JCCOA Warm Hearts Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign (Rita Bostic)

Rita Bostic
Campaign: Warm Hearts: JCCOA Seniors Who Kindle Our Community’s Spirit
Call to Action: Learn More. Join Us. Give

Much to Write Home About

Devoted card writer and former school librarian Rita Bostic started a new chapter of life at JCCOA, where every person she meets is a living story worth knowing.

Rita Bostic loves sharing stories. For 17 years she was an elementary school librarian, matching children with books and watching their horizons expand. But when health issues forced her to retire, those busy days came to an abrupt stop. All that changed the day she walked into the Jefferson County Council on Aging senior center.

“I look forward to coming here, you know.” Rita says. “It helps lonely people, and I have to admit, I was lonely sometimes.”

At JCCOA she discovered a different sort of library- one of people, not pages. Around the bingo tables, at lunch, on bus rides home she and newfound friends trade memories of coal towns, small schools, classic films, horses, and the West Virginia hills. Let someone mention a place or name from the past, and another person will pick up the thread. “Oh, you remember so and so? Let me think now….” she says. “Maybe tomorrow someone fills in some of the gaps.”

At the senior center Rita has befriended contemporaries with similar memories of yesteryear, a world before cell phones and Facebook “friends” in which families ate together and townspeople knew each other by name. Such connections mean everything to her. Each day she phones one kindred spirit to fill respective gaps in the local paper’s crossword puzzle. While another friend she made at JCCOA has since moved away, they keep in regular contact with cards and phone calls. “I never would have met any of these people unless I came here,” she says.

Rita’s love of connection also remains written in ink.

Her grandmother was a devoted correspondent through World War II, sending letters and cards to her serviceman son and his buddies. Rita proudly follows in her footsteps and over the years has written to countless family members and friends, as well as such celebrities as Elizabeth Tayor, Joan Crawford, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Randolph Scott- sometimes to share admiration, other times to offer sympathy.

Closer to home, her cards to family and friends have extended a quiet lifeline. In 1980 Rita wondered if she was spending too much on stamps. Then the phone rang. One the other end of the like was a childhood neighbor dying of cancer. “She says, ‘Rita, how do you know the days I feel the worst is when I get a card from you?” A young man also stricken with cancer similarly told her, “Rita, I think you and God are working together, because on days I feel the worst, I get a card.” After that she couldn’t stop.

Even now Rita sends out at least 280 cards each Christmas, not to mention dozens of birthday, anniversary, and “thinking of you” cards year-round. Two friends living in nursing homes receive a card from her every week. Even her orthopedist, Dr. Joe Cincinnati, is on her list of regular recipients. Rita’s own most treasured letters are ones from her grandmother, weaving a tangible thread of love and memory across generations.

On her visits to JCCOA Rita spends time filling out cards and helping others drafts their own. For such sessions she maintains a writing station stocked with donated cards and envelopes, available to anyone who wants to reach out.

Rita is also grateful for the center’s range of services, including exercise classes, home-delivered meals, rides to doctor’s appointments, seminars on how to spot scams, and more. “If you need something, they can help you,” Rita says. It all adds up to what she calls living independently “with help if I need it.”

Rita understands that JCCOA’s support of seniors is one way to keep a community’s history alive. The stories her senior center cohorts share- of working the mines, raising families, serving in wartime, watching towns change- offer both reminiscence for those in her age bracket and wisdom for the young. “They’re gonna be seniors one of these days too,” she says with a gentle smile.

At JCCOA Rita has found a circle of friends who value what each person carries within their minds and souls. With every visit, every shared memory, every handwritten card, she helps ensure those voices continue to be heard.

JCCOA Warm Hearts Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign (Delores Turner)

Delores Turner
Campaign: Warm Hearts: JCCOA Seniors Who Kindle Our Community’s Spirit
Call to Action: Learn More. Join Us. Give

Finding a Place at Table 8

For Delores Turner JCCOA provides exercise, conversation, creativity, and a bit of luck at bingo. Pull up a chair to find such friends and age-defying purpose.

Though Delores Turner was born in 1930 and is a bit slower on her feet in her 90s, each weekday begins with purpose. Monday through Friday she visits the Jefferson County Council on Aging senior center, riding the JCCOA bus from and to home. “It’s like going to work: you get up, get dressed, get out, and come back,” she says with a smile. “It helps keep the walls together.”

