Grants Help REAL Services Keep Local Seniors Safe, Stable, and Connected

For many older adults, a good day might mean enjoying the comfort and familiarity of home — or getting out to share a meal, join a class, or reconnect with old friends. Thanks to two recent Senior Living grants, REAL Services is helping seniors do both.

Safety and security at home begins with the organization’s Safe at Home program, which helps provide the urgent repairs and home modifications that some seniors need to remain living on their own.

“Sometimes the only reason a senior can’t remain at home is because they need an accessibility ramp, grab bar, or lift chair,” said KJ Mapes, President of REAL Services.

Funded in part by a major Senior Living Grant from the Community Foundation, the Safe at Home program provides those one-time interventions, each one a small change that can make a big difference. That means more seniors living safer in their own homes for longer. But just because seniors can stay at home longer doesn’t mean that they should just stay at home.

That’s where Portage Commons comes in — a brand-new Senior Enrichment Center located at 133 North William Street.

“Isolation is a dangerous thing for our members,” says Mapes. “The center encourages their continued involvement in everyday life.”

Since opening in April, the center has offered genealogy and spiritual life discussions; exercise, photography, and art classes; Friday movies; and game groups. A 2024 Senior Living Grant gave REAL Services the supplies budget they needed to listen to their members’ suggestions and act on them, no matter what they were.

The center’s staff have enjoyed seeing the connections that members have made through those programs, and that’s the whole point. They enjoy watching the laughter and camaraderie of a group as they teach a newcomer how to play euchre.

“That’s the kind of programming you can’t create,” says Mapes.