Hey, there.

Have you ever felt held back by fear of stepping into something new?

Or wondered if it's really possible to make a meaningful difference in someone else's life, especially as we grow older?

Today, we'll be exploring these questions with Jill Yesko Diana, a woman who added to her successful moving and organizing business by creating Something Unique, a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to helping financially disadvantaged older adults move safely and with dignity.

So what does it take to shift from a comfortable career into a mission that's all heart?

And how can we, at any age push past our own perceptions to make a difference for others?

Join me as Jill shares her story of bold choices, compassionate service, and the power of saying yes to the unknown.

Welcome to Boomer Banter, the podcast where we have real talk about aging.

Well, my name is Wendy Green, and I am your host.

And Jill Yesko Diana is a certified professional organizer and founder of Discover organizing, Inc.

Since 2003, her team of professionals have helped individuals downsize, transition, and organize their homes and photo collections.

They specialize in working with those combating chronic disorganization and hoarding disorders.

In 2022, so that's almost 10 years after she started her business, Jill formed Safe Move for Seniors, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting older adults who are economically disadvantaged to move to safer, more affordable housing with no barriers.

The organization is experiencing exponential growth in the Pittsburgh region, and as a result of its successful business model, it has expanded ITS services to 13 locations nationwide, with Pittsburgh as its headquarters.

So as you listen to this episode, think about who you know that would benefit from hearing this message.

One friend, one family member that needs some inspiration.

Then forward this episode to them.

They can find boomer banter on YouTube or any podcast app, and they will thank you for the recommendation.

So please join me in welcoming Jill Yesko Diana to Boomer Banter.

Hey, Jill.

Hello.

Hi, Wendy.

Thanks for having me on the show.

I'm excited.

This is going to be a great show.

So I want to start out with knowing what was it that brought you to the organizing business in the first place?

Oh, boy.

I just talked to a colleague of mine today about that.

We were talking about our humble beginnings, and what motivated me was similar to what motivated her.

And it is the fact that I knew I had this human resources background, this very highly administrative, clerical, organized background, and I also had a social work background.

But I also had two kids that had a mom who was the last mom at the daycare.

Almost consistently, you know, imagine one spotlight sitting over a cafeteria table with two kids with grumpy faces and backpacks on, looking at me like, you know, we're definitely getting McDonald's for this.

Right, because you're late again.

And I wasn't late, right.

I was just mom before the light went out.

But I realized I wanted to take a career.

I wanted to mold something and shape myself into a better parent, a more present parent, but also an entrepreneur that I knew was always buried in there because I always had jobs.

But I dug out that entrepreneurial spirit that's very blatant in my family.

And I decided to start, you know, this company because I could be home every day by 3:00 and I worked with other parents like myself, not just moms, you know, dads and moms, people that worked from home back then, you know, that was still a thing.

And I, I knew that I had something to offer and I've always been able to kind of take chaos and make it into structure.

So I knew that I could help other people feel that sense of success and control in their own homes and their home offices as well as, you know, small business owners out at their commercial locations and stuff later on because of that HR background.

So, yeah, that's kind of how it all began.

And I was very pleased with the outcomes of that being more present for my children.

So I get that my children were also the last ones picked up from daycare.

So that was hard.

But that was risky too, Jill, to step away from the security of a full time job to saying, oh, I'm going to do this thing on my own.

Where did that courage come from?

Well, looking back, I mean, you know, I've always been, I've always been a risk taker.

Just in life I think I've always been a little, kind of gregarious as a person anyway.

I'm just, let's see what's around the corner.

Let's go.

But that was a financial, like big risk, right?

Because I was getting a salary, benefits, and here I was going to start out as this solopreneur and I was picking up clients left and right.

I sat down with my boss because I was working nights and weekends.

I never interfered with my job.

And I sat down and I said, can I have a flex schedule?

Because I would like to be at home with my kids by 3:00 on Thursday, Friday.

But I can do this and I can be.

It was a hospital so I could be at shift change, I could, you know, work things around.

And she said no.

And that's what was my trigger.

So I gave her notice 4 months notice, I hired the new HR director.

