(cheerful easygoing music) - Will you consider this?

We're all getting a day older, day by day, and you want to gracefully age.

Well, this young lady here, Peggy Jacques, and I'm so glad I asked you how to pronounce that because it looks like Jacques.

- It does.

(laughs) - It looks very French.

You brought a concept here to the Peoria area, so tell me about Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging.

- It would be my delight.

I'm a nurse by trade, and I've always loved elders and wanted to do something that I could leave a legacy for.

And so my thought was I would do the best nursing home ever because I've worked in nursing homes, and there are one, most have a lot of issues.

- [Christine] Mm-hmm.

- And so when I started to go down that pathway to become a nursing home administrator, a friend of mine said, "Oh, no, that's not really something that's possible.

Find something else to do."

So I did a project through the University of Phoenix.

There's a healthcare gerontology program, and I have my Master's in Public Health, but I really didn't know that Peoria did not have a senior center.

It wasn't, I mean, I've made home visits.

I've done referrals.

It just wasn't on my radar.

So I understand why people in the Peoria area don't understand what we don't have.

- Well, we had the Agency on Aging.

Do we still have that?

Or is it- - The Agency on Aging is Title III money through the Area Agency on Aging.

That's a federal program, and that provides services, you know, with what you need.

But what is sad is that most people don't realize there's a whole other side of aging.

And that's why we call our programming Aging With Vitality because senior centers were created in the Older Adult Act in the '60s, and many communities, so really retirement wasn't a thing.

People didn't retire.

They died early, right?

- [Christine] Okay.

- I mean, the biggest thing that's happened to our culture worldwide- - We're living longer.

- is we're living longer.

- Yes.

- And for the most part, living well, you know, until the later years, really, because of medicines and therapies and all that kind of thing.

So what do you do?

- [Christine] Right.

- There isn't a script, especially in our culture of how to age well.

And so what does that mean?

That means being physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially healthy.

And how do you learn to do that?

- [Christine] Yeah.

How do you?

- So you have to find resources.

- So that's where you come in.

All right.

- Because senior centers were made with the Social Security Act to be a center because people were retired and thought, "Who am I?

What am I?

I used to be a worker.

I was this and that."

- Right.

They had an identity.

- Exactly.

- Okay, but they don't now.

Now that they're retired.

- Right.

And so now what do you do?

And so senior centers were created to help make it a hub of communication, resources, of how to get help if you need it, socialization and meals and that kind of thing.

And many communities took advantage of that.

The one in Springfield is 50 years old.

Pekin Miller Center is 40 years old.

Bloomington-Normal has a beautiful center called the Activity & Recreation Center that's 25 years old.

- [Christine] Mm-hmm.

- And so when I looked around and I thought, "Well, I could do that."

(laughs) - Okay, big bite.

Yeah, big bite to chew, right?

- Big bite.

- All right.

- Went through Bradley Small Business Development, SCORE, you name it.

I tried to get help and finally got direction that we were a nonprofit, and so I work very closely with the Agency on Aging.

I've been on their board 15 years.

It's all a funding mixture kind of issue that the community has to solve, and so we formed in 2020.

- [Christine] Mm-hmm.

- Bad timing.

(laughs) - Well, you know, and there's a lot of things that, yeah, a lot of agencies, organizations that hit that.

- Yeah.

- That stop.

- Well, we didn't see it coming, of course.

- Right.

- And so I thought, "This is the worst idea ever."

And I had some incredible mentors, Matt George and Kim Martin being two of them that said, "Nope, dust off your despair and get going and get your organization started."

So we are a 501c3, you know, nonprofit, and we've grown gradually.

And the magic is seeing the changed lives.

So it's taken a long time because just as we're talking, there's a whole gap of awareness.

- Right.

- And potential.

And so once people realize, they're like, "Well, of course that makes sense."

- Right.

- No one says it's a bad idea.

So we got funding in 2023 to get started with the rescue funding through the Agency on Aging.

And then we've gotten a ton of support from the Community Foundation of Central Illinois.

If it weren't for them, really, new nonprofits wouldn't have a prayer.

It's hard because you have to... Grants beget grants beget grants.

- [Christine] Correct.

- So they've really helped.

And then we were blessed to get the Impact Peoria Inspire Grant last year.

- Right, mm-hmm.

- And so our goal is to get secure funding because we've grown from nine people.

We've grown 300% since we opened our doors.

(laughs) - [Christine] Really?

- We started with one day.

- And officially in 2023.

- In 2023.

- Okay.

- Yeah, we had one day a week with nine people coming and minimal programming because we didn't know what people wanted, to three days a week with 30 to 60 people coming.

So we do programs for exercise and at people's levels.

- Right, so tell me exactly, if somebody comes to Graceland Center for Purposeful Aging, what is the first thing they will do?

