Renee Garriss found Music for Seniors the same way many great things happen — through a good friend. Her dear friend Rebecca Aulvin, already a volunteer with the organization, invited Renee to a free daytime concert at Plaza Mariachi featuring the WannaBeatles. From the moment the music started, Renee was hooked.
The timing was meaningful. Renee had just come home to Brentwood from Georgia, where she had been caring for her aging parents. The concert didn’t just entertain her — it moved her. She kept coming back, then started volunteering, and was recently asked to join the Music for Seniors Board of Directors.
She said yes without hesitation.
Renee also volunteers at the Sunny Day program’s Brentwood location, where Music for Seniors visits each month. She has watched people light up the second music fills the room. Having cared for her own mother through dementia, she knows how powerful that can be. She still thinks about a man who hadn’t spoken in years — then he suddenly burst out laughing, started clapping, and called his daughter by name during a Christmas concert. “Music speaks to the soul,” she says.
One of her favorite memories happened at a Music for Seniors concert at Cheekwood. A Sunny Day participant came with her caregiver, and Renee watched her dance with Matt Bridges, Music for Seniors’ program director. It brought Renee to tears. That moment captured everything she loves about Music for Seniors — the joy, the care, and the way staff and volunteers show up for people with their whole hearts.
After years of working with young children, Renee felt a pull toward serving older adults. She wants them to feel seen. She never wants them to feel forgotten.
She believes Music for Seniors is doing something that truly matters — through concerts, ukulele and percussion classes, and regular outreach, the organization brings people something to look forward to every week.
When she’s not volunteering, Renee makes music at home with her husband, Waldon. She plays piano, sings, and loves gospel, 60s and 70s hits, and yacht rock. She also enjoys reading, cooking Italian food, and baking desserts from scratch. A former runner and classically trained ballerina, she now walks up to 20,000 steps a day. And her favorite color? Red — always has been.
Renee was deeply touched when Music for Seniors Executive Director Liz Kelly asked her to join the Board during a concert at The Heritage in 2025. For her, both roles — volunteer and Board member — are a gift.
“It’s a privilege,” she says, “to support an organization that brings joy and dignity to aging adults.”