To the editor:
As we all know, these are challenging times and for seniors they are especially challenging due to COVID-19-enhanced vulnerability and isolation.
Many of you have pitched in and offered a helping hand to a senior who lives on your block, is or was a member of your church or synagogue or is otherwise known to you. For you there is gratitude.
Additionally, we have an Alexandria nonprofit, Senior Services of Alexandria, that performs services for our seniors – whether it be meals on wheels, rides to medical appointments or a caring visit. For all of these SSA ongoing outreach efforts there is gratitude.
I write today to especially acknowledge a person who has gone above and beyond the other kind acts and community outreach efforts. That person is Mary Lee Anderson, who is the executive director of SSA.
Anderson, in addition to skillfully supervising all the ongoing SSA programs, has thoughtfully reached out to the Alexandria Health Department and offered to assist in coordinating vaccine appointments for eligible seniors. This is no small endeavor on her part. It involves a tremendous volume of telephone calls and email messages from concerned and sometimes desperate seniors or their families, trying to arrange an appointment time.
Anderson has worked extremely hard to meet these requests in a timely manner and as a result has assisted many, many seniors in obtaining the limited number of appointment slots she has been allocated to coordinate. For Anderson there is gratitude.
Thank you to the many in our community who have shown care for seniors by personally reaching out with a phone call to lessen isolation, by dropping off groceries, by providing a warm meal or by including them in your “pod.” For all of you, there is gratitude.
If you share my gratitude, SSA always welcomes donations: https://seniorservicesalex.org/
-Barbara P. Beach, Alexandria
