DECEMBER 1.2006
northwest
Grant Means Gain
for Seniors
Elder Resource Alliance continues to support
our aging community
by Malka Geffen
s the “out” population of the sexual
minorities community grows older,
many of its members find themselves
going back into the closet.
Elder Resource Alliance (ERA) is a
Portland organization that enhances the lives of
sexual minority elders 60 and older through educa
tion, advocacy, outreach and fun. A component of
the Friendly House Senior Program since 2004,
ERA recently received a $20,000 grant from
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette. The
money will help members of the elder population
living in Multnomah, Clark, Washington and
Clackamas counties get their survival and social
needs met without hiding their identity.
Founded in 1930, Friendly House is a contracting
agency of Multnomah County Aging and Disability
Services. According to Vaune Albanese, executive
director of Friendly House, one of ERA’s primary
goals is to build a sense of community among sexual
minority elders and alleviate their social isolation.
“We had been getting smaller GLBT-targeted grants,
but we needed more money to do all we wanted to
do,” said Albanese, who is a lesbian.
With the new grant money, ERA can afford to
hold more social activities including movie and game
days, monthly speakers, outings, a summer barbecue
and sock hop, a spring pancake bingo breakfast and
vital exercise and wellness activities. The grant will
also support greater outreach efforts. ERA chairman
Paul larrobino said, “We will do more to let people
know we’re there as a resource, offer more activities
and provide more administrative support.”
ERA will also use the grant to continue educat
ing service providers, caregivers and community
leaders on the specific challenges and needs of the
elder sexual minority population. Facilitators help
social service professionals and nursing students
understand the personal biases that can create obsta
cles to working effectively with this population.
In 2005, ERA presented 15 diversity trainings,
reaching 356 people. According to larrobino, the
three-hour trainings include facts and accurate
information on the changing demographics as well
as a presentation where elder panel members tell
their personal stories. In an exercise called
"Keeping a Secret,” participants discuss why peo
ple keep secrets and the toll they pay for doing so.
“It’s the emotional buy-in from the audience," said
Carol French, ERA’s primary training facilitator.
According to French, ERA has not held a facil
itator training since she herself was trained several
years ago. A session led by French; her partner, April
Lewis; and larrobino will train new facilitators about
special issues for sexual minority elders, basic diver
sity and cultural competence, important language
regarding gender identity and good facilitating tech
niques. French says she hopes for new facilitators to
learn from the elder panel members as well.
Elder panel member Mary Beth Brindley and
her partner, Evelyn Hall, have been together for 47
years but lived in the closet for 37 years. “When we
came to Portland from Texas in '96, we vowed to
jUSt|OUtl5
I ’m AVAILABLE, „
whenjjQ^ are!”
Careful and energetic handling of
all your home financing needs
MORTGAGE
A Advocates
6700 S\V 105th Ave.. Suite 200 IkaveHoii. ( )R 97005
loll Free («77) «269900 Fax (50.3) 2974)824
E-Mail: colleenwV' intg;uh<xates.c<>in www.mtgailvixates.com
D avid W. O wens
P. C.
&
ASSOCIATES
serving the community since 1975
A ttorneys at L aw
Serving Oregon & Washington
503 224 3100
Dick Burden educates service providers through
the ERA elder panel.
become active in GLBT senior things,” said
Brindley. She attended the second ERA meeting in
the fall of 2001 and has been a member ever since.
“The GLBT senior population is underserved and
practically invisible."
Brindley said she has visited friends in assisted
living facilities and seen them go back into the
closet so they’ll be socially accepted. “It saddens me
to see previously active GLBT seniors go back in
the closet we just came out of,” she said.
Brindley joined the elder panel when it began
in 2003 and chaired the group in 2005. “Slowly but
surely, we’re trying to drag these seniors out of clos
et to join us and have fun.”
A more recent addition to the elder panel, Dick
Burden, was a pastor when he married and had chil
dren in the early '60s. The 75-year-old gay Oregon
native admits to having “clandestine rendezvous in
risky places” throughout his adult life. A run-in with
the law when he was 52 brought his behavior to
light.
“For a long time 1 got away with it, but this
brought things to a head and allowed me to get out
of my marriage, to be free to be myself without all
this hiding and making excuses and living a life of
shame and depression," he said. Burden speaks out to
“encourage others to be open and deal with who they
are and also to inform those who are against us.”
The elder panel portion of ERA’s presentation is
the most popular part, according to Burden. “It
touches on some very sensitive issues that people
wouldn't perceive when they hear this is a lesbian or
a gay man.... Just identifying sets up a barrier, hut
people can relate better once you tell your story. It
opens things up so they can ask questions.' ©
DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS
ADOPTIONS • ESTATE PLANNING
WILLS • TRUSTS • ADVANCE DIRECTIVES
POWER OF ATTORNEY
GUARDIANSHIPS AND CONSERVATORSHIPS
vwwcwens-lawcom »101 SW MAIN, SUITE 700 • Portland, Oregon 97204 • Parking Validated
Cciuputei- und Wub eldllu
1er
und tudiluiî
tud^lii Ui pitali Bi^lldu
- I-Í1ML
L?ivaiuvvl-L-il-
BliélúiiUa* l-tv - LdySQL
- CSS
l-c decline
Vó¿b Suieiy c. Sucmüy
Uuiii^ Suaidi Biçlnus
PABA member
E lder R esource A lliance holds a holiday open
house with songs and door prices 2 p.m. Dec. 6 at
Friendly House, 1737 N.W. 26th Ace. The next
ERA “tTain the trainer" program is from 9a.m. to
3 p.m. Jan. 27. For more information contact
Rachel Indigo Cerise Baum at 503-224-2640.
ext. 152, or visit www.elderresourcealliance.org.
ZSZ 4^
119
S i - M ain st
Computer Training
Close-in SE Portland
(503)336-4712 ------A
www.fenixworkshop.com/justoiit