There Is a Santa Claus at Ecumen's Luther Park at Sandpoint, Idaho
On Christmas morning in Sandpoint, Idaho, a dozen or so small children gather around the tree to see what Santa has brought them. The kids all have at least one thing in common: Santa is definitely not their parents. They are the kids of Kinderhaven, a group foster home and emergency shelter in this small northern Idaho town. They have been removed from their homes and placed here for their own protection.
But there is a Santa Claus. Not far away, the residents of Ecumen’s Luther Park at Sandpoint have been in their workshop raising money for gifts and hand-knitting hats, mittens, scarves and blankets, making sure the Kinderhaven kids have some Christmas presents. The Kinderhaven kids have no idea this is going on. All they know for sure is that last Christmas they had about 12 gifts each.
The kids do know the Luther Park folks care. They go over to the assisted living community and sing Christmas carols, and the Luther Park folks are really nice and friendly and don’t want them to leave. But, as it should be, they don’t connect the dots. Knowing who Santa is would spoil the fun.
But if the Kinderhaven kids could only know what joy they are giving Santa. The Luther Park residents and staff have been working all year so that these beaten, bruised and emotionally scarred kids can have a happy Christmas. In fact, the whole town of Sandpoint has been working toward this goal. And before this Christmas is over, the town’s community effort will have raised about $175,000 for the kids.
Wendy Traffie, the administrator at Luther Park, says you have to live in the town to truly understand what’s going on. There’s a kind of frontier spirit fostering the expectation that everyone must pitch in to help everyone else. And everyone pitches in to help the Kinderhaven kids.
Just before Christmas every year, there is a highly anticipated gala. Local businesses sponsor Christmas trees that are decorated with donated theme gifts. At the gala the trees are auctioned off. But usually the first two or three people who “buy” the trees donate them back to be auctioned off again, and when the night is over about $175,000 has been raised for Kinderhaven. This is in a town with a population of about 7,500.
Last year, Ecumen’s Luther Park at Sandpoint sponsored a tree with the theme “All Things Bonner County,” featuring local foods and gift certificates to businesses, donated by local merchants. The tree raised $6,500 at auction.
This year, their tree had an “All Things Disney” theme, decorated with a Tinkerbelle ornament at the top, stuffed animals, toys, games and action-figure ornaments. And Luther Park was honored by having their tree purchased for the Kinderhaven house to be the tree for the children.
Luther Park’s involvement started three years ago. Amy Schroeder, an employee in maintenance and housekeeping, went to Wendy with the idea of maybe adopting a kid at Kinderhaven. “I grew up here,” Amy says, “and I had such a wonderful family life. I knew about Kinderhaven and thought it might be a good place for us to get involved.”
Then, as Wendy puts it, “it just snowballed” into an all-out labor of love.
As soon as this year’s gala ends, Amy is back in Wendy’s office with the tree-theme idea for the upcoming year. Amy does the heavy lifting all year long, gathering the donations, making sure everything comes together and striving to make this the year that the Luther Park tree raises the most money of any tree at the gala.
The impact of the effort is astonishing, Wendy says. The residents and staff rally with a commitment unlike any she has ever experienced. “It’s like everybody moves to a different level. There’s no stress around this. Residents and staff use their skills toward an important purpose. It becomes so much bigger than ourselves. It’s all about the kids. It reminds us of the real reason for the season.”
And in this picturesque small town, everyone gets to watch the kids grow. In fact, three of the former Kinderhaven kids are now on staff at Luther Park— and now they know who Santa is.
Top 10 Holiday Gifts for Seniors: Ecumen Staff Offers Advice
We recently polled staff at several Ecumen communities for their advice on holiday gift-giving for seniors, particularly those who are in assisted living or care centers. Here are the top 10 suggestions:
1. Coming right to the top of the list is “the gift of time”— much more valuable than material gifts. The holidays can be especially lonely times for some seniors and special time with family and friends is usually the most welcomed gift. Putting effort into making a holiday visit truly exceptional can be priceless.