I trained the new HR director, and I stayed behind as long as he needed me to transition out of that role, meanwhile building my book.

So I kind of went in it very carefully and made sure that I wasn't crazy.

And I had a couple of back up, like, what if this doesn't work?

I was still really embedded in the Pittsburgh human resource scene, and I knew I could have probably landed something.

And I said, if I don't get enough money, right, if I don't make this particular goal by this date, then I'm going to start applying.

And I haven't clicked the apply button in 21 years.

So it looks like it worked out, but it was.

It was a big risk.

And it is.

It was financial hardship.

Certain years.

Absolutely.

During the economic downturn, I had an organizing store with a classroom and, you know, I sort of the original Container Store in Pittsburgh before it came to Pittsburgh, if you can imagine that.

And I had that for three years.

And of course, the economy right during that time took a turn.

So, you know, I've definitely had hard times, but came back stronger each time.

Learning something new each time.

Yeah.

So you started out organizing, and it sounds like a lot of friends, a lot of acquaintances, and, you know, it started growing and somehow you decided, well, organizing that in a month.

I got to add on moving, too.

Why not just put one more thing on the pile?

Right, yeah, that.

That was just.

But I fell into downsizing and moving and transitions for older adults.

Um, I had been doing some transitions for families just by default.

Like, somebody would move into the area and I'd help unpack them and get them settled.

There's other people that would say, I'm, you know, my husband and I, we're a military family.

We're about to move out of the area.

I just had a baby.

Can you come over and help me?

Because I'm not at my best or I'm going through postpartum depression.

Can you help me move?

Those type of situational moves, but never something that I broadcasted.

And then finally, couple that, you know, were in their 50s that I had helped, you know, to downsize and declutter their home so they could age in place.

They said, can you help my parents move into the senior community?

We just.

They're not.

They're going to listen to you.

They're not going to listen to the kids.

Right.

And so, you know, I've sort of become everyone's daughter over the past so many years.

You know, I've Just kind of stepped in as a neutral daughter, neutral family member that can help guide a process from beginning to end without any type of drama because we're, we're not attached to the family.

Sometimes I get emotionally attached, but they don't know it.

Yeah, well, you definitely have the heart.

So 2022 comes along and now you have this heart draw to start a non profit.

Like, what was that about, Jill?

You already had a thriving business.

I know, and it's so funny, my therapist calls it my dashboard.

She's like, your dashboard was already quite full and I want you to imagine just another big dial on that dashboard.

And I said, I know, but I'm being compelled.

And it's probably the strongest feeling I've had in my whole life to do anything.

And I had to listen to that.

And it really came out of multiple phone calls to Discover Organizing, where I'd get a phone call, we'd say, you know, thanks for calling Discover Organizing.

This is Jill, can I help you?

And they'd say, hi, I need to move.

I'm like, okay, get my pen.

Or I'd get my laptop to start putting things in the CRM.

And they'd said, where are you moving to?

And well, I have my Section 8 voucher and I'm going to start moving in on November 1st.

But after the inspection has been.

And I was like, excuse me, what?

You know, because we were used to getting people saying, I'm Moving into this five star luxury minimum starting $5,000 a month with amenities, type of community or a patio home.

I mean, the people that called us, you know, we're a lifestyle service.

We're, we're, we're just, that's just the way professional organizers are usually defined.

I said, oh, okay.

And I didn't want to say, well, we're $90 an hour.

Or back then it was, you know, maybe 85, I don't know.

But I didn't want to tell them my hourly rates because then that would mean I'd lose them.

And I wanted to help them somehow.

So I'd say, tell me more, tell me more.

And the more I listened, the more I started reaching out to community based organizations and county offices like the Area Agency on Aging and having starting relationships with the Senior line and all of the, you know, the DHS helpers out there, the Department of Health and Human Services helpers out there to say, what's, what do we have?

What's.

And they're like, we don't have anything.

And I'm like, come on.

There has to be like an emergency fund.

There has to be something.

And so these phone calls had been coming in probably since, you know, I would say Covid times.

I would.

The calls were still coming in a little bit before that, but in drips.