Staff members at the senior center have told Delores she’s such a regular that it’s as if she too were an employee. The reason she remains faithful is simple. ” I like to come here,” she says. “It’s always nice to have somebody to talk to. You really keep alive by being active, in conversation with different people.”

Her days start with exercise, aa regimen her doctor encouraged. “My doctor told me I need to do something, so I come to exercise,” she says. “We do it for about 45 minutes.” Delores attributes her active body and mind to such interaction and conversation with fellow seniors.

Another highlight of her days at JCCOA is when she settles in at lucky Table 8 for Bingo. “When I first came here, bingo is what kept me wanting to come,” she says. Prizes include snacks, though Delores admits a preference for the occasional games that pays out cash. “I like the fact that I can win one time with money,” she says with a laugh. “Get my money, get my sweets.”

Other offerings at JCCOA encourage learning and creativity. Delores spends her downtime improving her crocheting skills. “I’m just learning,” she says. A senior center she attended in Maryland, prior to her move to Jefferson County in 2024, offered crocheting class, as well as regular outings. “That was a great center,” Delores says. “We really went a lot of places. It was a very good program.” Members of the crocheting class donated completed blankets to a hospital.

Delores would love to see a fully funded JCCOA host similar programs, as it did before COVID took a toll on the senior center and its fundraising efforts. “I’d like a crochet class,” she says. “And a little traveling- going out to the movies or a show,” On her personal bucket list are plays at the Old Opera House and the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. ” I want to go to the casino and watch the horses.”

For Delores JCCOA offers broader connections outside her loving family. “It gives you that desire to get out of the house and do things,” she says. “You need outside interests. It expands your life. When you find somewhere to go and something to do, it’s like it gives you 20 years. I tell my daughter, my son, that when they do something nice, “Ya’ll give Mommy 20 years or more life.’ You don’t know what a relief JCCOA is. It really helps you. It helps you have the desire to live more.”

“Always look for other interests,” Delores counsels other seniors. “Keep learning. You’re never too old to do the things you didn’t have time for when you were younger, you can enjoy them as you grow old.”

At JCCOA’s senior center, Delores is doing just that- moving, learning, laughing, and trying her luck at Table 8, living life to the fullest with friends she’s made along the way.

JCCOA Warm Hearts Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign (Brenda Vincent & Jeanette Lowe)

Brenda Vincent and Jeanette Lowe
Campaign: Warm Hearts: JCCOA Seniors Who Kindle Our Community’s Spirit
Call to Action: Learn More. Join Us. Give

A Place That Welcomes You In

For Brenda Vincent and her mother, Jeanette Lowe, what began as a simple search for activities became a source of belonging, care and unexpected strength.

When Brenda Vincent’s mother, Jeanette Lowe, moved from Mobile, Alabama, to live with Brenda and her husband, Rob, in early March 2019, the world was beginning to close around them. Brenda was still unpacking when the first shutdown announcements came. Within days, everything was on pause. For nearly a year, their only outings were quiet drives along West Virginia back roads- simple moments of discovery and calm in a time when almost nothing else was open.

Jeanette had loved her Senior Center in Mobile. It had been beautiful and full of activity, and Brenda assumed they would quickly find something similar. But COVID delayed all of that. So when the JCCOA Senior Center finally reopened, they went straight over, and their first moments there told them everything.

As they stepped out of the car, they met two women walking laps in the parking lot. Brenda introduced herself and her moth, and the women welcomed them warmly. That small kindness, Brenda says, set the tone. “You don’t take for granted that someone will be here tomorrow. You greet people while you can. This place teaches you that.”

From that day on, they’ve come faithfully.

Inside, Jeanette found what she had been missing: warmth, friendship, and everyday kindness. “They don’t push anybody away,” she said. “They welcome you, they talk to you, they call you to make sure you’re still okay.” She lights up describing the people who sing and write music and share it freely. “They’re like friends,” she added.

As Jeanett’s eyesight changed, bingo became difficult. Brenda mentioned it to Andrea at the center, who responded immediately: “We can make her her very own bingo card.” They created a large-print, laminated version just for her. The first time Jeanette used it, the difference was instant. “Like night and day,” Brenda said. A small but profound adaptation.

Over time, Brenda learned about other services she hadn’t known existed. Caring for her mother at home meant she’d had only a few breaks in several years. She’d looked once at respite care and found the cost overwhelming. But another woman at the Center gently redirected her: “Why don’t you look at this alternative?” To her surprise, Brenda found an affordable option she didn’t hadn’t known was available. “It had been there the whole time. But if you don’t ask, you won’t know.”

