Suzanne: And welcome back everyone to Answers for Elders Radio Network. And I am so thrilled to have had Benjamin Surmi, who is the Director of Education and Culture for Koelsch Communities. And for those of you that are hearing that name and listening to it for the first time on our show, I think one of the things, Benjamin, I want to talk a little bit about where Koelsch Communities are located. You’re in eight states in the U.S., is that correct?
Benjamin Surmi: Yes. Eight states, Chicago towards the west coast.
Suzanne: We’re in Chicago, our show broadcasts there. Just go to the website, you will see where you can find it. I can see so many: Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Illinois. So I think that’s so great. And of course, for those of you that have listened to the show before or go to Answers for Elders. We do have an interview with Koelsch’s CEO Aaron Kelch, and we encourage you to check that out if you’re looking for a community for your loved one. So, Benjamin, I want to talk a little bit about the options. There’s gotta be some resources out there that people can check out in thinking, how do I do this? How do I reinvent myself as I’m retiring?
Benjamin Surmi: Absolutely. Well, first of all, there are usually a lot of local options. Do not discount the community center in your city, do not discount any kind of lifelong learning institute at a local university. There are in most metro areas some really cool stuff happening that is empowering seniors to continue learning. So don’t forget your local area.
Suzanne: I just saw in one of our senior centers, here in the Greater Seattle area, they’re teaching seniors how to write a business plan. I love that!
Benjamin Surmi: So check out those local centers, because that’s where people are coming together. That’s where people are really coming together to do cool things. You may also find faith communities in your local area that are doing some really innovative work that is just fascinating to you. As well as many senior living communities like ours offer educational events that connect you to resources and people that you might not have thought about.
There’s also some really cool stuff happening at a national level, with new organizations that are doing some fun stuff. So, Cogenerate https://cogenerate.org/ just got started recently. And what they do is they bring the generations together to solve pressing issues. They have a program that brings retired physicians out of retirement and puts them in the most challenging places in America to help. They have a program that pays seniors who want to do something special with their encore years, actually pay them, and mentor them in doing it.
And then Maturias and Seniors@Work https://www.linkedin.com/company/seniors-at-work/ are two organizations that are matching seniors who want to contribute in the business world with organizations that want their talent. CatchaFire https://www.catchafire.org/ is for nonprofits and others. What they do is they find nonprofits that really want to grow and do better, and they match them with someone who wants to give them a one hour call, just a one hour call, where they can ask them questions about their knowledge base, right? Because so many seniors have years of experience doing things. A one-hour call can change the trajectory of a nonprofit. And then they also offer kind of short-term projects where someone could help them review their business plan or help them plan a strategy.
Bloom is really interesting. Bloom helps people who want to plan their encore years with a three-week group coaching program to help them identify what is their encore years going to look like? And then Get Set Up https://www.getsetup.io/ is a very, very big, very growing organization, with over four million users, where the older adults teach other older adults in all kinds of subjects. So I could go on and on, but there’s a lot of interesting things happening in those areas.
Suzanne: It’s really interesting that there are more and more organizations or opportunities. I know that, for example, we’ve heard stories of day care communities that are going and living in senior communities. And so they have the opportunity to now interact with seniors that are may wanna connect with children to keep them young. That’s amazing in itself. I’ve seen activities of educational workshops and trips that seniors can take to learn to go to destinations.
And I think the other thing is that there’s a lot of seniors that have lived really profound lives. Things that they’ve done, and they’re looking at the second half of my life that I can just drop it off, like what’s next? There needs to be a plan. That’s one of the things that I’m really excited about, having this process, and you know, if so many of our listeners are over the age of 50, Benjamin, and we all should be thinking about these things even early when you’re in your 50s. Should you not?
Benjamin Surmi: Absolutely. If you don’t identify what matters to me, what connections and relationships, purpose, matters to me and what do I want to be doing when I’m 90, then we’re going to make plans just based on finances. We’re gonna make plans just based on proximity to businesses, people, et cetera. that maybe I used to hang out with. We’re gonna make decisions just based on comfort, and we’re not gonna make decisions that set us up to be able to keep doing what we like to do, and we’re gonna find that those things end up being cut away from our lives, because we didn’t plan for that.
Suzanne: I think one of the things that I look at when I turn 65, I get frustrated. I get frustrated with my husband because he doesn’t have the same drive for purpose. He’s one of those people that would rather just sit and play play bingo all day. Not really, but he watches TV. He doesn’t have the desire to build that, and that concerns me on a personal front. And yet what you’re saying is, no, that’s not necessarily true. People can thrive on what they love to do, and that’s where he’s at. He doesn’t want to do that. Well, I’ve always been that goal-driven person. So obviously we’re gonna clash a little bit because I want to pull him with me. So then you turn into marriage counselor.
Benjamin Surmi: Well, if part of your purpose is to stay married and be happy, you may need to pick a situation where you can walk out the door and he can be sitting in the room watching TV.
Suzanne: Sometimes it’s a good way to find compromise, and to challenge yourselves, both in the relationship. So Benjamin, I am so thrilled you’ve been on the show with us today, and thank you so much for being on Answers for Elders.
Benjamin Surmi: It been a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
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Suzanne: Welcome back to Answers for Elders Radio. As we are here to close out the hour, I would really like to thank Mr. Benjamin Surmi for being with us this hour. Remember you can reach out to Koelsch Communities at Keltz communities dot com.
Speaker 2: We at Answers for Elders. Thank you for listening. Did you know that you can discover hundreds of podcasts in our library on senior care. So, visit our website and discover our decision guides that will help you also navigate decision making, find us at Answers for Elders dot com.