And then I started getting more and more calls.

And then.

So by 2022, I was just inundated.

And because the need, you know, our aging population, Everybody keeps talking about the silver tsunami coming.

Well, it was overhead.

It was.

We were all being washed over in here in Allegheny county, where we have the highest senior population in the country, next to.

Next to Florida, like, to Dade County.

We're seeing these trends and we're seeing these problems.

And the county agency kept referring them to me, and I was like, oh.

So that's how they kept finding you.

They kept.

They kept pushing to me because I kept doing this pro bono moves or these very low.

I'd say, well, how much can you pay?

They're like, well, I have a hundred dollars.

I'm like, perfect.

And I would just take it because they needed the dignity to pay me, but because there wasn't anything structurally in place.

So if I didn't do it free, I did it for something.

And now I have the right mechanism and the framework to receive funds from donors and from grant, you know, people and foundations.

I'm very.

I'm very lucky to have excellent grant writers helping me, so.

But why not keep doing it pro bono?

What.

What.

What compelled you to set up a business?

Well, my cp.

My CPA at the time, he's passed away now, but he at the time said to me, in early 2022, you're.

You're losing your tax basis.

Like, you have no profits anymore.

Discover Organizing is running on fumes.

You have pushed out all your staff onto these jobs because they know what they're doing.

You know, they know how to handle people, to downsize, pack, move, handle the truck, unpack, get organized, get rid of the debris.

Like, it's all these, you know, steps.

I was paying them, but we weren't getting paid by anyone.

And I was like, oh, yeah, that's how business works.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So he said, please form a nonprofit.

You're killing me.

He was very upset about it, you know, and he.

He kept sending me these emails in bold print.

Please, please form something.

I can't be your CPA if you do it.

I'm not a nonprofit cpa, but here's some names.

You know, start looking.

And so I did as I.

I just thought, okay, I'll Just put it out there.

I was in the process of getting married to my wonderful husband.

Before I left for the honeymoon, I sent out this application.

I won't Forget.

This was May 5th.

We got married that month, and we went away.

I came back from the honeymoon.

The IRS had not only sent me this beautiful letter, but it meant I was accepted and I had to get to work.

And I thought I had nine months to a year, because that's what Frank, my cpa, said at the time.

He said, don't worry, you're going to put that paperwork in.

You have like a year.

They're so backed up.

Don't worry about it.

Just go on with your life, get married, have a honeymoon, you know, you know, rebuild Discover, organizing, get the money back in the coffers.

I'm like, okay, well, then I literally got the letter in the mail stack when we came home from.

From Italy.

And I said, what is this?

And I can't read it.

It's a rejection.

And he goes, no, that's just for college.

Like, that's.

That's what we're used to for college, because everything is going to be this, like, packet, you know, like, congratulations.

And I was thinking it was going to be.

Actually, read this right now.

I said, yeah.

He was, you're in to the IRS college.

And I was like, yay.

But I didn't realize what.

How much work that was going to be because I had no money set aside, no nothing.

I mean, I.

I started Googling articles.

How do I start a nonprofit?

I was going to ask you, like, how.

How did you know?

Did you.

You never had a nonprofit?

You never worked in a nonprofit?

No.

And I think that's still obvious to this day that I don't know what I'm doing.

And I.

And I go to, like, sell seminars through Robert Morris University.

I go through the Candid, which is the, like, sort of where all of the nonprofit foundations.

It's like a sort of a collection of foundations, but it's also the vetting website for all nonprofits.

So if you want to, as a foundation, want to give Safe Moves for seniors money, you would have to check me out on Candid and my.

And look at my.

It used to be known as guidestar, but Candid bought guidestar and it bought all of that information.

So if you want to be a bona fide nonprofit, you have to register Candid, and then you're checked out through there.

And Candid offers free learning opportunities.

And then you find out about all this cool stuff, like, oh, there's this thing called TechSoup.

And you're like, what's that?

Well, TechSoup is this wonderful nonprofit technical support app or website.

And they gave me QuickBooks for free for $65.

For $65 for the buy in.

But then the rest of the year is free.

Nice.

And I'm like, whoa.

