On a small plot of land behind their high-rise apartment building in Oakland, Calif., Grand Lake Gardens residents last year grew nearly 600 pounds of organic fruits and vegetables for local seniors in need. At Rosewood in Bakersfield, Calif., residents and team members spent the last five years growing a small sporting meet into the largest senior event in the county.
Both communities were honored by Aging Services of California (ASC) with Community Service Awards at the professional association’s annual meeting May 4 in Monterey, Calif.
“It’s a very rewarding experience,” says Carole Jan Lee, who leads Grand Lake Gardens’ community garden project.
Teresa Beshwate nominated Lee and her fellow gardeners for the award. As operations and data specialist for Masterpiece Living, an initiative that promotes optimal aging, Beshwate works with Grand Lake Gardens residents to help them find new and better ways to live life to the fullest.
“At the beginning, they didn’t have the right soil, they didn’t have funding, they didn’t have planter boxes,” says Beshwate. "What they did have was a strong sense of social accountability and a can-do spirit.”
The residents’ original plan was to grow produce for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. With a grant from Rebuilding Together Oakland and some initial help from the Piedmont Community Service Group, they got to work.
Local high school students and Cub Scouts helped them build eight raised, redwood planter boxes. Grand Lake Gardens team members and residents formed a bucket brigade and transferred organic soil – five gallons at a time – to their hillside site. They then planted a crop that included tomatoes, string beans, squash, cucumbers, beets and lettuce.
The residents soon discovered that one of the food bank’s clients, St. Mary’s Center, was just three miles away. They began delivering the produce themselves every week, giving the center a ready supply of produce for the midday meal served to some 900 local seniors each week.
Seniors helping seniors is important to the gardeners, says Lee, who points out that the garden has also nurtured ongoing intergenerational connections. The young people who built the planter boxes have returned to do maintenance work on the project and have even volunteered to cook at St. Mary’s, she says.
Meanwhile, in Bakersfield, Rosewood hosts several hundred competitors each fall for the annual Kern County Senior Games. Athletes age 60 or better compete individually and in teams in golf, horseshoes, mile walks and other events while about 3,000 spectators look on. Rosewood residents and team members organize the games and volunteer during the event to welcome participants, provide transportation, keep score and serve free lunches.
The games have actually been around for about 30 years at Rosewood, but were offered in a much more limited capacity until recently. Sharon Varner, Rosewood’s director of leisure services, spearheaded the effort to transform the games into a celebration of physical, social, intellectual and spiritual well-being.
Originally, the event included only residents of Bakersfield’s skilled nursing homes. Under Varner’s leadership, and with a healthy amount of community engagement, today’s games include competitors from all area retirement communities, churches and other organizations. Rosewood offered its centrally located campus as the games’ regular venue.
The Kern County Activities Directors Association sponsors the event, and Varner has enlisted a wide range of community support. Rosewood residents and student volunteers work together to plan the games. And with the backing of national and local businesses, participants use the event to raise funds for local seniors in need and for The Alzheimer’s Disease Association of Kern County.
“The games inspire seniors to rise to the challenge of competition and the call of community service,” says Ellen Renner, Rosewood’s executive director. “They are an opportunity for seniors to affirm their vitality and demonstrate their sustained contribution to the community.”
ASC represents more than 400 nonprofit providers of services for older adults. The annual Community Service Award recognizes member organizations that make exemplary contributions to those around them. The Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens, ABHOW’s Fresno, Calif., continuing care retirement community, won the award in 2010.
About ABHOW:
Founded in 1949, ABHOW is widely known for its pioneering leadership in senior housing and health care. The company serves more than 5,000 residents in 37 retirement communities in California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington.
To learn more about ABHOW visit www.abhow.com.
This article appeared in the June 2011 issue of ABHOW Words
