, and we are starting the process to submit our plans for developing additional one-bedroom cottages. When these plans have been finalized, we will be announcing a Capital Campaign for this long-anticipated project.
As we move forward, we'd like to gather information to share with Building and Planning. If you have input about the Valley's senior housing needs in the next two to three years, please share it with us at [email protected] You can also request a Statement of Interest Form if you might like to become a future tenant.
The AV Elder Home has been the beneficiary of amazing community generosity, and we hope you will contribute this year. If you would like your gift to be in memory of or in honor of someone, please note that along with your check or your online payment at www.avelderhome.net.
We wish everyone a safe and healthy 2025 and offer our heartfelt gratitude for your support,
PS. Interested in joining our Board of Directors? AVEH is in its strongest financial position ever, and we have ambitious plans for the future. We'd love to hear from community members who believe in our mission and might like to join our hands-on, all-volunteer board. For more information, email [email protected].
Being a born/raised Ukiah Native, I have experienced the late 1970's-1980's glory days of the Palace Hotel, Bar & Grill, and Back Room. Granted, it's a sore sight currently and I have varied interest in it's stature. Last weekend I bought Karen Rifkin's book (an autographed version, thank you, Karen) The History of Ukiah's Palace Hotel. Right away, I opened the book and began reading with much enjoyment, and had a difficult time putting it down. I'm not a History major, but a real history 'Hobbiest" when it comes to my home town or county. The early stories are incredible, as well as the chronological timespan. Karen Rifkin did a fabulous job, and I highly recommend picking this book up. She worked very hard, and definitely made the right historical connections, as well as amazing photos. It brought back some great memories of my experiences, as well as some of the people I knew.....
My name is Wesley and I'm a retired veteran who owns Wesley's Dumps. You might have heard of me. Doing dump runs, property cleanup, appliance installs, LPG conversions on appliances, you name it. Call or text 707-755-0606 for a quote. [email protected]
Who should be making decisions about a patient's health care? A doctor dedicated to the best health outcome -- or an anonymous insurance rep dedicated to maximizing profit? What's wrong with this picture? Tying the U.S. health care delivery system to the corporate profit model has been a tragedy for our society. The most important consideration is the business' bottom line, not patient care. It feels like the corporate master wields the whip that can control patient outcomes.
The recent murder of United Healthcare's CEO is the ultimate expression of the rage and despair this system engenders. The profit motive must be removed from health care delivery. A single-payer system ("Medicare for All") will not cure all ills, but it will put decisions in the hands of doctors, where they belong.
I'm a responsible, employed, and fully solvent 64 year old woman-fit and active-looking for a long-term rental for myself and my 13 year old dog. I work in Fort Bragg. Will consider anything as far south as Albion. Unconventional situations considered. We are quiet, respectful, neat, and clean.
My dog gets along with people, dogs, and deer. Not so much cats. Can move in January.
Sometimes the day's headlines perfectly illustrate the surrealistic and perhaps tragic world in which we now live.
Take these from Tuesday's Chronicle print edition: "Police say woman threatened workers with gun over missing fries," "Go-kart driver dies after crash into pole," "Ladybugs fly away home to East Bay," "Kindergartners shot in Butte County make it through surgeries," "Benioff defends cheerleading for Trump."
Before, and then again after he dropped out of the election, President Joe Biden said he would abide by any verdict and punishment handed down in his son Hunter's tax evasion and gun possession cases. Six months later he just issued a full, and massively sweeping, pardon for his son, even after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was found guilty of several felony gun crimes.
What many find troubling is that the pardon was exceptionally broad, not only covering the recent charges but also "those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024 ..."
The timeline isn't random if you recall that Hunter Biden joined the Burisma board in April 2014. Although President-elect Donald Trump pardoned some of his allies during his first term, this is a completely different situation. I would like to know with certainty what may or may not have occurred early in this period since this investigation is effectively closed now. However, based on the reasoning behind this pardon, will the same blanket pardon be extended to Trump?
I am writing to all who complained that the election count in California took too long. I suggest that they sign up to be a poll worker in the next election. I have done it several times. That experience taught me why we need a diligent and thorough vote-counting process.
First, voters must sign the outside envelope of a mail-in ballot. If their signature is missing or is mismatched from the signature on file, the county reaches out to the voter and offers them time (Dec. 1 for this election) to "cure" the problem.