That idea- you should ask- threads through Brenda’s story. Like many caregivers, she spent years believing she had to shoulder everything on her own. A nurse once told her, “I didn’t think anyone could take care of my parent the way I could,” and Brenda felt that, too. But here, she began to realize something essential: taking care of herself made her a better caregiver for her mother. “There just comes a time when you know you need help,” she said. “It’s actually the best thing for them, and you are taking time for you.”

Jeanette, now 93, has blossomed in this community of peers and friends. She has celebrated multiple birthdays at the Center. One year during a Precious Memories band performance, Brenda learned something new: “I didn’t know my mother loved to dance!” Jeanette spent over an hour dancing that day.

She’s formed close bonds, like with Miss Rita, who hands out greeting cards and calls regularly. “I can’t tell you how much those mean to me,” Brenda said. To help Jeanette remember everyone, Brenda created a photo book of seniors they talk about at home- Peggy, Charlotte, and others- so Jeanette can match names and faces.

When asked what she hopes the community will do for JCCOA, Brenda is clear: “Eventually everyone has got to realize that this is going to be them one day. These stories matter.” She hopes people will step inside, meet the seniors, listen to their lives, and see the value of investing in a place that brings dignity, continuity, and joy to those who need it most.

For Brenda, JCCOA has been far more than a place for activities. It has been a lifeline of understanding, support, and compassion. “Every day, every person here… you don’t take any of it for granted.” The gratitude runs deep. Because when a caregiver brings a loved one to the Senior Center, she isn’t just seeking help, she’s finding a community that lifts them both. And that is a gift beyond measure.

JCCOA Warm Hearts Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign (Chester Sixma & Alice Wilt)

JCCOA Warm Hearts
Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign

Chester Sixma and Alice Wilt
Campaign: Warm Hearts: JCCOA Seniors Who Kindle Our Community’s Spirit
Call to Action: Learn More. Join Us. Give

Always There

Home health aide Alice Wilt has been Chester Sixma’s steady support for years, showing how JCCOA caregivers help seniors stay safe, connected, and never alone.

Across Jefferson County, home health aides quietly bring comfort, stability, and dignity to seniors who can no longer safely live alone. Every day, they step through front doors with gentle consistency- cleaning apartments, doing dishes, making beds, doing laundry, preparing meals, and offering essential personal care such as bathing, grooming, and dressing. These everyday acts, though simple, help seniors feel secure, respected, and supported in their own homes.

For 69-year-old Chester Sixma, that steady support comes from his longtime home health aide, Alice Wilt, who has been with him for about three years. Alice was originally asked just to “check on him,” but from the first visit she recognized that Chester was someone she wanted to stand by. “Me and Chester are buddy-buddies,” she says with affection. Chester, who lives at The Towers, depends on home-delivered lunches and on Alice’s calm, reliable presence. His opinion of her is straightforward: “She’s a good woman– A-plus.”

Chester isn’t alone in relying on JCCOA at The Towers. When asked how many of his neighbors receive services, he answered simply, “Good many.” For those not yet connected, he offers clear encouragement: “Call them up, see if you can get help.”

A few months ago, that help, and the resilience of the entire community, proved essential. A severe storm tore the roof off The Towers, flooding Chester’s fifth-floor apartment. “I had an inch of water,” he recalls. He lost his bed, mattress, and furniture. In those first chaotic hours, the landlord responded quickly, arranging temporary motel rooms for displaced residents. Both Chester and Alice praised that fast action, which gave everyone space to regroup while JCCOA stepped in with meals, clothing, and ongoing support.

Alice did what she always does: she made sure Chester was okay. When she saw the damage online, she immediately called to learn where he’d been moved. The next morning, she contacted JCCOA so he could be brought in for breakfast and lunch. Moments like these reveal the strength of the network sustaining seniors- landlords, staff and especially aides like Alice- who stayed watchful so no one faces crisis alone.

Alice’s commitment began long before she joined JCCOA. After caring for family members who eventually passed, she found she couldn’t simply stay at home. “I helped him. I can help somebody else,” she remembers. She applied to JCCOA, received a call three days later, and has been caring for seniors ever since. She now supports multiple clients and often fills in on weekends. She doesn’t sugarcoat the work: “If you’re not gonna be dedicated, this just ain’t for you….. because some of these people don’t have family.”

That dedication has carried her through some of Chester’s toughest periods. He has battled COVID, faced hospitalizations, lost significant weight, and was at one point unexpectedly transferred to a hospital in Berryville. Alice checked on him constantly until she confirmed where he was. “When they get sick, it’s stressful,” she admits. “It worries you as you get close to them.”

