83-year-old Tillie Groen feels young. Get her laughing and you’ll see! She giggles like a teenager, spontaneous and carefree – anyone could get caught up in the warmth of her chuckle.
Stillaguamish Senior Center Program and Volunteer Coordinator Karen Kay is thrilled each time she hears the laughter. It’s an intimate reminder of the healthy aging they empower in seniors through community investments from United Way. It also reflects just how much Tillie has blossomed since first reaching out to them from poverty, isolation and despair.
Tillie first connected with the Senior Center as a kitchen volunteer, when an increasing sense of isolation compelled her to reach out. The volunteer job proved to be serendipity for it was not much later that her retirement savings began to disappear.
Struggling under the local cost of living, when senior center staff realized Tillie’s financial strain, not to mention the attending loneliness and depression, they realized how empowering the Senior Center could be. They suggested she consider the low-income housing available there, and after some consideration, Tillie made the move.
“I’m in ‘Stilly Point’, and think I got the best apartment they have,” she whispered with a smile.
“Tillie made some tremendous changes,” Kay noted. “She was becoming more and more concerned with her financial struggles and we noticed that working in the kitchen gave her a much needed social outlet. She really blossomed after moving here and is now much more open and outgoing. She makes it easy to remember why we’re here.”