Jane Thieman, the marketing director of Ecumen Prairie Lodge in Brooklyn Center, Minn., suggests that one way to make a visit unique is to enable seniors to be in the holiday roles they used to enjoy when living at home. “Let them be the host,” Jane suggests. If your senior community has private rooms, try to arrange a family-style dinner or dessert party that a parent or grandparent can play the role of host and invite friends and family — bringing back good memories and a sense of empowerment.
2. Treats in the form of candy, chocolate and cookies are always a hit. And it’s best if they are individually wrapped, since residents like to share with caregivers, staff and visitors.
3. Gift cards are popular for those who are able to go out into the community — especially restaurants, movies and personal care. The activity director in your community can offer advice on popular destinations.
4. Comfortable lounging clothes, like robes, slippers and jogging suits — also blankets.
5. Toiletries such as hand and body lotions, shampoo and body wash.
6. Photos, especially framed photos or photo albums of grandchildren and great grandchildren with a mix of old and new photos, labeled with names and dates.
7. Games, such as puzzle books or jig-saw puzzles with larger pieces.
8. Wall, window and door decorations and calendars.
9. Magazine subscriptions.
10. Postage stamps and stationery.
For higher end gifts, consider iPads, Kindles and other tablets. Also an extra telephone might come in handy for some.
As with any gift, the sentiment and how it is presented is far more important than the gift itself. After a lifetime of material gifts, getting the feeling of being loved and appreciated will trump most anything.
Enventis Grant Brings More Technology to Ecumen Pathstone Living
Thanks to a technology grant from Enventis, a communications company headquartered in Mankato, Minn., more residents at Ecumen Pathstone Living are going digital.
Enventis, formerly known as HickoryTech, gave a $2,000 grant to Ecumen Pathstone Living to purchase iPads and iPods, which residents are now using to listen to music, play games and access YouTube. Also, some residents are using the devices to listen to church services as well as nature sounds. The grant money was also used to purchase a $250 Amazon gift card to be used for downloading books and music.
In the photo (below) resident Willy Kjarum learns about the iPad from Jodi Fales, a recreation assistant. 
Beth Colway, the development coordinator at Ecumen Pathstone Living, says the activities staff has been introducing the new equipment to residents, who are enjoying all the new possibilities.
Enventis offers broadband Internet, digital TV, and voice and data services to businesses and consumers in southern Minnesota and northwest Iowa and other communication and data systems to businesses across a five-state region.
Ecumen Pathstone Living, which has been serving the Mankato area for more than 75 years, provides services including skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilitation, memory care, and assisted living apartments. Pathstone also offers home care, adult day services, and catering services. More than 500 people each day benefit directly from Pathstone services. Ecumen Pathstone Living is owned by Ecumen, the most innovative leader in senior services.
In the photo (below) Enventis representatives Jennifer Spaude and Janet McCullough make the ceremonial check presentation to Jennifer Pfeffer, executive director of Ecumen Pathstone Living.
Heritage at Irene Woods Hosts Holiday Grand Opening
Heritage at Irene Woods, a new Ecumen-managed senior living community near Memphis, Tenn., hosted a festive holiday gathering of about 150 guests at its grand opening to the public on Saturday, December 14.
The open house included a visit from Santa Claus, horse-drawn carriage rides and a performance by the Houston High School Chorus dressed in Victorian costumes. The event also included a “parade of homes” apartment tour conducted by residents, along with a pasta bar lunch and drawings for prizes.
Heritage at Irene Woods recently opened with independent living, assisted living and memory care units. This is Ecumen’s first managed community in Tennessee and with partner Edward Rose & Sons, headquartered in Michigan. In the summer of 2014, Ecumen will begin managing another Edward Rose community in Clinton Township, Mich.
The 150-acre Heritage campus, between Germantown and Collierville, will become a multi-generational neighborhood over the next five years that not only has a broad spectrum of senior living services, but also an adjacent multi-family apartment development sharing the amenities. The campus includes a three-story independent and assisted living building and a one-level memory care community with connected outdoor gardens and views overlooking Irene Woods. The entire community totals over 165,000 square feet and offer 140 units of senior living apartments, all available on a monthly rental basis with no entrance fees.
For more information call 901-737-4735 or visit www.HeritageIreneWoods.com.