Because I know what I pay on the for profit side for QuickBooks.

Right?

Money.

So I find out about these things and then I started networking at other with other nonprofits just, you know, just pretending like I know what they're all talking about.

With.

Well, yeah, I mean if you do this audit and you do this budget, I'm like, uh huh.

And I just started absorbing things because I didn't, I didn't know what I didn't know and I just took notes and then I would have coffee with people that I wanted to learn more from and they were very gracious, spoke slowly and clearly.

But yeah, so many people along the way have offered me a hand up and taught me things, especially in Pittsburgh.

It's a very giving community of knowledge and resources.

So what a transitional time in your life.

My goodness, you're going, you've got this business going which now your CPA is telling you it's going into the tank.

You just get married, you come back and you're like, oh, guess what, you have another new business now.

What kind of fears and self doubts did you have to overcome at that point?

Well, I had already made the decision that I was going to help these people.

Okay.

I didn't know what that looked like.

It didn't have form to it, it didn't have shape.

But I did know that I wasn't going to let them down.

I had already made the commitment to them.

I had already.

By hitting submit on the IRS website.

I knew that I was going the minute I applied for the ein and then sent that in the application and I hit submit.

That's when I was, I knew I was going to do it.

And the funny thing is I was with a girlfriend of mine who came in from Philly to have lunch with me.

My friend Missy, she's a social worker from back in the day and we were having lunch and I had just experienced a concussion, which was super fun as I was planning my wedding.

And she said, do you think the concussion had anything to do with this nonprofit?

Because you're so busy, you know, kind of joking around, hit on the head.

And that's why you're doing.

Yeah, it was a pretty bad concussion.

And she, she, I Said, well, I think what I'm gonna do, you're right.

I'm not gonna.

I'm not gonna apply.

I said, I'm just gonna get married.

I'm gonna rebuild my company, and I'm just gonna.

You know, I'm just gonna chill for a little while.

And she's like, I don't believe you, but okay.

And my husband.

I decided to come home.

I tell my husband this news, this revelation I had at lunch that maybe I needed to listen to my friend that's a therapist that knows what she's doing, and with, you know, the brain and everything.

And he said, oh, no, you have to form the nonprofit.

I said, I do.

I do.

And he goes, yeah.

He said, think about all those people that are just waiting for you.

I mean, like.

Like this.

Like, you're.

You've already made such an impact already, just doing all these other things.

And he goes, my.

You know, my parents would have been, like, so incredibly impressed.

And I never really got to get his parents.

Yeah.

And because he knew what kind of advocates they were, and I.

I didn't know that about them.

And they were both PhDs, one like, in sociology, one psychology.

You know, they were very, very smart people and were big advocates for those, you know, living with less and just.

I don't know, they were extraordinary people.

And he said, oh, they would be so excited because don't give up.

And I'm like, well, it's really more of a postponement, but I'll do it.

And he's like, yay.

And I'm like, you're going to be the vice president, though.

There you go.

There you go.

He became the vice president of.

Yeah.

Safe Modes for Seniors.

And I just started building a board, and I had lunch with people that were like, you got to build your board right away.

And, you know, people just help.

They would, like, tell me what my next steps were.

And I just kind of gathered information, and I probably didn't do it right all the time, but I knew, you know, when you're driven by passion and excitement and, you know, you have these goals, like, it's okay that you're not doing it perfectly.

And I think that's a really important message coming from a perfectionist type a person like myself.

It's really important to not expect amazing, great, you know, millions of dollars.

Like, I didn't realize how hard it was to fundraise.

I just thought I'd put something out on social media, like I do with work.

You know, with Discover Organizing.

I put, like, a Pantry, like, this is what it was, this is what it is.

Hire me people just.

Yeah, it wasn't the same type of marketing at all.

And I learned a lot.

I mean, it's so different, right?

So you, here's the pantry, here's how it is.

Afterwards, I'm buying your service, right?

If you're asking me for money, it's just because I feel like it's the goodness of my heart to give you money.

You know, what am I getting for it other than that?

So it's a whole different ball game.

