A day in the life of Melanie Perry: New Merkel House director enriches, expands local senior community

When she and her husband were first married and moving around from city to city due to his job, Melanie Perry would wind up volunteering somewhere, wherever they were.

She took a special liking to senior citizens, often “adopting” a grandfather or grandmother in her neighborhood. It’s something that’s really easy to do, she said. She would take time to sit and talk with them, listening to the birds in the area, doing the “little small things that mean so much to those who don’t have anybody,” she said.

“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” Perry said, quoting a popular scripture.

It’s a lesson Perry first learned from her grandmother.

“I have fond memories as my grandmother, my sisters and I would walk to our neighbor’s homes in our small rural neighborhood in north Georgia,” Perry said. “We would check on the elderly, bring soup to the sick and take vegetables from the garden to those in need.”

Perry, who has made a life of helping others, carries that lesson with her as the director of the New Merkel House, the senior center in Cahaba Heights.

In 2010, Perry moved to Cahaba Heights from Shelby County and, as she’d done so many times before, quickly grew attached to her elderly neighbor, a World War II veteran. She started taking him to the New Merkel House, led by Joyce Dawkins at the time. Perry volunteered anyway she could.

So, in 2015, when Dawkins retired, Perry was asked to take her place.

“I’ve always had a fondness and a kinship, a desire to nurture and help,” Perry said.

A SPECIAL COMMUNITY

Perry’s days usually look pretty similar. She comes in and begins preparing coffee and snacks for members who will soon arrive, before getting meals ready to go out the door for the Meals on Wheels program, which feeds the homebound.

Each day brings different activities for the seniors, from tai chi to art classes to games. At times, to help seniors with their health, Perry has brought in medical professionals for clinics or to talk to members.

Members truly enjoy their time with one another, Perry said. That is, until Rummikub games begin, Perry said jokingly. While they might be older, the senior citizens are just as competitive as ever, she said.

The city of Vestavia Hills has been a great partner, offering assistance and purchasing items needed to keep the center running, Perry said. In the next couple of years, the seniors will move to a new New Merkel House, part of the city’s Community Spaces Plan.

Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry said Perry is an “exceptional person,” and, as much as anybody, embodies the Cahaba Heights community.

“I don’t know anybody else in the city that’s as pleasant as she is,” Curry said. “You can see what an asset she is.”

Rudy Duda, a regular at the New Merkel House, said Perry is a good role model who goes the extra mile for New Merkel House members. She takes time, he said, to help them with insurance problems, medical care, making sure they have food and doing whatever is needed to keep them healthy and happy.

The seniors also give back to the community, Perry said. Each Wednesday, they meet with fifth-graders from Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights, which is next door. It’s an opportunity for the students to learn from the seniors and vice versa, Perry said.

“I love the fact that it’s not just about what we can do for them; it’s what they can do for others,” Perry said.

The community celebrates every birthday and every holiday, from Christmas to St. Patrick’s Day. Parties and opportunities to have a good time and even dress up in costumes are not in short supply at the New Merkel House.

Perry said she wants to ensure each day is special for the seniors, especially knowing that tomorrow isn’t promised for them.

“I want to make every day count,” Perry said. “Because we’re not promised they can come back the next day.”

It truly is a special community, she said.

“Every day I have the opportunity to work with a special group of people in our community,” she said. “I spend my day with people from the greatest generation ever: the most kind, gentle, caring, respectable, wisest people I have the pleasure to be around every day.”

SEPARATED, BUT NOT ALONE

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, which presents a higher risk to the elderly, the New Merkel House has been lonely lately, Perry said.

“It has been absolutely awful,” Perry said in mid-April. “No one’s been here since March 15.”

Yet, Perry is doing her best to make sure seniors are not truly alone. She is still helping coordinate Meals on Wheels, which are being dropped off at the front door of people’s homes. Volunteers are still showing up to help, Perry said.

The time of social distancing and isolation has been challenging for seniors, Perry said. One member was obviously scared and even crying the last time she saw him, she said.

“Seeing the anxiety and somewhat fear in their faces and not being able to hug them ... that’s a challenge,” Perry said.

All she can do is try to be strong for them and encourage them, she said.

Perry spends time calling each person who is homebound two to three times a week, checking up on them, and she calls her regular attendees as well. It isn’t ideal, but at least she has the ability to check in on her people, Perry said.

“We’re all putting together a puzzle, and it’s not a fun puzzle, but all the pieces are working,” she said.

In the future, Perry hopes to hold a membership drive, boosting the number of people with whom she gets to meet and interact daily.

She said she’d also like to continue growing the senior center’s involvement in city schools and businesses. Seniors are giving people, she said.

For now, as she works toward future goals, Perry is driven by one daily goal:

“Make every day count and make them know they’re special.”