Second, voters can mail in ballots up to and on Election Day. Thus, some ballots may not arrive until several days after.
Third, voters are allowed to vote in-person at a polling location but must surrender their mail-in ballot. If they do not bring their mail-in ballot to surrender, their in-person ballot is segregated and then later confirmed that a mail-in ballot was not also received from that same voter.
Each of these issues extends the process of determining the final vote count, but insures the integrity of our election process. Thus, while the vote counting process may be frustratingly slow to some, it ensures that every vote and voter count.
Did I just see on my TV that Donald Trump wants to end birthright citizenship? What else could possibly, indisputably, give a person that inalienable right if not for the simple fact of having been born here in this country? The inmates will be running the asylum. I thought I was lucky to have come this far -- to be 97 years young. I'm beginning to feel sorry to have lived so long.
These are the types of shenanigans our state government pulls that drive voters crazy:
The California Air Resources Board drafted a policy to modify the state's low-carbon emissions standards. This policy would have the effect of raising gasoline prices another 50 to 75 cents per gallon. Realizing how unpopular such a move would be, Gov. Gavin Newsom withheld the publishing of the policy until three days after the November election. The tactic seems to be to raise the price of gasoline to compel more people to buy electric vehicles. This despite the fact that EV manufacturers are pulling back from the market with high losses on every vehicle and dealer lots full of unsold cars.
Newsom is also touting a $25 million bill to "Trump-proof" California, in expectation that the California attorney general will have to file numerous lawsuits to prevent Donald Trump from destroying the nirvana we currently live in. Don't be fooled -- this is the start of Newsom's 2028 presidential race. In this case, though, rather than being funded by Democrat donors, it is being paid for by us, the taxpayers.
I feel we've been circling the drain for months and now are being rinsed down the plughole. Hello, darkness, my old friend. I'm nauseous and have difficulty breathing. If I looked in the mirror -- which I do often these days, purely as a function of disbelief, because I feel I no longer exist -- I fancy I would see Ford Madox Ford, a soup-strainer mustache and the appearance of a boiled egg in his mouth, but actually only a gasp because "mustard gassed voiceless some seven miles behind the lines at Nancy or Belleau Wood." As the poet said. Preserve my words, preserve my words. The wantonness and wickedness of it. I'm sorry for the rest of the world for having something as rancid and pampered and apparently resistless as America in it. Who ever thought male suffrage was a good idea? Come on in, the water's boiling in this reddened and ever redder and reddening state. Not much meat on these snow crab legs, but you'll enjoy the crack of your tax cut. Or is it the vertebra of the last surviving trade unionist? It says in our new constitution we're allowed to hunt and fish. Well, halle-fucking-lujah. And $2 a gallon gas a birthright in perpetuity. If only it were some small and out of the way place. Make Armorica Great Again. Make Armorica Great Again. Make Armorica Great Again. But no, this is that shining city, and that last best hope. Gone, all gone. Stick a fork in it. There is only money, barefaced lies, and evil intentions. The playground inversion of everything. You're the fascist, you're the racist, you're the one threatening me with violence. It's no consolation, but this country will not know what hit it, and first the low-information electors with their red caps for brains. No overstatement is possible. I feel species disgust. Of course, impetuous. Of course, poet and fine frenzy and all that. Of course, nonsense and hysteria. Oligarchopolis, here we come. Yes, we only live in it. It's yours, and don't I know it. How can one not see through something so threadbare, so self-serving, so randomly and contemptuously thrown out by the self- adoring crooner. The oligarchs enter the ark two by two, as once the animals. The T because he faces both ways on every issue. Heads I win, tails you lose. Words without consequences. But they'll do for a brand. Mine on my forehead, please.
It's time to get real about Social Security, say the billionaires making plans for us. I began to contribute to Social Security when I started working summers at age 14. My contributions joined others' contributions to become funds drawn on by the federal government to pay federal bills.
In retirement, like many others, I use my Social Security to pay for housing, food and other essentials. Unlike most in the future, I also have a pension. The same people wanting to cut Social Security have worked hard to deny people the right to organize in unions and the right to benefits like pensions.
Cutting Social Security will reduce this source of funds used by the federal government and greatly add to public costs for people who will be reliant on the public to survive. The system may need modifications, but it most certainly does not need to be changed in a way that reduces its current effectiveness for millions of people.