And how do they there and is it a convenient time?

They're early birds 'cause older people like to get up early.

- Or they like to sleep in.

- Or they like to sleep in.

It's one or the other.

It's none of that- - It's never the in between.

- Yeah, exactly.

- So we try to meet that by being open 10:00 to 1:00.

- [Christine] All right.

- And so we're currently located at the Life Together Center at War Memorial and Sheridan, 3625 North Sheridan Road, the big, long building that's a nice venue.

And the Community Foundation is in the very front of that.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So we rent office space in the back.

There's a green awning and it's a nice flat parking lot.

People can, no reservations, no fees, walk in.

You'll be welcomed at our, we have a reception desk, and we do have paperwork to keep everybody safe, you know, and then they walk into programming, whatever the programming is for that day.

- [Christine] All right.

And there's certain programming per day.

- [Peggy] Yes.

- So let's say, what's Monday programming?

- [Peggy] Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

- Oh, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Oh, that's right.

You said three days a week.

Okay.

- So Tuesday is movie day and bingo.

- All right.

- And we do a lot, we try to do everything we can to keep cognitively and physically healthy.

So when we do a movie, after it gets finished, it's, you know, "What did you think about this plot?"

Or, you know, thought-provoking questions.

- [Christine] Mm-hmm.

- And then bingo 'cause just plain fun.

And then Wednesdays, we do fun exercises.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And then we always have a program.

Like last week, we had a gentleman talk about leaving your legacy, from a funeral home and how to really establish what it is you want to leave for your family.

Today, we have someone doing self-defense and self-awareness and situational safety for people.

- For men and women?

- For men and women.

- All right.

- And then on Thursday, sometimes we have a program, but people have really asked to have just a hangout day.

So we have a avid Scrabble group.

We have quilters, we have... And we do community service projects so we're making blankets for Ronald McDonald or we've made baskets for Foster Village, so it's just really well-rounded.

- And there are these organizations, like you said, all around Peoria.

How did we miss that boat?

Or did we have something and it just went by the wayside?

Or what happened?

- I think it's, the Park District, it used to have a program, intentional programming for older adults.

And that was stopped in the '90s because from what I understand, they thought it was duplicative.

And I think it's a matter of not wanting to address it, I'll be honest.

There are a lot of issues in Peoria.

I've met with several City Council people, and of course there's crime and there's safety and housing and all those things, but it's to our dismay and to our detriment to not pay attention.

Over 1/3 of our population is over 50, and by 2030, there will be more people over the age of 50 than under the age of 18, so if we don't make- - Wow.

- an intentional way to keep people healthy, the toll on our physical health and mental health, with socialization... I wanna tell you a tiny story.

- [Christine] Okay.

- John and Helen came to us, and Helen was newly diagnosed with dementia, severely depressed about it, felt like it was a terminal illness, which it kind of is.

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- And so he had taken her.

There's Senior World, which is a wonderful resource.

And that's for people who need care during the day.

They're not able to live alone at home.

They're unsafe or whatever.

Which is wonderful, but senior centers are meant for wellness, for independent living, people who want to do something else.

- They can get there on their own and still carry on.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And able to function.

So Helen could, but we asked John to stay with her because she really wouldn't even look at us.

- [Christine] Okay.

- Very depressed.

So over three to four months, her spirits lifted.

She was... I have to send you the poem.

The change in her was nothing short of a miracle.

- [Christine] Hm.

- And he realized, "Oh, we have a future still."

And so they decided to move to Alabama so she could be closer to her family.

And he picked one with a senior center, and he presented us with a poem called "Graceland, the Healing Place."

And it talked about her transition and what the love and the care and the friendship, how it changed her life.

And that happens, I could tell you, yeah, that it's our case study of just how much we don't realize how much we need each other.

- Right.

- And connection.

- The impact that you have.

Well, a lot of people, so seniors, you know, they're not who they used to be.

Things are hurting.

There's a lot of inflammation.

You know, there's a lot going on.

And they start to, I don't know, I mean, listen to me.

- Withdraw.

- Yes, withdraw.

- Mm-hmm.

- And that can cause depression and anxiety.

And so those are the things that you're really trying to address to pull them in to be inclusive.

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

- All right.

Well then, how are you getting the word out to people so that they know that we've got this wonderful resource now in town?

- Well, we're partnering with a lot of different organizations.

Right now, we're partnered with Age Central, which is the new name for Central Illinois Agency on Aging.

We have a grant with them in the Peoria City/County Health Department so we're doing satellites out in the community so that people know about us.

And for example, we had Barry Cloyd perform at the Health Department on Monday.

I think it was, it wasn't Martin Luther King Day, or maybe it was.

Anyway, the below zero.

- Mm-hmm.

- We had a packed room.

- Really?

- People came out because they want, it's not as much entertainment as much as it's community.

