Grant aides senior day care services

COURTESY PHOTO Seniors such as Clyde Harvey will benefit from grants for adult day care. A $17,200 grant is enabling Senior Friendship Centers to offer their Living Room day care services to more families within Lee County at a reduced rate. They are calling the program "Sponsor a Senior."

Services typically cost $8 an hour, but with the grant funding administrators said they are able to provide the services for $2.65 an hour to those who qualify.

"It's to help those who do not qualify for federal funding," said Ruthann Swiatek, senior manager of adult day services.

The grant was provided by Lee County, United Way and the Cape Coral Community Foundation.

The adult day services are a benefit to Lee County elders like James "Clyde" Harvey, 82.

"It's interesting. It gets me out of the house," he said. "I get to see other people, I get to tell jokes and hear jokes. It's something different. I get to meet other seniors and see what goes on in their lives."

It's also a time to enjoy old music like Dean Martin's "That's Amore" and in general, a time to socialize about the old days.

For Harvey, who suffered several strokes, that includes joining the Army Air Corps shortly after high school and being offered the chance to undergo pilot training. He smiles when he tells how he declined because he didn't want to fly but ended up in a plane anyways - as an airborne radio operator. He was even given orders to ship out, but then World War II ended.

He worked for 28 years as an industrial electrician for LifeSavers before retiring to Lehigh Acres, where he now lives with his daughter and her four children.

Three days a week, a bus picks Harvey up at his home and brings him into Fort Myers. It costs Harvey and the other clients $2 a trip. The transportation program is funded under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

For more information about the Sponsor a Senior program, call (239) 275-1881 ext. 220 or email Ruth Swiatek at Rswiatek@seniorfriendship. com