SADI's holiday lunch gives clients a chance to get out of the house, socialize

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Four-year-old Caylee Hodgkiss accepts a gift while leaving the SADI Christmas luncheon Wednesday afternoon at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau. In addition to food and games, all 150 people who came received a gift after the luncheon. [Click to enlarge]

The annual Christmas lunch hosted by SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence on Wednesday drew 150 people, nearly twice the number of people at last year's event.

Debra Merideth, who helps four Mississippi County SADI clients, had her hands full. In addition to bringing her charges to lunch at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau, she was caring for her 3-year-old grandson, Dathan. Merideth said her clients include her daughter, who has suffered two strokes, and 76-year-old widower Albert Bailey of Anniston, Mo. As the boy squirmed and fussed, Bailey grinned and watched.

"After my wife died in 2006, I needed someone to help me clean my home and do the laundry," Bailey said. "I only get about an hour a day, but it helps."

Bailey said he liked SADI's lunch, the first he'd been able to attend.

"As long as they supply the food," he joked.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Kim Karr crochets during the SADI Christmas luncheon Wednesday afternoon at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau. Karr finished a scarf for one of the SADI employees during the party. [Click to enlarge]

Social worker Amanda Ward, who serves as SADI's coordinator for consumer-directed services, said Wednesday's party served three purposes: celebrating the season, giving SADI clients an excuse to get out of the house and socialize with others and giving SADI workers a chance to meet people they often only know through a telephone connection.

Miki Gudermuth, SADI's executive director, said events like Wednesday's lunch are natural openings for peer support while getting people out "to have a little fun," she said. "Some of our staff 'adopted' some of our consumers, who have been laid off from their jobs."

She said the economy was the reason so many clients attended this year's holiday lunch.

SADI offers resources in Cape Girardeau, Scott, Bollinger, Perry and Mississippi counties to help people with physical or mental disabilities live as independently as possible. Services include referrals, advocacy, transportation, help with bills and specialized equipment and training. But often the agency's workers are a resource for emotional support. As Ward spoke to a visitor, a blue bundle of yarn arced toward her from a few feet away, tossed by SADI client Kim Karr, 51. Ward caught the bundle and loosened it, gasping with delight at a delicately crocheted scarf.

Karr started making it as a gift for Ward while waiting to get into the food line and finished it after the meal as SADI staffer Wayne Elfrink called out letters and numbers for a bingo game.

For 19 years, Karr worked as an in-home nursing and medical assistant. Back surgery and diabetes keep her from working now, but she loves to crochet, making as dozens of blankets and scarves each year. Karr is unsteady on her feet, the result of diabetic neuropathy; medications she takes for chronic pain cause forgetfulness and make her sleepy. Without SADI, Karr said with tears in her eyes, "I'd be in a nursing home."

"When you call, they're there," said Pamela Swanner, 52, of Cape Girardeau. A SADI client for eight years, she's used two home health workers, who help her get to appointments with the five doctors required to manage her multiple chronic illnesses, including diabetes and heart disease. Because of SADI, Swanner said, she is able to live independently and work part time.

To learn more, visit http://www.sadi.org or call 573-651-6464 (can be used for voice or hearing-impaired communications) or toll-free at 800-898-7234.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

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