Santa Monica College nursing students wheel patients back to the Fireside Convalescent Hospital home during a field trip to the farmers market on Wednesday, March 24, 2010.

(1)  Student Rabbi Menachem Levitansky from the Chabad House  builds a Sukkot at the Fireside Convalescent Hospital on Thursday, October 8, 2009, during a Sukkot party. A sukkot is an outdoor hut that is covered with vegetation. (2) Levitansky gives a "Blessing on the Lulav" to Mr. Shapiro at the Fireside Convalescent Hospital during Sukkot on Thursday. (3)  Levitansky sings with Fireside Convalescent Hospital's Jewish residents  during a Sukkot party on Thursday, October 8, 2009. (4) Student Rabbi Menachem Levitansky from the Chabad House dances for Fireside Convalescent Hospital's Jewish residents during a Sukkot party on Thursday, October 8, 2009. Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות or סֻכּוֹת, sukkōt, also known as Sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is harvest festival commemorating the booths in which the Israelites resided during their 40 years in the wilderness, lasting for either 8 or 9 days and beginning on the eve of the 15th of the month.

Senior clients "Stand-In" at the WISE & Healthy Aging's Adult Day Service Center on Friday, June 12, 2009. More than 2,000 seniors at 27 locations from Palmdale to South Bay and from Santa Monica to Claremont staged a massive 10-minute "Senior Stand-In" at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 12.The show of solidarity is in peaceful protest of Governor Schwarzeneggar's proposed $14 million budget cut which would completely eliminate funding statewide for vital programs that primarily or exclusively serve older adults. In Los County, alone, this would impact thousands of seniors and caregivers. There are an estimated 882,000 seniors age 60 and above living in Los Angeles County.

The proposed budget cut comes on the heels of the Governor's eliminating last Fall the State's $6 million budget for the long-term care Ombudsman program, which provides advocacy services for residents of long-term care facilities. The proposed additional cuts on the "chopping block" would eliminate funding for such critical services as food distribution, Alzheimer's care, care management, support to working families with caregiver obligations, adult day health care, the Senior Companion program, and more.

"Eliminating aging programs will only shift millions of dollars in expenditures, as many older persons become inappropriately placed in nursing homes," said Grace Cheng Braun, president and CEO of WISE & Healthy Aging in Santa Monica, and one of the Senior Stand-In organizers. "We strongly believe that as the demographics of California begin to shift to an aging society, that it is crucial that we commit the necessary resources to helping frail older persons remain in the community and live with dignity and independence."

(top) Broadway Music Singer, Don Paris, performs at the Main Library  during The Senior Arts Foundation's (SAF) Arts & Community Forum "Discovering Your Talent in Music" on Thursday, April 23, 2009, Jeong Woo Jin, Ph.D., accompanies on the Piano. (above) Gloria Women's Choir, senior citizen women over 75 years old from Korea, sing during the Arts & Community Forum. SAF aims to encourage senior citizens over 50 years old who are interested in the arts by providing opportunities to demonstrate their creativities through juried exhibitions and other art activities, to educate them with the open arts and community forum, to connect them to art events with transportation assistance and to utilize their talents in getting them involved in intergenerational programs. SAF has its origins with a group of instructors at Santa Monica College (SMC) and SMC Emeritus College. In working with older adults they began to understand the importance of the arts in the process of aging not only as a therapy but also as a valuable asset which these seniors can offer to society

Cordwainer (Shoemaker) Paul Mathews, 90, hand sows leather to the sole while making a custom pair of shoes during the annual Contemporary Crafts Market at the Santa Monica Civic on Friday, June 6, 2008. Paul learned to make shoes from his father when he was only 12 years old and has been making them ever since. He can make  two pairs of shoes per day which sell for $300.00 to 500.00 depending on the leather. Each pair is custom-built based on careful measurements of both feet. Fashioned from the finest leathers & free from synthetic materials and toxic glues typical in the shoe industry.

William Kriner, a Vietnam war veteran, builds a sand castle at Santa Monica Beach on Sunday, April 6, 2008. Kriner has been building sand castles at Santa Monica beach for the past 32 years.