Thank You!

Good Morning! It is early Tuesday a.m. on a steamy summer day in Michigan. A short note to say THANK YOU! this is for everyone who has sent us an email already, the "map" of where you are all sending a hello from is going up tonight, and I can't wait until Thursday for my activity with our elders to share your emails, and to talk about where you are responding from. If you are reading this blog for the first time; or if you have received a forwarded email from someone; please drop us an email, and if you would like we are still seeking donations to our pay pal account.
By the way did we mention we are only seeking one dollar per person who visits us? This amount was set by my queen/kings as something they felt was an affordable amount to donate. When we talked about seeking money, I shared with them how much I hated to ask people for donations; especially in Michigan, where we are in a fairly severe one state economic depression.
When we talked about tithing, and giving back, my resident/elders told stories about how during the depression, their parents still found a way to give to the church, and to get things like a small toy or a piece of candy for each child at Christmas. I find it amazing what adversity the generation we are currently caring for has faced in their lifetime. We talked about wearing shoes with cardboard for soles; how many of their mothers could make a loaf of bread last three days for a family of six.
Is it any wonder why this generation takes issue with our frivolous spending ways? They are amazed at things people will spend money on, and when they are given the opportunity to go shopping, they prefer the dollar store, (you can get great things for a buck - per one elder!) and places like WalMart. This is a generation that still maintains one good dress or suit, (used for weddings, church and funerals); and for ladies one good purse should last at least two years - per one of my queen mums. For those of you who don't know me; I love shoes; and my elders have taken notice. I had one comment, I think you have more shoes than I had in a lifetime!

This comment made me think about our way of life vs. the way of life 50 years ago. My generation, and the generation previous, (generation x and all of you baby boomers!) have taken for granted our life style and ability to purchase goods/services easily. Which brings me back to the one dollar donation amount. We set this amount as a hey, "here's the equivalent of my afternoon soda, use it for something fun in Yale; and let me know what happens". We are not seeking large donations, (unless you are incredibly wealthy and find the bologna festival a worthy/unusual cause to send money too!)

When I shared with some of my peers, they were either positive or very negative as to whether this type of advertising/marketing would work for a charity cause. My husband (who has never been on line/used a computer in his life); is one of the doubting, who feels that people will not respond in the numbers I would like. (I would LOVE to have over 2,000 emails from around the world with an equal amount of 1.00 dollar donations, simply to prove him WRONG!). My positive peers are people like me who think of the net as our main communication source. Some of my peers were concerned with possible negative exposure for my professional life. (OK, so maybe I have eliminated myself from any political arena by running for Bologna Queen).
But on the up side, it is a great medium to share our story about elder care, and what it is to be a nursing home administrator, and most importantly what living in a "care facility" is all about.

So on that note, I encourage you to check out my professional blog; which is linked by my profile, If you click on my profile, at the bottom it will list my two blog sites; feel free to check out my professional agenda as to "what" I envision elder care to be about; my frustration with social and government views; and what we as the next generation of health care leaders; are going to be faced with in less then 20 years.

Thanks again for the emails; please forward this to others; and if you are so inclined send us a dollar!