Sometimes a wonderful heartwarming story comes along our way and we have to share! Jennifer Clancy, who works with ALLE Learning, wrote to tell us what one of their elder communities, the Fellowship Square Mesa, did for a recent service project. This senior adult group had decided they wanted to do something for the veterans at the Phoenix VA Hospital. She explained, “They decided on Valentine Day boxes filled with useful and not so useful stuff (i.e. candy).” Donald’s American Flag postcards was placed in each box. The photo below shows the group after their boxes were finished!
Jennifer explained further, “These communities come in many forms; independent living, assisted living, health centers, senior day care centers or long term care facilities. We work with all residents regardless of their physical or mental state.
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, my mother moved to an assisted living community. She lived there about five years before passing away. I was thankful that she was safe and had access to exercise and other wellness activities but soon discovered that there was very little on the monthly calendar for her mind or brain. I began ALLE Learning as a volunteer so that my mother would have access to book studies, presentations on interesting topics that were age appropriate and reinforcement projects. As communities began to hear about our efforts we began to teach our classes at other communities.
Fellowship Square Mesa is one of those communities. We meet with a group of 25 residents every Saturday afternoon for a two hour class. The residents in the photo are from this class. Every quarter they choose to do a service project and since we are also teaching our classes at the VA Hospital we thought it would be a great way to bring the two together. Our participants at the VA are in the palliative care and hospice unit. They are men and women who have served our country (as have many of our class participants). The residents wrote letters and cards and filled the boxes with all sorts of treats. We delivered 40 boxes.
As a way of scaling our efforts of providing lifelong learning to every senior adult living community in the U.S. we launched ALLE Online. Our mission is simple, we believe that learning is for everyone. Research is showing that we are on the right track; having a healthy mind and brain requires learning new things, not just playing brain games. By providing high-quality, affordable learning materials, every community can implement a lifelong learning program for all residents.”
The American flag is available as postcards or note cards with matching envelopes. This beautiful patriotic image also comes as a 11 x 14″ art poster print.
Donald Verger Photography 