JCCOA’s broader team supports these moments too. When Chester lost his Medicaid due to age, their nurse came the very same day. “They did not hesitate,” Alice says. “They said, ‘Hey we’re going to roll you into this program,’ and he wouldn’t lose service with us.”

Beyond daily care, the center prepares seniors for challenges long before they arise. Before winter storms, staff assemble Blizzard Bags- weeklong supplies of nutrient-dense food and essentials like toiletries, powdered milk, canned meats, and vegetables. During the COVID shutdowns, when seniors were fearful and isolated, staff continued reporting to the building. Aides delivered meals, called every senior more frequently, and left supplies on porches to ensure no one went without support.

Funding has tightened in recent years. Grants and donations have both declined, but the heart of the work remains strong. Alice keeps showing up, year after year, guided by her belief that seniors deserve to be remembered and cared for. “I just love helping them…..when you get older, you’re forgotten about, and I don’t like that part of it. We got to keep them going.”

On her arms, she carries the symbols of her calling: a blessing on one side and a caregiver’s heart on the other. For Chester and so many others across Jefferson County, that calling is the quiet force that makes sure they never face life’s storms alone.

JCCOA Warm Hearts Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign (Kirt Kranenburg & Mary Elliott)

JCCOA Warm Hearts
Winter 2025-2026 Fundraising Campaign

Kirt Kranenberg & Mary Elliott
Campaign: Warm Hearts: JCCOA Seniors Who Kindle Our Community’s Spirit
Call to Action: Learn More. Join Us. Give

Care That Keeps Families Going

With coffee, conversation, and gentle encouragement, Mary Elliott helps Kirk Kranenburg stay engaged in the community he’s called home his whole life.

Kirt Kranenburg has spent his entire life in Jefferson County. Born in Shepherdstown, he still lives in the same part of the county he has known for decades. At 84, he is soft-spoken and kind, finding comfort in the simple rhythms of each day. His memory shifts from moment to moment; some details remain sharp, others drift. He often speaks only when prompted. But he loves being around people, and those social moments brighten his whole day.

For nearly a year now, Mary Elliott has helped make that possible.

She works in JCCOA’s Home Care Department under the FAIR program, an Alzheimer’s program designed to give caregivers the respite they need to continue caring for loved ones at home. In Kirt’s case, the break is for his wife, Ada. Because staffing is limited, the program wasn’t immediately available; Kirt had to wait for an opening. Before COVID, JCCOA had around 80 aides. Today, there are 15. Even so, the team makes sure every client receives as much support as possible. “We give them what we can,” Mary says, “We stretch our resources.”

When a FAIR slot opened, Mary began meeting Kirt three days a week. She picks him up at home, they drive to the Senior Center, grab coffee and “something sweet,” and then see what the day offers. In warm months, they go fishing- sometimes at the Mountain Lake club, sometimes down at the Bloomery. “We catch anything that bites,” Mary laughs, and Kirt smiles, noting the lake is stocked with bass.

When the weather turns cooler, they adapt. Some days they join activities at the center; other days Kirt prefers to watch Mary exercise rather than join in. What matters most is being together. “He likes to watch and he like to socialize,” she says. Simply being around people steadies him.

And while the activities are for Kirt, the impact reaches Ada. The FAIR Program gives her breathing room- time to rest, run errands, or simply gather the strength she needs to continue caring for her husband at home. As Mary explains, “That’s our whole plan, to keep people home and out of nursing homes. By getting him out of the house, letting him have a good time, it gives her a real break, so she can keep going.”

Mary has been an aide since 2011. She previously worked in senior services in Maryland before circumstances brought her closer to home. She says the work requires communication, respect, honesty, and a genuine desire to help people from every walk of life. The responsibilities are real, but the rewards- connection, trust, and purpose- run deep. Many aides left during COVID, and those who remained have become the tried-and-true: steady, committed, and deeply experienced.

Kirt may not remember every detail of his life, but he remembers kindness. He remembers being spoken to gently. He remembers fishing, laughing, and drinking coffee. With Mary beside him, he stays connected to community, to routine, and to dignity.

And in a county where the need is great and every hour of care matters, that connection means everything.

As they walk toward the door together, side by side, Kirt glances over and says softly, “I think it’s going to be OK.” Mary gives him a warm, steady smile. “Yes,” she says. “Everything will be OK.”