Help Make the Holidays Brighter for Martin County Seniors

Dear Friends,

As we enter this beautiful season of celebration and reflection, all of us at the Council on Aging Martin County send our warmest wishes to you and your family for a joyful, meaningful holiday.

The Kane Center is dressed for the season and bustling with activities designed to bring cheer, connection, and community to everyone who walks through our doors.

We also recognize that the holidays can be challenging for some of the seniors we serve. Feelings of loneliness, loss, or financial strain can make this time of year especially difficult. That is why our Angel Tree, now glowing in the Kane Center lobby, is so important. Each gift card placed on its branches brings comfort, dignity, and a reminder that our seniors are surrounded by a caring community. If you are able to contribute, your kindness will make a heartfelt difference.

As we approach the close of another year, I want to extend my deepest gratitude for all you do to help make Martin County a place where older adults are valued, supported, and loved. Your generosity and partnership fuel our mission every single day.

With warm regards,

Karen Ripper, President and CEO

There is always lots of good cheer at the Council on Aging Martin County during the holidays. Come by to see the festive decorations throughout the Kane Center, or take part in an upcoming event.

The Angel Tree: Supporting Seniors in Need 

For seniors in need, the holidays can be an especially difficult time. The Council on Aging Martin Angel Tree can bring them light, hope and joy!

We are collecting gift cards this holiday season to be distributed directly by our case managers to older adults who need a little extra help.

How You Can Help:

• Donate gift cards of any amount (grocery stores, pharmacies, retail stores, or prepaid Visa/Mastercard).
• Drop them off at the Kane Center Christmas mailbox located by our Angel Tree through December 17.
• All donations will be personally delivered to seniors by our case management team.

Your generosity will help brighten the holidays for seniors who may be isolated, homebound, or facing financial hardship. Thank you for helping us make the season a little warmer for our community’s older adults! 

The Treasure Coast Symphony 20th Annual Holiday Extravaganza, Concert & Food Drive

Tickets available at www.coamartin.org/treasure-coast-symphony or at the door on December 17.

Party & Dance with the Pops on New Year’s Eve

December 31, 8 p.m.

Join us to say farewell to 2025 and welcome in the New Year with music, cash bar, hors d’oeuvres, a 50/50 raffle and silent auction. Tickets available for $45 at www.coamartin.org/party-dance-with-pops-on-new-year-s-eve.

Festival of Giving 2025

And in case you missed our holiday tree at the Festival of Giving last month, here is a photo of it, with our decorating star Leslie Vestrich, Community Liaison. We’re grateful to everyone who donated to Council on Aging Martin County and loved our tree as much as we did.

Kane Center Gets Holiday Makeover

Our Chief Elf Lisa Bharath, Membership and Event Coordinator for the Kane Center, and her helpers have made the Kane Center a holiday wonderland! Be sure to stop by and visit.

A special thank you to our amazing decorators who helped in the transformation!

Fabulous food, delightful shopping, an eye-popping fashion show, and 200 enthusiastic guests made the 20th Anniversary Poinsettia Power Luncheon 2025 a huge success!

Enjoy these photos, and visit our website for more. Then mark your calendar so you can be part of Poinsettia Power 2026!

No senior should ever go hungry in our community! With help from the United Way of Martin County, the Council on Aging is distributing boxes of groceries to seniors aged 60 and over who are currently enrolled in SNAP. This distribution helps supplement monthly food resources for individuals, families, and those in senior living communities.

We’re grateful to the United Way of Martin County and all of community partners who are helping us ensure that our seniors have access to nutritious food throughout the holiday season.

If you know someone in our community who could benefit, please refer them to us at the Kane Center or call us for more information at 772.223.7800.

Thanks to the CMS GUIDE Program, patients coping with dementia and their families and caregivers are receiving incredibly important care and access to a range of services.

We are thrilled to share an exciting program update.

The GUIDE program launched in July 2024 and has experienced phenomenal growth. We are now serving 80 patients and their families—and we're growing every week!

Access to respite care—whether through our Adult Day Club, in-home assistance, or other temporary support—is an important part of the program. It provides a critical break, allowing caregivers to rest, recharge, and tend to their own well-being. This support is vital to reducing caregiver burnout and ensuring they can continue providing the exceptional care their loved one deserves. 

Kelley Pekarsky, the Care Navigator under the GUIDE program at the COAMC, walks families through the dementia disease process, helping them understand what to expect as the disease progresses and providing practical strategies for managing day-to-day challenges. 

