Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

This one is a special event that we have our friends putting on over at the Portage Commons, the Senior Enrichment Center.

You guys have been around for just over a year, but putting together something that's unique for our seniors in the area and the community, and I'm so excited to have Sandy and Stephanie here with me today.

Thank you, ladies for joining me.

Thank you.

Now this is a unique opportunity for people to, well, maybe get out and cheer on their team if you will, but in a different kind of way.

You guys are hosting your first official tailgate.

Tell us all about it.

Well, Stephanie and I actually met just a couple of months ago here through Portage Commons.

She's with Southern Cross.

We started to discuss our love of our senior community and population, and the resources that are out there.

And maybe our seniors don't have ready access to share all in one location.

So we realized quickly that our minds thought freakishly alike, and we joined forces to basically bring together any important resource that our seniors could need, as well as their family members.

I love that.

So this is really a community resource fair for our senior members of the community, and putting it into kind of the football season, if you will.

Absolutely.

Of course, you know.

And Irish country.

This is a big, very important time of the year.

So we thought we might as well, tail on that pun intended to bring our seniors into the community center and give them the resources that, they may need, not even know that they need at this point.

I love that, and that is such an important thing to do, especially, you know, getting those resources out there.

And, like you said, not necessarily even knowing what is available within the community and in the expanded community, as far as the reach that you're hoping for people to come in.

How far out are you touching?

Is this for Saint Joseph County residents?

This is actually for anyone.

A 60 or over or family members in the area.

So anybody that sees this broadcast, you know, no matter what state or county that they're from there.

Absolutely welcome here.

I love that.

Now tell me a little bit more about your organization and how you hold yourself into all of this.

So, my background is in originally in education, and I have a family background.

My mom was a hospice nurse for my entire lives growing up.

Oh, wow.

So I actually combined my two interests education and hospice, and have found the the perfect position for me at Southern Care Hospice.

I love education.

So when Sandy and I were thinking about, you know what?

What can we do to impact the community?

It was a big deal to me to bring the the education point into the picture.

But also, the reason we chose the tailgate was because, you know, everybody needs to have a little fun, too.

So entertainment.

You guys are definitely.

I love your.

I love your referee uniforms.

You're already ready to go for that too.

Yes we are.

Okay, so I'm guessing can people come dress in to theme if that, if they want to?

Absolutely.

They can come as a football player.

They want to come as a basketball player.

Absolutely a cheerleader.

They can come in any shape or form.

And the more fun, the better for everyone involved.

Oh, I would love if we have some of our seniors who still have like their cheer uniform from Riley or something like that.

That would be so cool to see.

So make sure you share pictures with us, Sandy on this.

We absolutely will.

Now, this is the first time you guys are doing this though, right?

So you guys haven't done this before?

We have not done this before.

No.

Okay.

So hopefully this will be an annual thing for you guys.

Absolutely.

Yes.

We are hoping for that.

You know, we will we will admit we are a little bit limited on real estate here inside the building.

And of course, the football team tied in.

So we're going to utilize the parking lot.

And it's going to be fun.

We're going to have live music.

We're going to have food.

We're going to have raffle prizes and, resources and every from Medicare to legal counsel to health to rehabilitation centers.

You know, every stage of, aging and housing, we're going to have vaccinations here from the Saint Joseph County Health Department.

So there's just a little bit of everything to offer.

Forever Learning Institute will be here for, of course, a little bit of entertainment and leisure, but, we believe we've covered all bases.

That's wonderful.

Now, you said it is happening in the parking lot.

So is there alternative parking where people need to arrive at?

There is parking.

We do have parking.

North and south on North Williams Street.

East and west on Colfax.

We have a rear lot behind our building.

We will have signs indicating.

And First Presbyterian Church has been gracious enough to offer parking down closer to the Lincoln Way portion.

We will have signs and referees directing traffic there as well.

Of course, if you see a referee, you know you're in the right zone.

Exactly.

You're in the end zone.

Okay.

So all of these what I'm assuming I know, Stephanie, you are one of the vendors that are going to be there as well too.

Are you guys decorating to the theme?

Is it is it going to go along with that?

Yes.

We are decorating tailgate style.

Kind of also trunk or treat style rather.

So and then we're having a little competition amongst the vendors, so, so that we make sure everybody is everything really spruced up in the spirit of the event.

So I'm really looking forward to it.

Sandy and I are a little competitive as well.

So we're really getting into the theme exactly this hour.

Oh, well, for you, our seniors will actually and family members will receive a scorecard upon their arrival when they register.

Said scorecard will deliver them to all of the vendors here, where they will have their scorecard stamped, and then drop it in the end zone to be entered for a raffle prize at the end of the event.

I love that.

Now we I want to make sure we say, when is this event happening?

This is Friday, October 9th from 1 to 4 p.m.. Okay.

So it's during the weekday.

So a great opportunity for our friends to get out and enjoy some hopefully sunshine out there.

But it is an outdoor event.

Is that rain or shine that is rain or shine?

We do have an additional plan to bring vendors in if need be, but we have our fingers crossed.

We are doing some Hail Marys to ensure that we have that good weather and just talk to us about, you know, why it's so important to have a resource fair like this for our senior citizens in the community?

You know, I really think that, it's one of those things.

And I'm getting older now as well, that we sometimes put off looking into the resources we need.

I think part of that is our own denial, maybe.

Or sometimes it's just human nature that we don't actually look for the resources until we're in the thick of it.

So, you know, Stephanie and I and I both talked about wanting to ensure that our seniors know where to locate assistance from, you know, looking at secondary insurance benefits.

And you know, how different companies.

You know, cater to different needs.

And this can be specific to their health needs.

Knowing that we have medical offices that work with strictly Medicare in the area.

That's a whole resource knowing that, you know, we have Saint Joe County pace.

If they wanted a one stop shop or they could go for physical therapy and transportation and doctor's visits and meals that that's out there knowing that if they're looking to do a state planning or trust or anything of that nature, we have that information knowing when it comes to rehabilitation that, of course, sometimes it's, you know, down to who may have space for you at that given moment, but they absolutely have a choice in where they go for said rehabilitation, where they go for long term care, where they go for assisted living or independent living.

And where they find entertainment within the community.

So we just wanted to make all of the resources available as they make their stops.

And we really do hope that they find that there was something that they didn't realize they were looking for.

Yeah.

I just want to add that planning for the end of life, you know, it doesn't have to be so scary when you know who to turn to, who can give you support, and you can plan and make it, you know, a little less stressful on your family and your loved ones too.

So absolutely.

Well, thank you ladies so much for putting this together.

This is a really exciting event that you guys have.

Friday is happening next week.

From 1 to 4.

So we want people to make sure they come.

So for our senior citizens and their caregivers to what wonderful resources you have, and I can just see this continuing to grow.

We're going to need more than 100 yard field to put this in pretty soon.

Well thank you Courtney.

We really hope for a touchdown with this event and we appreciate you.

We're going to have a lot of fun.

Thank you ladies.