Senior Center Month Proclamation
September is Senior Center Month and Graceland Center submitted a request to have the Mayor of Peoria proclaim this as an announcement of our efforts to create such a center in Peoria.
The proclamation will be read at the City of Peoria City Council Meeting on Tuesday, September 12th at 6 p.m. Anyone who is interested and able is invited to be present for the reading 🙂 We can leave afterward and do not need to stay for the rest of the meeting.
Thank you for your ongoing support! By little and by little we are going to make this happen!
Here is the actual Proclamation:
Whereas, older adults contribute significantly to the overall well-being of their communities through their financial impact, work experience and talent, and the stabilization of families through providing guidance and care to members of all ages in need of support,
Whereas, older adults are often not recognized and given due grace, dignity, and respect for the long-standing impact of their lives,
Whereas, the Older Adult Act of 1965, along with the laws creating Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, recommended that all communities have a designated center that focuses on the well-being of retired persons,
Whereas, currently there are about 11,000 senior centers in the United States serving an estimated one million persons every day with socialization, education, connections to community resources, and a host of enrichment activities,
Whereas, the research-based outcomes of senior center participants demonstrate that older adults who participate in senior center programs can learn to manage and delay the onset of chronic disease and experience measurable improvements in their physical, social, spiritual, emotional, mental, and economic well- being.
Whereas, today's senior centers are reinventing themselves to meet the needs and desires of the aging baby boom generation because boomers now constitute more than two- thirds of the 50+ population and senior centers are developing new programs and opportunities for this dynamic generation of older adults which span from age 50 to almost 100 years old,
Whereas, Peoria Il has a population of about 112,000 with an estimated 30% of its residents, almost 33,000, adults aged 50 and older in its community,
Whereas, Peoria Il is the 8th largest city in Peoria is the only city in the top 10 in Illinois to NOT have a designated center for older adults,
Whereas, there are several local senior centers within 100 miles of Peoria serving the older adults in their given communities: Miller Center of Pekin, Activities and Recreational Center in Normal, Living Well Center in LeRoy, the Oasis in Lincoln, and the Senior Services of Central Illinois in Springfield,
Whereas, National Senior Center Month is celebrated each September through the National Council of Aging to highlight the value of our nation's senior centers in the lives of older adults,
Whereas, Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging is a new nonprofit working to create a community-based center in Peoria or older adults to promote well-being in mind, body, and spirit, promote aging in place, reduce isolation, and advocate with connections to community resources,
Whereas, Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging. as the recipient of funding through the Illinois Department of Aging American Rescue Funds, is initiating weekly programs to promote the development of a community-based center for older adults in the community starting in September,
Now, therefore, I, Rita Ali, Mayor of the City of Peoria, Illinois, do hereby proclaim that Peoria will celebrate September as Senior Center Month and that the city of Peoria will engage with the efforts to create a community-based center for older adults designated for the well-being of older adults in Peoria, Il.