We are excited to see the program grow even more! Our goal is to connect every eligible family with this life-changing support. If you know a family living with dementia who has Medicare as their primary insurance, please encourage them to reach out to us.

Want to Learn More? To find out more about the CMS GUIDE Program and its eligibility requirements, please contact us today at 561.320.7451 or visit www.coamartin.org/programs/cms-guide-program.

A special PS: To all the family members and unpaid caregivers in our program: Your commitment is truly exceptional. The work you do every single day is challenging, selfless, and invaluable. You are the rock for your loved ones, and we want you to know how deeply we appreciate your strength and dedication.

The Lifestyle Expo at the Kane Center will give you an opportunity to gather important information about your health, finance, and insurance. It’s free and open to the public.

Creative cuisine, cheerleading stunt work, game-changer cocktails, a danceable playlist of live music, and a fiercely-contested team challenge that will better the lives of local seniors for years to come – that’s the promise of this year’s Pep Rally Gala to benefit the Council on Aging Martin County.

The event on Saturday, February 28, begins at 6 p.m. at the Kane Center. Chef’s Table will provide an amazing spread, the band Girlfriend Material will play lively, get-up-out-of-your-seat-and-dance music, and there will be surprises throughout the evening starting with a Progressive Cocktail Tour. 

Last year, teams competed for bragging rights and raised significant funds to benefit Council on Aging programs. This year, they have their sights set on a very specific goal: $80,000 to purchase a meal delivery vehicle to support the Meals on Wheels program.

Every day our volunteers deliver more than 580 meals to seniors in need throughout our county along with meals to our four congregate dining sites. They bring nourishment, programming and socialization to our clients. The Meal Delivery Truck will be a game changer in how well we are able to deliver hot meals to our congregate dining sites in Jensen Beach, Stuart, Hobe Sound, and Indiantown.

The 2026 teams are now forming. A team can be a business, neighborhood, or group of friends. The only requirement is, according to Andrea, “a willingness to get fired up and help us raise funds for seniors in our community.”

It’s quick and easy to become a team. Just line up the team members, choose a name and logo, and sign up at www.coamartin.org/peprallygala.

Sponsors will have their names included in press releases, bi-weekly email blasts to update the status of the competition, and all marketing materials. Teams that raise more than $2,000 will enjoy their own table at the event and receive ten tickets. At the $5,000 and above level, sponsors will also be honored as a contributor with a listing on the new Meal Truck. 

For tickets and sponsorship information, contact Amber Ducote at 772.223.7816, aducote@coamartin.org or the Council on Aging Martin County website www.coamartin.org. 

The generous contributions you make to the Council on Aging Martin County directly support our Mission. When you make a gift to benefit our programs, you help seniors reduce loneliness, anxiety and depression. By supporting our work you help build a sense of purpose and social connection for our community's seniors.

You can make a gift today or plan for the future. Please contact Michele Leigh Jacobs, Chief Philanthropic Officer, to discuss opportunities that best suit you, your philanthropic priorities and your passion for our senior community.

Email: mjacobs@coamartin.org
Direct: 772.223.7803
Secured Online Giving: www.coamartin.org

About the Council on Aging Martin County

For seniors, their families, and caregivers, the Council on Aging Martin County is their trusted and comprehensive hub for the resources they need for a safer, healthier, and happier life. 

From services like the Adult Day Club and Day Primary Care Center to exercise classes, games to improve memory, concerts and social events, the Kane Center on Salerno Road is a beehive of activities. Services also take to the road – like Meals on Wheels, providing a hot meal and a warm smile to more than 500 homebound and needy Martin County senior residents in their home each day, or Senior Dining Centers at locations throughout the county in East Stuart, Jensen Beach, Indiantown and Hobe Sound, offering a healthy lunch and socialization through exceptional programming. The Elder Care Mobile Outreach Bus, the newest member of our family of care management services, brings knowledgeable and compassionate staff directly to seniors in local neighborhoods. 

For 51 years, the Council on Aging Martin County has been working tirelessly to inspire a community that embraces, uplifts and encourages seniors to maintain lives of quality and purpose. 

We invite you to visit us in person, explore our website at www.coamartin.org, or connect with us on social media to learn more about the wide range of services offered by the Council on Aging Martin County. Our staff and volunteers are ready and eager to help.