All nine of Jackie Smiertka’s clients at the Quality of Life Adult Day Healthcare Center in Auburn Hills have some form of dementia.

Her clients, who range in age from 45 to 93, have spent hours over the last several months painting about 220 birdhouses that will be sold Mother’s Day weekend as a fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The charity raises money to ill children through research, treatment and support for their families.

Last year, clients at the daycare, 3252 University Drive, raised almost $4,000; they have set a goal this year of raising $5,000. This is the third year of the birdhouse project.

Smiertka said her clients understand they’re doing something to help children, Smiertka said.

“It’s a result they can see. Everyone needs a purpose in life, no matter their age in life or stage in life,” Smiertka said. “They work hard. They’re very proud of themselves.”Last year, the birdhouses sold for $25 at the Auburn Hills Costco store. They were gone by Sunday morning, Mother’s Day.

This year, they will go on sale for that price at the same Costco, located at 400 Brown Road, on Friday, May 10, in time for Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12. Smiertka expects they will sell quickly again this year.

Smiertka’s husband assembled the birdhouses shortly after Christmas. The daycare clients worked on them until mid-April, she said.

Once they finished that project, they started on a project for themselves — decorative mini-Adirondack chairs that hold a plant.

“It’s fun. We laugh. We’re busy,” Smiertka said.

Smiertka, a registered nurse, opened the daycare in 2017. It provides a medical doctor, occupational and physical therapists and other health services.

She caps her enrollment at 10 and usually has at least one opening.

One-quarter of Michigan residents are age 60 or older, and state officials expect to see increases in that population for the next several decades.

Michiganders 85 and older are the fastest-growing age group, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.