- Mm-hmm.

- So we do outside activities.

We collaborate with other agencies.

We do as much as we can on TV and radio.

It's hard to get, to be honest, media to come when we do programming.

It's positive, it's good.

I don't know- - [Christine] But there's other bad stuff going on and- - Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, and awareness.

- So we don't give up.

We just keep plugging.

And Facebook.

We're very active on Facebook.

- Well, that's good.

- Yeah.

- That's technology.

- Mm-hmm.

- So some of the other kind of things you expose people to, you can help them with their technology challenges and things like that.

- Yes, yeah.

- So who do you have to come in to facilitate those kinds of things?

- Very good question.

So we are so blessed.

All the people that come to us do it on a volunteer basis so we don't have to pay speakers.

We do pay musicians because that's only right.

But we have, like SeniorNet is one group that does computer technology.

In fact, we just scheduled them.

We have, like I said, the person from the funeral home.

We have wellness coaches.

We have people from different community agencies like Advocates for Access, for example.

Maybe you have a need in your home and you need something adapted, but you didn't know about it.

So we do a big survey of our people every year and ask them, "What are you interested in?"

And then we make programs based on what they're interested in.

Art and music are huge.

- Really?

- Mm-hmm.

Because it's that emotional.

- Right.

So in terms of art.

- Mm-hmm.

- Is that, that you actually have them doing something?

You have a presenter come and then they do something?

Or how does that work?

- Both.

- Okay.

- Yeah, both.

Yeah, we have- - All right.

- We always have a craft on Thursday, on the down day.

We have one, I don't know if you're familiar, there's Mather's centers for LifeWays in Chicago, and they have a research institute, To Age Well And so we actually tried to model after them, but they folded one part of their programming during, because of COVID, so they provide us with art kits.

And so it has wonderful step-by-step instructions that people, we can take and do in a group.

- Better than paint by number?

- Yeah, yeah, it's fun because it's... And they research, what's a good way for hand-eye coordination?

- And dexterity, yes.

- And color and expression, so it's always different.

Like, I would not be able to come up with all of these, you know?

- Right.

- So... - Well, it's nice that you have figured out how to pull in these resources and have them in one central location.

So this is a one-stop shop for retirees now.

- [Peggy] Yes.

- And you cover ages 50 and up?

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

And it's free of charge.

And the other big thing is our congregate meals.

We started that with Neighborhood House.

They've been amazing.

So they're no fee, no charge to anybody over the age of 60.

And the difference of eating together is amazing.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

And it also helps people because then that's one less meal they have to cook, one less meal to eat alone.

Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

- So how does that work?

- So people, when they come in to the Welcome Center and they sign up, you know, it's kinda like the division of the loaves and fishes.

It's a little magical because the cook always gives us extra because we have people that walk in that we weren't planning for, but then you sign up for the next week and so they have a roster of who's coming so they give us those amount of meals and then a little extra.

And I think the other day we had 65 or close to 70, and she thought we'd only had 48 meals and everyone ate.

(laughs) I was like- - There you go.

Loaves and fish.

- [Peggy] "I'm not asking the questions."

- Right, exactly.

Thank you, Lord, for providing.

Right.

And then what types of foods do they get?

I mean, they get on the food pyramid, however that's changing right now, but.

- So, yeah.

So they are based, because it's Meals on Wheels, so it's federal funding and all that kinda thing so they're mostly lower salt, but they're darn good.

I eat 'em.

(Christine laughs) And they're what is going to go for the delivery meals.

But what happened with the Meals on Wheels with Social Security and that congregate meals were part of senior centers was that that would be something for socialization and nutrition and teaching people how to balance their meals.

So there's always a protein.

There's always two carbs.

My last job was a diabetic educator, so it's a perfect diabetes, you know, it's not- - Okay venue.

- It's not oversweet.

There's always a fruit.

Higher fiber, lower salt and then we always have condiments.

And nobody goes, go home hungry.

- Well, and that's good.

That's really good.

What has surprised you the most about the growth that you have been experiencing?

- The need.

To see people light up.

For example, I had a lady call me, and we talked over the weekend.

Her friend is on Facebook, she's not, and she just moved here from Oregon and they're hungry for contact, you know?

And she said, "I moved in here to be by my sister, but I need friends."

And churches used to be that group and they still are.

- [Christine] To some degree.

- To some degree, but most churches don't have a volunteer force as much as they did.

And so people, you know, what do you do?

Maybe you meet your friends at coffee once a month.

Maybe you're part of a quilting group.

There are things that I think when you asked about the dismissiveness or where we missed the mark, I think it's easy to say, "Well, Riverfront Museum has a beautiful program once a month, today, from 10:00 to 12:00."

And then people can go to the, you know, the museum for free.

That's once a month.

- Right.

- OLLI has programming, which is beautiful.

