Nationwide — Leadership Experience Tour Speaker Dr. Cynthia J. Hickman has been making a difference in Missouri City, Texas, since gracing the national/international stage in April of this year. She has since launched a local initiative called the Socks 4 Seniors’ Project, and it has so far been an overwhelming success. For her first event, she was able to organize local residents to donate over 300 pairs of socks.
As a caregiver for 20-years to her mother, Shibbolethia B. Lewis, who died at the age of 97-years old in 2017, she found strength through grief with purpose. The Socks 4 Seniors’ Project Initiative was a way to honor her mother, as she realizes the importance of making seniors feel supported during their elder years. “It is vital to their health and well-being,” Hickman affirms. Older adults often feel marginalized as they age, and loneliness and sadness become a crippling reality as they travel from independence to dependency on others. It is not always an easy transition, which is why family caregiving is so necessary.
The goal for The Socks 4 Seniors’ Initiative is designed to make seniors smile. She states, “I recall my mother’s smiles, even as her health worsened.” Since her mother’s passing and struggling through the grief process at times, she found a way to honor her “Queen” by making other seniors smile. The Socks 4 Seniors’ Initiative is a way to give back to the community where she rendered care to her mother. Making other seniors smile gives her peace, even now in moments of grief. The Socks 4 Seniors’ Initiative was a month-long initiative that ended on September 30, 2021. The Johnson & Johnson Senior Adult Day Care Center in Missouri City, Texas, were the recipients of new men and women socks on October 22, 2021.
Community members and organizations who were supporters of The Socks 4 Seniors’ Project Initiative included the Missouri City Police Department, which agreed to be the drop-off location for the sock donations. Walden University, my alma mater, arranged for the Amazon link for the local and international academic community to purchase and donate socks virtually from around the globe. Missouri City Councilmen Jeffery L. Boney and Texas State Representative Ron Reynolds were supporters of the project as well as Fort Bend County Black Nurses Association, Walden University Social Change Community, Zeta Chi Eta Phi Sorority, Inc., Shawn Fair, of the Leadership Experience Tour members, Alpha Kappa Psi, and Imani Consultants with Dr. Juanita Braxton.
“On behalf of Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate,” I would like to express my deep gratitude for every contribution. In September, the Socks 4 Senior Project Initiative was an annual event in Missouri City, Texas.
About
Dr. Cynthia J. Hickman is Your Proactive Caregiver Advocate, speaker, and author of From the Lens of Daughter, Nurse, and Caregiver: A Journey of Duty and Honor and The Black Book of Important Information for Caregivers. Dr. Hickman is a passionate nurse educator and storyteller, enthusiastic about sharing caregiving strategies that help navigate the challenges associated with caregiving for loved ones and care recipients. Her professional career spans over 30+ years, including acute-care nursing, nursing education, mentoring, research, and community/population health education.
Learn more at www.cynthiajhickman.info
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