And when you have a new nonprofit that has no history, no financial reports, nothing that's posted yet because you're such a baby, you know, like your, your taxes are this little E postcard that gets just sent with you have, you know, because you don't make the threshold of 25,000.

I think it is.

I was just this little tiny peanut, right?

And here I'm going, how about you give me foundation a give me like 150,000 and that'll get me, you know, this much for admin and this much for programming.

And oh boy, I had to learn, I had to learn to just start small with a 5,000 grant, a 15,000 grant, and I just started working my way, my way up.

But yeah, I am still realizing how much time it's going to take to really get the kind of funds that we need across the country.

And the long Runway that I am on right now, the very long Runway, and I'm pre flight mode.

Yeah.

Totally different ballgame than trying to start a for profit business, I'm sure.

So talk to me about that difference.

Like what's, what's the inner difference of working and starting a non profit and working and starting a for profit?

What, what is it doing for you?

Well, I, I think you both, both explore a passion, right?

Like, you know, a lot of people take their hobbies and they turn it into careers.

A lot of people take their interests and turn it into a job and they take, you know, a great concept and they build on it.

Maybe they're great at marketing, maybe they're great at, you know, structure and operations.

Maybe have partners like an LLC or something that go, you know, we're really good at this.

Or you're really good at this.

I'm really good at this.

Let's, you know, peanut butter jelly time.

Let's, let's do this thing.

Let's sell these widgets or let's provide the service so that we can enjoy what we do.

You know, compliment each other's skill sets or whatnot.

And I have a team, and everybody on my team is amazing.

And at Discover Organizing, they all bring something to the table and that is fun to watch somebody develop, you know, from first day of hire to becoming a manager and such.

But at the end of the day, your.

Your.

Your focus is to turn a profit.

It is to take the that margin and put it in your bank account and hopefully feed your retirement or feed your interests, your lifestyle, pay your mortgage, pay your car payment, all those things.

And you want to use the business as a vehicle to sustain yourself professionally.

And the more I look back on the years I've been in business, I've sort of been running a nonprofit.

And I don't mean to tease about that or be silly, but I've put more into my people, my expenses.

When you look at my expenses, they're mostly payroll because I'm really big into development, meaning education, not financial development.

That's the nonprofit side.

But the, you know, I just.

All the money that I would make, I would notice that most of it would go back to my team, back to my staff, back into their learning about how to treat a customer who has ADHD or has a brain injury, people that have disabilities such as Ms.

And Parkinson's, that need extra help to create home systems, that are simplified, that are accessible, that have universal design.

All of those things were really important to me.

And so I kind of have been always acting as if the money that we're making is going back to back into education and it serves the customer.

And so I think for me, it isn't a huge shift because the nonprofit now, I'm.

I'm not doing it to be serving myself.

When I ask for money, I'm not asking it for something I've done.

I'm asking it to go toward something that will help someone get out of a really unsafe situation and feel secure and feel like they could get where they needed to go without a barrier.

And there's so many barriers out there, and money's just one of them, right?

To get where you need to go.

I'd say the biggest difference is I'm driven every day to find them the resources that they need.

Because I've seen the outcomes now, like I've seen the outcomes of and how sustainable those outcomes are.

When you move someone that is in a very untenable situation into a situation that's stable, that's safe, that has a service coordinator available to them, access to food, healthcare, groceries, community, you've placed them in a much better situation.

And you can see it.

You can see when you check on them, 30, 60, 90 days later, they're thriving.

And it's an amazing feeling where I think a lot of times with the organizing business, yes, you're creating sustainable systems, but you're not really necessarily filling a gap in society or a gap, you know, that's going to make that kind of impact.

And for me, that's what helps me make that leap.

And that is the biggest difference.

I'd say I run both the same.

Like, my mindset is, you know, similar, but the impact is far greater for me.

At the end of the day, I can see that.

Yeah, because you're helping.

You're helping and you're making their lives better.

So tell me about, I mean, you say from an untenable situation to a much more sustainable situation.

Can you give me an example of where you're moving them from and where you're moving them to?

Yeah, sometimes they're living in a house that they've been renting.