In fact, I'm taking a class now.

I finally have time to.

But maybe most of our, a lot of our people don't have $35 to $60 to pay for a class.

- [Christine] Mm-hmm.

- So we're filling a huge gap that Peoria is not even aware of.

We're really kinda helping City Council to understand that this is not a need they can escape from.

In fact, I did a workshop for leadership on that, "This is not an escape room.

You can't get out."

This isn't, you know, you can call it a problem.

It is an entity worldwide that everyone's working with.

- But let's find a solution.

- And let's find a... And there's so much to give back.

Surprising, I think, is how much people, wisdom people have.

And the simple lives.

We have Bradley students helping us with Silver Stories.

- [Christine] Hm.

- And even the simplest person who might think they have nothing to contribute, their endurance, their ability to navigate change, the love they've given to the community gives me goosebumps.

So telling their stories.

- So this is the Silver Stories?

- Silver Stories.

Yeah.

- All right, and how did that, well, you got your master's at Bradley, so that was your connection there to get the Bradley students involved, and are they news?

Are they in the news business, you know, information business?

- So we are really blessed this year.

First off, I'm a Wildcat from Arizona.

That's where all my degrees are from, but one of my associates is a professor at Bradley College of Nursing.

- All right.

- So we have nursing students, and they're helping us this semester and are pretty mesmerized at doing the Silver Stories.

I've started Silver Stories.

We have an online newsletter.

If people want to, they can go to our website and they can sign up for it.

- [Christine] Give us that website right now before we forget.

- Okay, gracelandcenter.com.

Very simple.

- gracelandcenter.com.

- And there's a place right at the bottom to subscribe to our newsletter.

But we started doing Silver Stories in our newsletter because that's how I grew up.

You know, I love listening to elders.

And so like last month we had a woman who just turned 100, and they had a huge celebration.

So her family, I put what their family put together to honor her for her legacy.

- So are the students writing these things down?

Are they recording them video or?

- They're doing right now, we have a little format.

And so just last night, I asked the, when the professor started, I said, "Maybe because..." There's so much I could say.

There's a program called CoGenerate.

It used to be called Encore.

And the Hult Center used to have those programs.

- Right.

- So that's another reason I think.

But this is intergenerational work, which is so powerful because younger people need that older influence.

- And history, right?

- And stability and yeah.

And then older people love, our whole goal in later life is to feel like we had a purpose and we can give to others.

So they have a lot of programming.

And so there are a zillion examples at different universities of like, there was one at Saint Louis University of someone doing, they did a dance together and it would bring you to your knees crying.

It was so beautiful because the older adult did what they could do, and then the younger person danced around them.

Or they had a orchestra with the older people playing with the younger people.

Art projects.

We just, we're working on getting a grant to do a mural, an intergenerational mural because older people don't feel seen.

- Right.

- You know?

- Well, and that's part of it.

And that's part of why you're doing what you're doing to make sure that they feel included and feel appreciated.

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

- And meaningful.

- Yes.

- That they're a meaningful part of our community, and they so are.

The return on investment isn't critical here because I think that's where our city has missed the mark.

Who owns their homes and who's paying the taxes and who's contributed?

- Mm-hmm, right.

- So we really have to reestablish that respect line and keep that happening to keep our economy, you know?

- So we have a little bit of time.

So City Council is aware now.

- Mm-hmm.

- And you're gonna keep goosing 'em.

- Mm-hmm.

We put a petition out for a special meeting from the township to do a special meeting to only talk about this.

Several, I think over 50 senior centers in Illinois are funded by township funds.

- [Christine] Oh.

- And it may take, be a need for a senior tax levy.

The Activity & Recreation Center, I would really encourage people to look that up in Bloomington-Normal.

It's a beautiful, it's like the RiverPlex.

Not quite that large.

ISU worked with their township, and they have their old Activity Center so they have walkways and classrooms and billiard rooms and workout areas.

- [Christine] All in one place.

- All in one place.

And when you said hub, that was my original, that is part of the goal is, you know, have people, have agencies come in.

It's hard to navigate, right?

- Right.

- It's hard to make the phone calls, get people to answer the call, figure out what the resource is, so, you know, have a little office and rotate people through.

- [Christine] You're a one-stop shop.

- Mm-hmm.

- Well, I want to thank you for sharing that and taking care of us old guys, or seniors, yes.

(laughs) - (laughs) My joy.

- Well, thank you again so much.

So again, the website is... - gracelandcenter.com.

- All lowercase.

- And it's called Graceland not to honor Elvis, but to be a place, A, that people remember it, but it's a place of grace and dignity.

- I like that.

Okay.

- Mm-hmm.

- And I like you coming and sharing that story.

- Thank you.

- And I hope you appreciated it as well.

Thank you for being with us, and until next time, be well.

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