At Dreamweaver, we go the extra mile for our Dreamers to make  their bucket list items come to fruition, whether it’s a big wish, like a beach vacation, or something more simple, like dinner with family.

Recently, our Executive Director Cheri Mastny was asked to appear on the popular podcast LTC Heroes during the NNFA-NALA Innovation Summit in Lincoln. She was joined by Experience Care’s Peter Murphy Lewis. Watch the interview below:

As always, Cheri’s passion for Dreamweaver’s shone through as she talked to Peter about our mission. . “We fulfill bucket list wishes for older adults with life-limiting illnesses,” she said. Adding,  “We’ve had an older adult in a race car with Mario Andretti, while others ask for Elvis a lot, so we love to get an Elvis impersonator.”

The discussion then shifted to Dreamweaver’s other two programs: Connecting Hope and Making Spirits Bright. The former connects older adults with loved ones and members of the community by providing GrandPad® tablets to older adults in need.

Making Spirits Bright, meanwhile, expands our services to older adults in need of some holiday cheer via handwritten cards. “Every year around the holiday season, we reach out to long-term care facilities, and they nominate names of individuals who don’t often receive a lot of mail or communication,” Cheri explained. “We then pull together a ton of volunteers and hand-write over 5,000 holiday cards and put them in the mail. We also work with local schools to make little ornaments for the older adults, so they have something to put in their room, all in hopes of making their spirits a little brighter.”

Our team absolutely loves finding innovative approaches to enriching the lives of our older friends. If you know someone whose day we can brighten by making their Dreams come true, please nominate them! You can also help older adults cross off their bucket list items and stay connected to their communities by giving to Dreamweaver. Any amount helps us get one step closer to eradicating loneliness and isolation in older adults. 

Written by: Elijah Oling Wanga