Gingerbread House Tradition Thrives at Ecumen Communities
When building a house that you want to be warm and inviting around the holidays, clearly the best material is gingerbread. Gingerbread is timeless, sturdy, traditional and pleasing to the eye — and nose and mouth. 
At Ecumen Lakeview Commons in Maplewood, Minn., and Ecumen Bethany Community in Alexandria, Minn., residents, their families and staff are feasting their eyes on elaborate gingerbread displays and probably harboring naughty temptations to eat a roof or a door.
For the last eleven years, Glen Glancy, foodservices director at Ecumen Lakeview Commons has volunteered his time to build gingerbread displays. For him, it’s an art form he takes very seriously. He starts with his imagination and makes scale drawings to guide his work. Then he makes all the gingerbread and royal icing from scratch. Displays have ranged from castles and cathedrals to a fire station street scene. This year’s display is a farmhouse and barn and Santa in his sleigh.
At Ecumen Bethany, clients in the day services program built a gingerbread village under the supervision of Geralyn Anderson, who is a day services assistant. She baked all the pieces for the buildings from scratch and brought them in for clients to assemble and decorate.
Geralyn volunteered her time and supplies to assist clients in constructing the village, which is mostly edible.
“It was so much fun hearing the clients reminisce and laugh as they glued, embellished and frosted,” said Randee Hall, the Ecumen Bethany director of community services and marketing. “We caught a few nibblers in the act, too.”
Randee says Geralyn is always willing to lend a helping hand. “She is so patient and will latch onto a client that may need extra assistance so they don’t get discouraged.”
The tradition of building holiday gingerbread houses has survived for 200 years — longer than a lot of brick and mortar. Some gingerbread historians say the first houses were built in Germany in the early 1800s, inspired by Grimm’s fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel.”
America's Seniors Report Feeling Much Less Tired Than People in their 20s and Teens
For years a stereotype of aging is that you get tired as you grow older. But new research analysis is putting that stereotype to rest.
Laura Kurdna is a researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science who recently analyzed answers from the 2010 American Time Use Survey, a national survey sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This particular survey was the first to ask people about their energy levels. Each person in the study kept a daily journal of what they did the previous day, how they felt about those activities and how tired they were while doing them.
Americans ages 65 and older reported being less tired than older teens and young 20-somethings. Interestingly, tiredness dropped off after age 40 and continued decreasing with age. Read more in this L.A. Times article, and here's a link to the study.
Honoring Ecumen Resident and Pearl Harbor Survivor Dick Willis During His Final Journey
Ecumen Seasons at Maplewood resident Dick Willis, a 92-year-old World War II veteran who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, is now in hospice care. KARE-11 TV’s Boyd Huppert honors Dick and tells how a representative of “We Honor Veterans” has become Dick’s friend — providing comfort and support as part of his hospice care. See the video and the story in Huppert’s “Land of 10,000 Stories.”
Lefse and Krumkake: Ecumen Pathstone Living Shares Scandinavian Heritage and 21-Year Bake Sale Tradition
The smell of lefse and krumkake wafted through the air at Ecumen Pathstone Living in Mankato, Minn., last weekend as crowds gathered to enjoy a 21-year tradition called the Scandinavian Experience Bake Sale.
More than 80 volunteers from the Mankato community contributed to the annual sale, and about $5,000 was raised.
Volunteers bake in their homes or at Pathstone Living’s kitchen, and all baked goods are delivered to Ecumen Pathstone Living on Friday before the sale. Volunteers sort, package and price all the goods. They decorate the chapel and residents get first choice at their private sale Friday afternoon before the event.
Volunteers spend over 20 hours preparing and making the lefse in the kitchen at Grace Lutheran Church and give demonstrations to promote Scandinavian baking traditions.
The day of the sale, Santa and St. Lucia greet customers. Proceeds go to support the residents at Ecumen Pathstone Living. This year the money will go toward new therapy equipment.
Hula-ing the Winter Blues Away at Ecumen’s Vitalize! Wellness Centre
As the ice cakes over Minnesota, imagine palm trees swaying in tropical breezes as graceful women perform hula dances in the warming sun.