Maybe it's a fixed rent situation that they've been under a voucher with section eight or just, you know, a house that's kind of sitting in a neighborhood that is no longer safe for them, that was safe 25 years ago when they moved in.

The landlord hasn't maintained the home.

So we have leaks, we have heat that doesn't work.

Multiple requests to that, you know, landlord, or the landlord wants to tear down the properties.

So they've.

They've kind of gone from this really isolated situation and now they want to move in with their friends into the new senior high rise.

Right.

That's being built, or the new, you know, community that, you know, Pittsburgh is really building a lot right now for older adults, which is a beautiful thing.

They want to be more socially acclimated.

They have to go so far to get, you know, anything like, in terms of, like that.

I forget what it's called.

Something like a food desert, like they can't get to.

They can't get to a grocery store without taking three buses or getting a ride from a cousin that may or may not show up.

And so getting them closer to accessing the things that they need to thrive is really good.

But I've also taken people out of senior high rises that are no longer good for them.

And I mean that by.

They've become dangerous.

There's a lot of drug trafficking and, and a lot of violence in their building.

And so my very first move under the House of Safe Moves for Seniors was a woman by the Name of Fanny, her pictures on our website.

She called me and said, you got to get me out of here.

My Meals on Wheels guy told me about you.

And I'm like, I didn't even advertise with.

But word spreads fast.

I think I'd have like a phone call with somebody from an agency about something.

And then all of a sudden I'm on a bulletin board in this, in this building.

I went to see her.

She said she was all packed and ready to go.

And that was far from the truth.

There was about 25 man hours that, that I put in before she could actually move.

But when I was decluttering her and packing her, she told me stories about her best friend who was.

Now Fanny's in her 80s, and her friend was five to six years older than she.

And she was attacked for lunch money or, I'm sorry, laundry money.

She had $3 and 50 cents in her purse.

She was heading down to the dryer to change her clothes out, and she was beaten within an inch of her life and was in the hospital for six weeks.

And Fannie, that's when Fannie called me right after that attack.

And she said, you have to get me out of here.

I know I'm next.

People are sneaking into my apartment.

And she wasn't wrong.

I definitely saw signs of break in.

And so I felt like I had to hurry and I had no money to move her.

I, you know, I just figured that out.

And we got her out of there and got her moved in with her daughter where she was safer.

She had her own bedroom.

She had all the amenities of home.

Her daughter made big space for her.

And yeah, it was, that was my wake up call to there are people living in really unsafe situations.

We moved a whole group of people out of a building that had had fire.

It's called the Roosevelt Building here in downtown Pittsburgh.

And, you know, word spread really quickly about, you know, I got one person out and people said, hey, I heard you got so and so out and you get me out too.

I got to get out of here.

And it's like, sure, give me a minute.

Hold, you know.

Yeah, yeah, you know, so, yeah, it feels good.

We're by no means like a mandatory EMT rescue service, but sometimes it just feels like that, you know.

Yeah, you're getting people out of really scary, unsafe situations.

So that, that raises the question of your employees going into those situations.

Are they feeling scared, unsafe?

No.

Well, if they are, they haven't shared that with me, but we usually go in as a team.

No one goes in alone.

Our movers are usually with us.

We have a.

We have a group of moving company, you know, personnel that goes in with us to do the assessment.

So no one ever is alone.

We do some research.

We all.

We also try to go in with their case manager if they have a caseworker.

So we're together.

We're not sending someone out into a situation that isn't safe.

And when there have been situations where there has been neighborhoods where my employees have said, I'm not comfortable, then they don't have to go.

Like, even if they just feel uncomfortable or if they're feeling like it's not a great idea for them to go, even with a big group of six guys, they still feel like it just wouldn't be a wise idea.

This is not a mandatory service, and it's not anything that I force upon any volunteer or any employee of Discover Organizing who is our major subcontractor at this point.

Yeah.

So you have taken this in two years, and it's now grown to 13 locations around the country.

Yes.

And we just had three more people interested in signing up in various parts of the country.

Even, like, in addition, like, I'm already approved to do business in the state of California and state of Florida.

So now we're popping up more locations in the states that were already approved to solicit funds in.

