1. + Knowledge For The Ages Enriching and Empowering Seniors An innovative center to assist with life's transitions and a gathering place to develop new friendships and gain knowledge to enrich and empower your life.

2. + Our Mission Our Mission is to enrich, enhance, educate enlighten and empower the lives of seniors. Providing guidance to assist with navigating through the emotional and financial decisions we must make involving family, finances, government aid and wellness as we reach our golden years. We will provide a place to gather, learn and enjoy the social interaction with our peers, each embracing similar challenges while empowering independence and sustainability for our seniors and their families.

3. + Who We Are Larry Perna I grew up in San Diego, attended Patrick Henry High School and graduated from San Diego State University. I have been given the opportunity to open a community center for seniors. My interest in opening a center stems from my special attachment and admiration for the senior community. As an only child, I acted as the caregiver for my father, grandmother, two aunts and my mother. Enduring the journey with my mom was the most difficult for many reasons but it also was the most educational. I learned that in the process of coping with the challenges of being a sole caregiver, one is forced to quickly learn to educate themselves thoroughly with regard to the multitude of regulations for Medicare, Medical, Social Security and Insurance. In addition there are financial and legal ramifications attached to almost every decision you and your family will make. Maintaining dignity and trust are paramount. My professional background encompasses over 30 years as both an independent business owner, and a Director of Human Resources for a large, 700 employee, private transportation company over three states. My partners and I have a 25-plus year relationship that continues to thrive. Together we’ve endured and shared life’s challenges. Our sole desire is to contribute and give something back to those who so earnestly deserve it.

4. + Who We Are Joe Wirth Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Joe Wirth and my passion for supporting, assisting and enhancing the lives of our senior community is a primary focus for me and my family. I have had the pleasure of knowing my counterpart, Larry Perna, for more than 25 years as a business partner, colleague and most importantly, friend. I spent a large majority of my career developing a family owned business—taking it from a local 2.5 million dollar company to more than $50 million dollars in sales and providing services throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. I was fortunate in that the founder of the company treated me like a son. As he emerged into his senior years I was afforded the opportunity to help him navigate the myriad of insurance, retirement and financial options available to him and his family. With his dignity intact, he retired well and the legacy he left behind not only benefitted his immediate family, but the 700 individuals, and their families, in his employ. My mother, who had struggled financially in her later years, was residing in a deteriorating mobile home park that was becoming unsafe to live in. My research led me to HUD and after helping her qualify for government assisted living we were able to successfully move her into a safe, productive and thriving senior community. The quality of my mother’s life changed dramatically. She quickly transitioned from an isolated and lonely existence to engaging in various activities and began working with underprivileged children and supporting the local community centers with numerous programs and events. Our desire is simple—we seek to bring our combined professional practices and personal knowledge to bear in an effort to empower the lives of our senior community. As we have experienced first-hand, the transition into retirement or disability can be confusing, frustrating and downright frightening. We seek to dramatically minimize that angst. Our approach is based upon three primary principles—compassion, education and at the end of the day, fun. Our seniors’ golden years have been well earned. Now is the time to allow others to ensure that they enjoy them!

5. + Who We Are Christie Talbot My responsibility as the primary caregiver for my father who resided two states, California and Florida, gave me hands on experience in navigating the process of obtaining benefits under Medi-Cal and Medicaid (Florida) as well as applying for and obtaining Medicare disability benefits. I assisted my father over numerous relocations throughout the latter part of his life. These relocations were in both states. Each move entailed establishing care as well as coordinating doctor visits, residential facilities, medical, and other benefits. My profession as a mother and educator who actually creates curriculum for my school, demand the ability to embrace varied personalities both parent, student and administrator. Part of my job is to enable parents, students, teachers and administrators to all work toward the common objective, providing the best education our students can obtain. I possess a Bilingual, Multiple Subject K-8 Teaching Credential, M.A. in Special Education, B.S. in Communicative Disorders for Speech and Language Pathology and am also a certified Autism Specialist, Reading Specialist and certified assistant in Speech Language Pathology. Providing our seniors with resources and guidance for their wellness and offering programs and activities that enrich their lives is what excites me about our organization. It is an opportunity to come full circle and give back to those who who have given us so much.

6. + Some of the Challenges we faced with our families included: Availability of health care including the myriad of Medicare supplement plans. Wellness and healthy diet. Types of, cost and availability of senior housing. What to do with my home to avoid probate. Maintaining an active lifestyle. Identifying and preventing elder abuse. Embracing technology. Holistic approaches to wellness. And much, much more…

7. + Programs to Enhance Your Life Our senior community center will offer a myriad of relevant, fun activities. The center will also offer a rich learning environment to provide our guests with the necessary resources they and their families need to gain knowledge and make healthy sound decisions regarding the issues that rise to the forefront of our lives as seniors.

8. + Our Offerings: Our Offerings will be driven by the seniors we serve. However here are some senior centric topics we thought important to target: Navigating Medicare parts A, B, & D. Medi-Cal Eligibility and Qualifying. Medicare Supplement Insurance Explained. Long Term Care Options. Avoiding Probate. Reverse Mortgages-Friend or Foe? Elder Abuse Prevention. Financial Predators-Spotting them and Preventing Abuse. Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle.

9. + Our Offerings: Effectiveness of Patented Medicine Embracing Technology from Smartphones to iPads. Holistic Alternatives. Alternative Wellness Programs. Cooking Healthy Bingo. DVD-Movies and Library. Low Impact Exercise.

10. + We Need You! Our center thrives due to your generous financial and volunteer support for the seniors we embrace. Spread the word about our Mission! Tell anyone you know who you feel would benefit or might have a family member who would benefit from our center! Your compassion enriches their lives in more ways than you’ll ever know. We are so grateful for your support. Our center will thrive because of your generous financial support through direct donations, contributions and/or sponsorship. Your support will enable us to enrich and empower the lives of our seniors and will enrich their lives in more ways than you will ever know. Your generosity will make a difference in our community by allowing us to continue our work for our seniors. If you are one with our mission and are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us. We want to see you at our neighborhood meetings that will begin soon and be held in various communities throughout San Diego. Please feel free to bring any family member you would like as it does become a family matter and their input is welcomed, necessary and valued. Check out our website for event dates and times!