ELEANOR RUSSELL HAD LIVED ALONE for many years, and she valued her independence. But when this resident of The Woodlands, Texas, began to have trouble with her eyesight and realized that she should no longer be driving, it was clear that something needed to change. Living in a senior apartment complex with her family far away, Eleanor knew she needed help with transportation to church, grocery shopping, and caring for her personal needs. She was also accustomed to studying Christian Science regularly and missed being able to read the Christian Science periodicals.
Enter the local branch Church of Christ, Scientist, whose members quickly put together a transportation schedule, arranged for people to read the periodicals to her, and even found that volunteers were lining up to take their fellow church member grocery shopping each month.
"I called them my church family," says Eleanor, "because that's exactly what they were to me."