To do business in.

So that's kind of exciting is to grow statewide in some states already.

So we're going to probably add, I'm going to say, 10 more locations by this time next year.

That would be.

And we'll have vendors.

Like, I'm having a lot of meeting with potential vendors that just want to be a vendor.

They don't want to be a chapter leader.

And that way we can actually get more visibility in those areas.

And then, of course, you know, the headquarters, which is me, would be serving as the chapter leader and take in the referrals and screen the referrals along with case management, anyone that's referring them.

So obviously there's a big need and a need for volunteers.

So talk to me, Jill, about what an ideal volunteer would be for something like this, because a lot of people when they retire are looking for ways to give back.

So what would be an ideal volunteer?

An ideal volunteer would be somebody that could help me administratively in any capacity.

I only have one study volunteer right now that helps me administratively.

I have the greatest need for people to be on the phone to be able to reach out, to screen new referrals that Come in or to check on people.

That is one area that I really feel like we fell short in, as I call them, like my checkup callers, like a week after the move.

How are you doing, Wendy?

How did your move go?

Are you feeling okay?

Are you feeling, you know, you need anything right now?

How's your health?

You know, did you follow up with Meals on Wheels?

Did they get your new address?

Good, good, good.

Those types of things that we might have talked about during the moving process, we just don't have the manpower to do those follow up phone calls.

The second area is administratively for gosh, anybody that wants to do finding, doing some research, logging into my grant account and finding, like, hey, what are some new opportunities around?

What are some national grants?

We can kind of pitch to the grant writers.

That would be amazing proofreaders, you know, to look at some of my executive summaries.

You know, anybody that has some administrative experience, no matter how small.

If you love, if you love to.

Some people really love admin, like me.

I love that stuff.

I love processes and procedures.

You know, just connecting with the chapter leaders, checking in with them.

How are you doing?

What, what can I bounce up to Jill, you know, about some things that are going on?

And then finally, I would love some social media help with just getting our stories out there.

We have so many videos of so many stories.

And, you know, getting that out there on social media would be really helpful, especially for fundraising purposes, which is wonderful.

Because, you know, when I first talked to you, I thought, oh, this is going to be like, get in there, pack boxes, get dirty.

And what you're saying is stuff that we could do over the phone from anywhere.

From anywhere.

Anywhere, anywhere.

And would they find you at your website, safemoonsforseniors.org Yep, yep.

And the Pittsburgh location is the headquarters.

So you'll see a United States map when you go onto our website.

So just make sure to pick the Pittsburgh location whenever you go on and you will reach me through that.

I check that email every day.

And another reason for a volunteer, so I could forward one of those emails to somebody that they could help me respond.

But yeah, that, that would be great.

Yeah, any.

Any type of support would be great.

Oh, that is really helpful.

And, and tell me about your hopes and dreams for this organization.

Safe Moves for Seniors.

Well, let's see, I'd say in 10 years, I definitely want to be in a household name.

I'd love to see trucks on the road bearing our logo, having licensed moving professionals that are trained in what we're doing compassionate movers, either partnering with us or just becoming a full service, moving service for older adults that are very poor, honestly, and having that feeling of dignity available to every human being over the age of 60 that is making $800 a month.

And it's just out of reach.

And I want to make it within reach.

If you're over 60, you make less than this a month.

Please call us today and you will be serviced in your area by either a partner or one of our, one of our existing ground teams.

That would be my goal and that's my vision.

Well, I hope you reach it because it's interesting.

You look at this demographic and some people have done very well saving for their retirement, but there's a lot of people in the boomer generation that have been living paycheck to paycheck and now it's going to be hard when it's just Social Security.

So, yeah, I learned a lot.

I want to touch on that really quickly.

Just to say one of the things I hear they usually self shame or when I'm out and about and I'm fundraising and people will say, well, they should have saved up for that.

Like, why are you, you know, they should have put money aside for this.

And I just say, well, when you have an unexpected medical bill, did you save $30,000 to supplement what?

You know you got cancer and you didn't know that it was outside of this and the drugs were outside of this formulary and you don't know enough to plan for something like this.

