What is the Shelter Island Senior Foundation? Explaining an essential Island group
Of all the charitable, service-providing organizations on Shelter Island — and there are quite a few — the Senior Foundation may be the most obscure.
Are they part of the Town of Shelter Island senior services? Meals on Wheels? And speaking of wheels, didn’t they spend $85,000 on a bus called the Silver Streak, that takes seniors where they need to go?
The Senior Foundation is all of those things, and if you are a senior now, or are planning to become one, it’s time to find out more about an organization that is vital to the health and well-being of Shelter Island’s vibrant and growing population of people with Medicare cards.
The Senior Foundation began as the Shelter Island Senior Citizens Affairs Council around 2000, when most of its current clientele was just starting to think about senior-hood. It was founded by a group led by Seymour Weissmann to raise money to subsidize the local senior services.
Over the years, some of the Island’s most influential residents have helped to organize and execute the mission of the Senior Foundation, including Mr. Weissman, Alex Garcia, Barbara Silverstone, Mimi Brennan, Jeanne Wood, and Chris Lewis.
Today the Senior Foundation consists of four officers and eight members of the Board of Directors. Their mission is to help pay for the things that Shelter Island’s senior citizens need to be comfortable, healthy and happy.
The best way to be known is by your good works, and the Senior Foundation has plenty of those. Enjoyed the Wades Beach Pavilion and benches? Thank the Foundation, which partnered with the Lions Club to make it happen. Enthralled by the Historical Society’s films made from interviews with people who have lived Shelter Island history? Tip your three-cornered hat to the Foundation.
Joanne Sherman, the Foundation’s new president, said she was once as clueless as many of us still are about the fundamental role of the Senior Foundation in Island life. “I didn’t know the difference between Senior Foundation and Meals on Wheels and Senior Center when I started here,” Ms. Sherman said. “But I liked Chris Lewis and Chris was the president. I was looking to get hooked in.”
Other recently elected officers are Vice President Glenn Waddington, Treasurer Jeanne Woods and Secretary Janet Jernick.
This is the second time Jeanne Woods has held the office of treasurer. The first was back in the very early days of the organization, which makes her one of the rare people who understands the DNA of the Foundation.
“It’s a dynamic group of people with high expectations to deliver important things to our seniors,” she said. “They underwrote the reading machines [expensive devices recently gifted to the Shelter Island Library in a joint project with the Lions Club. No one on their own is in a position to buy those things.”
The Foundation also made a $75,000 donation toward the expansion of the Library in recognition of its vital role in the lives of Island seniors.
If getting old is no joke, that may be why a sense of humor is a common denominator in volunteers for the Senior Foundation. Ms. Sherman is as well known for her hilarious writing about Shelter Island life as she is for her community involvement. Past president Bob Lipsyte has been making New York Times and Shelter Island Reporter readers laugh for decades.
Board Member Peter Waldner, when asked why he decided to join the Foundation just said, “I love old people.”
Ms. Sherman described the neighborly process that leads to projects being funded by the Foundation, which starts with a grant application. “People make requests. A kitchen remodel for the Presbyterian Church was in the talking stages before I joined the Board, when Chris was active,” she said. “The request was made because the church kitchen has provided thousands of meals on wheels. Laurie Fanelli requested help for a ‘cozy room’ at the Senior Center for small groups and crafts such as knitting. We meet quarterly, more often if needed.”
The Senior Foundation gets to do all these good deeds because it raises money. There’s an annual appeal letter, a Fashion Show on April 20, and a wine-tasting fundraiser coming on April 27. You can also support the Foundation’s mission by donating at siseniorfoundation.org.
