 Welcome to Southern Maine Agency on Aging, SMA as we're known. For more than 40 years, we've been a leader in service, advocacy and education for older adults and people with disabilities. Our mission is to improve the social, physical, economic and emotional health of older adults and people with disabilities in our region. Just how does SMA accomplish such a mission? Our team of dedicated staff members and volunteers listen to what people in the community tell us they want and need. SMA has focused on six specific areas, independence, safety and security, people who care about them, financial security, good health and accessible health care and a meaningful life. Southern Maine Agency on Aging has worked to address each of these areas through its programming and services. Independence, something most of us treasure and are reluctant to give up once we obtain it. SMA provides a wide range of services designed to enable older people to live at home as long as possible. One of those programs is SMA's Meals on Wheels program. The program delivers thousands of nutritious meals to homebound people each year. Meals on Wheels depends on the services of 300 volunteer drivers to deliver meals to those who need them. I like doing this because it gives me satisfaction and helps the people that I deliver meals to. Most of them really are in dire need of them. Meals on Wheels means a good meal every day. They're very tasty, we really enjoy them and it saves us a lot of errands, particularly in the bad weather. The delivery is also enjoyable really because we enjoy having someone snap in like that. Safety and security are important to older manors. With this in mind, the agency offers several programs that ensure client safety and security. The agency's a matter of balance program teaches adults 60 and older how to prevent falls and increase their activity levels. SMA operates two adult day services programs in York and Cumberland counties where adults with dementia and other health issues participate in therapeutic programs geared to their strengths and interests. Here clients receive state of the art services and care while their loved ones work or enjoy much needed respite. Seniors like everyone else want to have people who care about them in their lives. Southern Main Agency on Aging assists caregivers and provides other services for loved ones caring for seniors. The agency also has social workers and volunteers who check in with clients who need help. Financial security is a key factor in aging well. Southern Main Agency on Aging's Money Minders program helps seniors develop a budget, organize their mail, write checks, balance checkbooks and deal with creditors. Seniors are bonded, carefully screened and trained to provide confidential assistance to clients. Good health and accessible health care are the goals of a number of SMA's programs. SMA offers seminars on Medicare and provides one-on-one meetings to help seniors make choices that fit their individual circumstances, all made possible by dozens of highly trained volunteer counselors. SMA's well-trained volunteers teach classes in Tai Chi, living well with chronic illness and living well with chronic pain. Seniors looking for meaningful lives can participate in the main senior games, meet with friends at one of SMA's dining programs or select from a wide range of challenging volunteer assignments helping others and making their communities better places to live. Seniors are at the heart of Southern Main Agency on Aging. They expand our reach and make it possible to provide services to thousands of seniors and older veterans in York and Cumberland counties. Volunteers 55 and older who participate in SMA's RSVP program also have the opportunity to mentor children and adults, help improve the environment, introduce nutrition to young children, teach immigrants to speak English and assist with programs that improve our communities in a myriad of ways. By volunteering, they enrich their own lives as well. Trudy Martin is one of the volunteers who present the Ketch Healthy Habits Nutrition Program to local children. While teaching students about nutrition and the benefits of exercise, she has gained an unexpected benefit, lessons learned from the children. They're wonderful. They tend to, I don't know if it's the gray hair or whatever, but absolutely they do. We participate with them too, so I think it gives them an opportunity to see that people with gray hair can get out and play basketball or do a hula hoop or whatever, but absolutely they do this and they're very attentive and they're very eager to learn. It's been a great experience. Whether it's delivering meals to homebound people so they can remain living at home, helping seniors with financial issues, supplying information about Medicare and insurance coverage, teaching techniques to manage chronic pain, providing worthwhile volunteer opportunities, offering support to caregivers or answering questions and recommending resources, the staff and volunteers at Southern Maine Agency on Aging stand ready to meet the challenge. Together, we're creating better days for older adults and persons with disabilities in York and Cumberland Counties.