They need advocates&uot; is Sabrena Bartley’s simple plea for senior citizens living on the edge of poverty.

Bartley and her colleagues at the Natchez Senior Citizen Center are just those advocates, providing not just warm meals and fellowship but a variety of other services for seniors in Adams County.

About 20 percent of the residents who are 65 and older in Natchez live in poverty, and many others are close. The Natchez Senior Citizen Center offers daily activities, transportation and meals for seniors, but it also helps them do simple tasks like read their mail and pay their bills.

Those tasks, which many people take for granted, can sometimes be difficult for those who are aging. And when you add a financial struggle in the mix, the situation is even more difficult to bear.

But the staff at the senior center is always willing to help. The caring nature of these advocates is always on display.

Still, as Bartley points out, seniors on the edge of poverty need even more help.

Often, family, friends and church supplement what the senior center and other nonprofits can provide for seniors. We should all be aware of the problems seniors face and be looking for ways to become their advocates.