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Congressman Jerry McNerney speaks on the topic of Social Security on Wednesday morning during Senior Awareness Day at Micke Grove Regional Park. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)
A day for seniors
30th annual Senior Awareness Day featured Jerry McNerney and various vendors
The smell of barbecued hamburgers wafted through the air. On a nearby stage, a singer belted out, "New York, New York." As seniors milled about enjoying the atmosphere, Congressman Jerry McNerney spoke to a small crowd about social security issues and how he hopes to help.
McNerney was a special guest to help celebrate the 30th anniversary of Senior Awareness Day, which was held at Micke Grove Park on Thursday.
He began by stating in the next 10 years, 13 million more people will join the retirement population. Today, he said, 1.4 million people are stuck in limbo waiting for their cases to be heard.
At the local level, there are offices in Stockton, Lodi, Manteca, Sonora and Michigan. There are six administrative law judges and each deal with 533 cases per year, he said.
The average backlog is 506 days, which is one year-and-a-half.
"That's absolutely too long," he said.
The departments have been put on a hiring freeze and have shut down offices in the Midwest. The western offices are now dealing with those additional cases, which is the cause of the backlog, he said.
Debbie Kafton, of Lodi, is one of those backlog cases. In 2001, Kafton suffered a severe back injury. She fought a three-year battle receiving medical evaluations in order to receive benefits, while not getting answers from the Social Security office.
"If it hadn't been for receiving benefits from the death of my brother, I would have lost my home," she said.
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Mary Van Loon, a volunteer from AARP, relied on Social Security benefits in her past. She found herself as a widow with children all under the age of nine. Through receiving Social Security benefits, she was able to go back to school and become a registered nurse.
"If I had not had Social Security, I could have become a welfare statistic," she said.
Van Loon now finds herself once again relying on Social Security. Her second husband has died and she is now waiting on a claim. She stated she would be in trouble if she had to rely solely on Social Security.
"Across the nation and San Joaquin County, the wait has forced families into an economic disaster," she said. "We must say enough is enough."
McNerney closed by saying he feels the stories show people aren't being treated with respect and people need to be treated with respect.
"My job as a Congressman as these cases come up is to make sure they are exposed," he said.
He vowed to pass legislation to make sure there is funding for all cases and said anyone facing problems should contact his office.
"We'll do everything we can to make sure Social Security is available," he said.
The Senior Awareness Day event is sponsored by the San Joaquin County Commission on Aging along with other organizations.
Annette DePauli, event coordinator, said the concept of the event was started 30 years ago by a councilman in Escalon who wanted to have an event where seniors could gather information about services specific to them.
She feels the event is exciting because it gives the department the opportunity to bring all services together at one time.
"Most importantly, it's really all about honoring and recognizing seniors and supporting them," she said.
— News-Sentinel staff
Each year, the event draws at least 2, 000 to 3,000 people. This year, as in the past, various venders lined the street providing information about their services available to the seniors. Nicole Alioto, district director for Jerry McNerney, was busily handing out brochures at the Jerry McNerney booth. The brochures were about various health issues including health care for veterans, heart disease in women, HMO guides, smoking and menopause. She said their booth had seen quite a few visitors.
"They seem to come in waves," she said.
Mary Quinones and Linda Quinones, both of Stockton, were among many to stop by the booth.
Mary, who joked she is 72, single and available, said it was her second time at the event. She enjoys receiving all the information which is available to her there.
Linda, 51, was attending for the first time. She enjoyed learning things she didn't know about.
"The free food isn't too bad either," she added with a laugh.
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