And a lot of people are living in homes that they thought they would, frankly, that they would die in.

I mean, they say, this is my last move.

And they were in their 60s.

Well, now they're in their 80s and it is not their last move.

And they need to be somewhere safer with more community resources, with more home health care opportunities for them or more socialization, more senior centers nearby.

That's what we don't plan for.

And a lot of us are not planning for our longevity.

Yeah, I didn't move my grandmother until she was 95.

You're right.

Time to downsize.

I'm like, okay, you know, she lived to be 97 and you know, she's, she's an example of how many phone calls I get from the kids that are in their 70s that say, I need, I need your help moving.

My mom, she makes this and I make this.

I can't afford the truck to help her.

A lot of people say, call your daughter, call your son, call the.

They don't have it either.

Right.

They didn't think they were going to live this long.

And it's a gift to live this long.

Right.

To continue to, to be a part of the world.

But we're not planning financially to extend beyond a certain, you know, expect life expectancy.

And, you know, that's a phrase I take umbrage with all the time.

But anyway, I, I think, you know, we just didn't know that we would need to do it.

And we also put the price of a moving truck back to when we last moved.

Right.

Which was a lot different than it is now with fuel charges and materials and labor, you know, so, yeah, I don't blame anyone that didn't save for a moving truck.

And well, there's so many life circumstances that can get in the way.

I mean, if you don't have a high paying job, chances are you're not, you haven't had the opportunity save.

And then one thing comes up, like you said, an illness or a major service breaks like your air conditioning, your heating service, you know, your car breaks down, suddenly you're like really in a bind.

So Jill's for profit business is Discover Organizing.

You can find them@discoverorganizing.com they mostly serve the Pittsburgh area and surrounding areas of Pittsburgh.

But safemoovsforseniors.org is the nonprofit that is spreading like wildfire around the country.

So we're excited to see where that goes.

Jill, in 10 years, I'm looking for those trucks too.

That's great.

So remember at the beginning of the show when I asked you all to think about sharing this episode with a friend?

You know, this has been a powerful episode.

So be sure share it with a friend.

Share it.

Now.

They can look for boomer banter on YouTube.

They can look for it on any podcast app.

And they will thank you and I will thank you for sharing it.

And if you like what we talk about on Boomer Banter, you know, real talk about aging.

Well, I want to tell you about another podcast that I think you would enjoy.

It's called Reinvention Rebels with Wendy Battles.

And Wendy was on our show a couple of years ago.

She tells stories and has people on who have reinvented themselves three or four times.

And their stories are also the say yes to what's possible kind of stories.

So they're very exciting to listen to.

So check out Reinvention Rebels when you get a chance.

And I will share links to all of these different sites in the show Notes.

And next week I'm excited For my guest.

Her name is Nita Sweeney, and Nita wrote a book titled Depression Hates a Moving Target.

Her book is a raw and honest description of her battle with depression and how she found a running practice that helped her get her life back.

Now, running is not for everybody.

Running, it's not for me.

But it is about movement, and it is about mindfulness and mindset and overcoming those words and phrases that we say to ourselves that hold us back and then finding the movement to help us keep moving forward.

So tune in next week and meet Nita.

Jill, thank you.

This has been a fantastic story.

I'm so motivated by you.

I'm now sitting here thinking, okay, now, well, how do I get this boomer banter to go to that level?

So we have trucks.

Yeah, whatever.

You.

Yeah.

I mean, if you can think about it and you can dream about it, you know, chances are you can make a part of it happen, if not the whole thing.

I mean, I've always been a big believer in that.

You know, I credit my, you know, my mom, my parents, you know, for just being so supportive of, you know, what is your next action?

What is.

What.

What is that next thing you're going to do?

And resting is important, but stopping is kind of unacceptable, right?

So don't quit.

You know, Banksy even said that artist, he said, whenever you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.

And that's right.

That's an important message that I carry with me every day.

It is an important message for all of us out here.

No matter how old we get, you know, there's some way that you can give back and make a difference.

So thank you, Jill.

Thank you, Wendy, for having me.

Okay, see you soon.

Okay.