seniors

Improving access, easing hunger

By Colleen OConnor Toberman, Minnesota 2020

Encouraging some people in poverty to access assistance programs like food support (formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) can be tough. This is especially true of senior citizens. While about 65 percent of eligible Minnesotans participate in SNAP, only 41 percent of eligible seniors do. The reasons for this disparity are plentiful: stigma, lack of awareness, the desire for independence, and the challenges of applying, to name a few.

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Minnesota 2020

Hot meals program relies on about 500 volunteers

By Gail Olson, Northeaster

Eve Frank coordinates the Columbia Heights-based Meals on Wheels Hot Meals for Shut-Ins program. People volunteer through their churches, and some student groups participate.
(Photo by Gail Olson)

Eve Frank, Meals on Wheels coordinator, tells the story of an older client who fell down at home in the early morning hours. The client later told her daughter, “I tried to be as calm as I could, because I knew that my Meals on Wheels volunteer was coming.”

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Play based on oral histories of Holocaust survivors to be staged at Mount Zion Temple

By Erin Elliott Bryan, American Jewish World

Local actor Joe Wiener (left) portrays Holocaust survivor and Mount Zion Temple congregant Erwin Farkas (right) in We Could Recall/We Could Tell Stories, a play based on oral testimonies from eight local survivors. (Photo: Courtesy of Sharon DeMark)

When asked if there were ways to keep his connection with Judaism alive while imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, Erwin Farkas responds, “We could talk. We could recall. We could tell stories.”

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DFL budget targets for health and human services could spell disaster for Greater Minnesota

By Sally Jo Sorensen, Bluestem Prairie

We're a bit behind the curve in commenting on this story, but the consequences of budget cuts proposed by DFL leadership in the Minnesota House and Senate don't look good for the poor and vulnerable in rural areas.

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Bluestem Prairie

Spanish painter Felix de la Concha presents portraits, oral testimony of Shoah survivors

By Erin Elliott Bryan, American Jewish World

Survivor Herb Fantle, of St. Paul, sitting for a session with Spanish artist Felix de la Concha. (Photos courtesy of Felix de la Concha)

Spanish artist Felix de la Concha was in the Twin Cities recently as a guest of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) at the University of Minnesota, as part of his project of interviewing and painting Holocaust survivors.

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Elders' Wisdom Children's Song honors Ojibwe elder Pat Bellanger with song

By Jamie Keith, The Circle

The Elders' Wisdom Children's Song (EWCS) program honored Anishinabe Ojibwe elder Pat Bellanger on February 12th at a celebration at Sanford Middle School in Minneapolis. EWCS blends elders' oral narratives with youth engagement, music, and performances to affirm diverse backgrounds and experiences in communities throughout North America.

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Minnesota's voting fraud menace: Margaret Schneider, crookster?

By Jacob Wheeler, The Uptake

It turns out that the menacing specter of Voter Fraud — a nightmare scenario carried into every corner of Minnesota by conservative activists pushing for passage last fall of a Constitutional amendment requiring voters to produce photo identification — is real!

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Bringing low-cost internet to the high rise

By Gail Olson, Northeaster

When Nancy Przymus heard that the Logan Park neighborhood was “woefully behind the curve” in its number of residents connected to the Internet, she was surprised.

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Grandmas on Facebook: Closing the digital divide on the Leech Lake Reservation

By Ann Treacy, Blandin on Broadband

Last week I was on the road with the Blandin Foundation visiting MIRC communities. We stopped in a number of places, including the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Temporary Employment Program. Through MIRC funding, the TEP developed a number of projects, including a computer center and access to digital literacy programs. I have written about the program before – the quick take is that TEP participants now have the opportunity to take digital literacy classes as part of the service that is offered. The lab is also open to other community users.

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Blandin on Broadband

Map of the Week: Social Security benefits across Minnesota

By Agata Miszczyk, Minnesota 2020

About 17% of Minnesota households receive some form of Social Security. While the state average an 18% national average, there are large fluctuations throughout the state. The larger Twin Cities metro area, for example, is a concentrated area with the lowest percentage of Social Security assistance, while higher percentage counties are strewn about the state. Unsurprisingly, these numbers correlate with the age map from a previous week. While Social Security is provided for those with disabilities, a majority of the beneficiaries—around 70%—are the elderly, accounting for the substantial correlation with age.

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Minnesota 2020
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