| Dear Friend, MG Thomas had always desired a writing life. She spent a career as an executive assistant editing her boss’s correspondence, and in her free time wrote letters to loved ones. But it wasn’t until she walked into Elder Project’s first-ever class in 2017, that she found her opportunity.
It was a class on poetry, and as a self-professed hater of poetry, she was a bit daunted. But during the first Elder Project public reading, she read...a poem. To her astonishment, the crowd ate it up. “I was just pumped. It felt good. I had people I had never met before come up to me. I thought, I belong here.” Afterwards, her Elder Project mentor and the project’s founder, Jessie Galloway, told her, “Whether you like it or not, you are a poet.”
Now, years later, MG finds herself an accomplished, published poet (!) and a stalwart member of the Elder Project community who has herself become a writing teacher. She meets up with Elder Project folks for walks in the park, and looks forward to getting back to birthday parties and potluck dinners post-pandemic. Like many others in the program, she continues to find her feet as a writer through the gentle encouragement of Elder Project teachers and classmates. “It feels safe. The people with you are your peers, they understand you. It makes it easy to share writing that you wouldn’t share with anyone else—even family members. Elder Project has given me the courage and the tools.”
Already serving over a hundred local elder students, Elder Project is poised to expand to two new locations in 2021. Our goal, as always, is to bring the power of storytelling and writing communities to elders like MG all over the Bay. Donate today and help us bring more elder writers into this magical, stirring family. | 