Thank you to CMSS sponsors, friends, and partners for joining us and supporting the 2024 Fall Benefit on Thursday, September 12.
We enjoyed celebrating Senior Connections and the life and work of 2024 Spirit Award Honoree, Ellen F. Butkus. We are grateful for all the support Senior Connections has received, ensuring its future growth.
2024 Video
Caring and engaged relationships are at the center of everything we do at CMSS. This video, featuring interviews with three members of the Senior Connections program, shows how meaningful connections help sustain the health and well-being of older adults.
2024 Fall Benefit Photos
Thanks to all our sponsors, partners and friends who attended the event!
2024 Spirit Award Honoree
Ellen F. Butkus
Co-Founder and First Director, Senior Connections
2024 Spirit Award Honoree
Ellen F. Butkus
Co-Founder and First Director, Senior Connections
Ellen Butkus lived a life of service focused on supporting her community, family, friends, and neighbors. In 1991, Ellen co-founded the Senior Connections program, and became the program’s first Director.
At the time, Senior Connections was a small, grassroots program developed by a group of congregation members at Reba Place Church in Evanston. Ellen, who began her career as a rehabilitation nurse, was recruited for the role of managing Senior Connections as a parish nurse.
As the first Executive Director of Senior Connections, Ellen continued her lifelong work and dedication to improving her community and caring for older adults. For the 17 years that she led the program, Ellen brought dignity, listening, health, and healing into everyday action. She was a visionary who understood that adults of all ages experience loneliness and isolation and could benefit from forging positive relationships. Ellen also recognized that isolation and loneliness have major health consequences. Through Senior Connections, Ellen brought together older adults and younger individuals to share the benefits of intergenerational friendships.
Ellen passed in 2022 at the age of 69 after a three-year battle with cancer. Ellen’s legacy continues through the leadership, community, and connections she created in her community – including through the Senior Connections program.
The 2024 Spirit Award is presented posthumously to Ellen. Her husband, Al Butkus will accept this award on her behalf.
Thank you to our event sponsors!
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Your Gift to CMSS
CMSS offers an array of programs and services to support older adults and their families. This year’s Fall Benefit proceeds will support CMSS’ friendly visitor program – Senior Connections.
Senior Connections is a no-cost program that matches volunteers with older adults to form mutually beneficial friendships. This powerful initiative not only reduces loneliness and isolation for older adults but also inspires and motivates our dedicated volunteers. Research has shown that lack of social connection is of greater detriment to a person’s health than smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, or air pollution. Older adults, in particular, are among the most at-risk groups for loneliness and social isolation. Through our Senior Connections program, CMSS is building opportunities for social interaction and emphasizing the benefits of intergenerational friendships, making our volunteers an integral part of this impactful journey.
As a non-profit organization, CMSS relies on the generosity of our family and friends to support Senior Connections, as well as our other programs and services, which include:
- Affordable Senior Housing
- West Suburban Senior Center & LGBT+ Program
- SASI Home Care
- Assisted Living Memory Care
In every facet of our work, we empower each person we serve to live their best life and we meet the needs of each individual, taking into account their specific circumstance.
As the demand for older adult care increases, your gift will make CMSS’s next century of care and services possible and will ensure a lasting impact on the lives of older adults. Thank you for your support.
