Miracles truly do happen. I know because Eli is a walking and talking miracle. I won’t go into detail, but let it suffice to say that there is a ‘before’ Eli and an ‘after’ Eli. He constantly amazes me with his ability, his business savvy, his insights and his hard work. He hits the ground running at 6:00 am, first getting himself ready for work, then dressing two of his three little boys. He takes his three year old to the day care and then arrives to work at 7:15 am, making coffee and such for our members and guests, posting the menu and schedule of activities for the day, and planning for the next day. He works hard all day long on the tasks that need to be done, and is careful to run everything he does by me. He is super respectful of everyone at the club, including me.

His technology skills are superb. He worked for 3+ years at a cable company in South Georgia, and is a quick study with anything new. He seems to be able to conquer whatever challenge we have here at the business. His official title is “assistant”—assisting with the dining duties and assisting as my ‘right hand man’. The dining duties are very time consuming until we get our membership numbers up because we can’t use a regular caterer who will deliver until then. Instead we are ordering from various restaurants, which means doing research to make sure we are able to buy a balanced meal under budget, and sometimes going to two or three places to pick up the menu items. Then Eli effortlessly (seemingly) sets it all out and serves it with a smile. Everyone loves him and looks forward to his “cooking” (we call him chef carry-out) and his deserts. Eli loves treating our members to desert, being careful to not overdo them. A little bit of sweetness goes a long way here.

That is another one of Eli’s duties: he buys all of our supplies. And if a dispenser is out of soap or paper, Eli fills it. I rarely see a dispenser empty…and if I do, I just tell Eli and he cheerfully fills it. It is truly a pleasure to work with Eli. He never complains and is always on time and capable. I don’t have to check up on him or worry that he won’t do what needs to be done. He has never said he could not work because he ‘didn’t feel well’, although I know he has often not felt well because like me he has had a bad cold and he has a new baby that often keeps him up at night.

He almost seems magical when we have a guest presenter. Eli stealthily gets everything set up for them: screen, projector, computer, speaker….whatever they need. And if we don’t have a guest speaker for some reason, Eli can do an excellent job giving a workshop. He did one on Brain Games just last week and on Online Shopping the week before that.

Most of all, I am amazed at his compassion and true caring for our members and staff. He seems especially sympathetic of our members who have lost their social skills and who are in the later stages of dementia. He tries to make the nurses and nurse aides who are their caregivers have a pleasant and productive day. Thank you God, for Eli.