One lucky older adult struggling to find the right assisted living community will earn a one-year stay at Michigan community thanks to a grant program.
Transition Assisted Living in Gladstone, MI, is teaming up with Radio Results Network to give one person a $10,000 Transition Gives Back Healthcare Grant toward a one-year stay in its community. The community will pick a winner later this month based on their “hardships and struggle” to find the right assisted living community within their budget.
With a background in philanthropy, Transition Assisted Living President Crystal Hayes told McKnight’s Senior Living that she was fortunate to receive an educational scholarship through the Miss Michigan program and contemplated how to give back to families that need support.
“We just hear a lot of stories when people come in — the good, bad and ugly as far as moving into the right facility,” Hayes said, adding she was “divinely inspired” to create a grant opportunity to help the right person to find their home.
Transition Assisted Living, a full-service assisted living community focused on health and wellness, was established in 2020 and opened in 2022. Hayes said that leading the community has allowed her to merge her passion for real estate and interior design with hospitality to create an environment that feels like “living at a five-star resort on a three-star budget.”
A recent analysis from the National Council on Aging and the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston found that up to 80% of older adults have modest assets and would be unable to afford four years in an assisted living community.
Transition Assisted Living, Hayes said, still is soliciting applications and may extend the submission deadline, originally set for Memorial Day, to enable more prospective residents to apply. She hopes to select three to five semifinalists from a pool of at least 100 applicants, adding that the company is considering additional smaller grants depending on the need and response.
Grants will be prorated monthly on a 12-month stay at the community. Semifinalists will be contacted by Transition Assisted Living for a phone and in-person interview. The final grant recipient will be notified by the community.
And once that year is up, Hayes said Transition Assisted Living will reassess the relationship and potentially renew the scholarship or work with the recipient(s) to find the best solution for that person and the community.
Applicants can apply online and will be asked about their hardships in finding assisted living, total monthly income, urgency of finding a community and whether memory care is needed.