Now come back to reality in the upper Midwest, where mighty oak trees are bending to the blustery Plains wind and the wind chill is sub-zero. At least in Chisago City, Minn., you can see the hula performed. At the Vitalize! Wellness Centre at Ecumen Parmly LifePointes this traditional Hawaiian dance has practicing devotees, led by Edie Julik who developed a passion for hula when she was a child.
Edie, a former elementary school teacher, is used to dealing with the scoffers who think the very notion of dancing hula in this part of the country is a joke. When she posts her notices of upcoming classes “people usually think it has something to do with the hula hoop,” she says.
But at the Vitalize! Wellness Centre, which caters to older adults, Edie has found women who understand hula the way she does — “for health, for fun and to feel beautiful.”
For health, she says, it’s one of the best cognitive exercises you can do. Yes, cognitive.
“There is a lot of brain work involved in hula,” Edie says. “You can’t be thinking about what’s for dinner while doing the hula. You have to be totally in the moment. No matter how many times you do it, there is no auto-pilot.”
The dance tells stories through graceful movements. So students have to memorize the choreography. Doing the correct movements to the musical cues requires intense focus.
There are numerous physical benefits as well. Hula is low impact, Edie says, and under-utilized muscles are “gently awakened” by the dance. Muscle memory develops as the dances are repeated and learned. “Hula improves posture,” she says, “and it’s very good for the feet and the knees, as well as the whole body.”
In addition to the mental and physical benefits, Edie says doing the graceful movements of the hula “make you feel beautiful and happy.” Hula dances mainly are about finding joy in love, beauty and nature.
Edie became interested in hula when she was nine years old. She had a great-aunt living in Hawaii who she was planning to visit, but the trip fell through. She offset her disappointment by learning about Hawaii and its traditions. Then, when she was in her late 20s living in South Dakota, she met a hula teacher and found her passion, then set up her own dance studio. Since then she has had three other teachers, and she has become a teacher to many more women.
“I couldn’t live if I couldn’t do this,” Edie says. “This is more a passion than a hobby. When I’m teaching, I feel like I’m giving a gift to make people’s lives richer.”
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Edie’s class meets on Mondays at the Vitalize! Wellness Centre at Ecumen Parmly LifePointes in Chicago City, Minn. A new 7-week session will start January 6, 2014 at a cost of $55. The beginners’ class goes from 9:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., when beginners dance with intermediate students until 10:30. Then from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. is intermediate only. To register call 651-257-7956 or stop by the Vitalize! Wellness Centre and fill out a registration form.
For more information on the Vitalize! Wellness Centre click here. Vitalize! is an innovative senior wellness center serving Ecumen Parmly LifePointes residents and the broader Chisago Lakes community. Programs, services and amenities are designed to support active aging through the six dimensions of individual well-being: physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, vocational, and social. Vitality coaching is available to support holistic perspectives that integrate body, mind, heart and spirit. Vitalize! is open seven days a week, with early morning to evening hours. Call 651-257-7956 for more information on other classes and schedules.
Ecumen Meadows Is Part of Worthington’s 85-Year-Old Christmas Tradition
In the late 1920s, the Worthington, Minn., community came together to make sure the poorest of the poor in Nobles County had food and gifts for Christmas. Bushel baskets were filled with home-canned foods and delivered to the poor. The program continued, year after year, getting bigger and better. The bushel baskets are now shopping carts, filled with a wide range of food, clothes and toys.
Last week staff and assisted living residents from Ecumen Meadows were part of the volunteer team filling the baskets with donations. Earlier, Ecumen Meadows Activities Director Cheryl Dinsmore had already made three trips to the church collection site with boxes of donations from Ecumen Meadows.
“This is a phenomenal community project,” says Nancy Garvin, housing manager at Ecumen Meadows. “Everybody pulls together.”
School children conduct drives. High school students sell treats to raise money. Churches appeal for donations, and musicians hold benefit concerts. It’s an all-volunteer community effort, with no paid staff or government funds.
The American Reformed Church serves as the distribution center. This year volunteers filled 65 baskets for delivery to those who could not come to the church. And another 180 families come to the church to pick out what they need. Families eligible for the program are identified by social workers and clergy.
“It’s just fantastic to be a part of this,” Nancy says. “It’s an incredible event.”