By popular demand; we are going to be serving lunch again! This time, we are going to be serving from my hometown; (Capac) we will be serving a hot lunch to go, or dine in; on July 11th from St. John's Lutheran Church in Capac. The menu will be homemade traditional lasagna; or a modern recipe vegetable lasagna; garlic toast, salad and dessert. All this for 5.00. Anyone dining in will also enjoy traditional Lutheran coffee....Please join us on this day! 10% of all profits from this event will be tithed back to the church. We will be faxing/mailing order forms to all of my Capac friends shortly, so watch for postings!
A pie sale: Two of my staff members,(you do realize what great people work at MediLodge by now)!...came up with a fund raising idea...We are going to be selling real homemade pies. Yes you read that correctly, real, homemade pies. This will happen on July 14th in downtown Yale in front of a brand new sign/print company that is opening on the south west side of Main St; in the grey sheldon's building. (small town landmark directions)! We will be set up in the morning and open until all of the pies are gone.
I am asking my mom, mother in law, a few select other really good "pie makers" and "church lady friends" to help us make some great fruit pies to sell. We hope to have at least 100 pies for sale on this day.. If you enjoy homemade raspberry pie, you will want to be in downtown Yale early on this day! We plan on having: Raspberry, Cherry, Blueberry, Peach and Mixed berry pies for sale. I will also try and get some old fashioned rhubarb pies as well..Have a request? Let us know, I am sure we can get it made for you!
Kudos to Cindy and Betty for taking this project on and having a great idea! we have not determined a price yet, but it will be very reasonable, and if you are like me; nothing beats a piece of homemade pie warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream; and then taking it outside on your porch on a hot summer night...A true rural American tradition that still exists!
One more update....We have full sized create a bears for sale. These are unstuffed plush animal toys, that come with your choice of outfit and a bag of fluff that your child/grandchild can take home and "make". The total cost is 20.00 dollars. This includes the animal, fluff and outfit. Call us for information. Having a birthday party? We will sell you 10 sets for 180.00 dollars. (this is one free). As a mom, I think this is a pretty affordable birthday party idea.
Finally...Garage Sale next week the 6th and 7th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 15105 Turner Rd. Lynn, MI.. We have a TON of top quality clothing, books, womens shoes, purses, jewelry, and I am getting rid of my scrap book and stamping supplies. I also have cleaned out my cook book collection, and am getting rid of over 100 cook books. Anyone that knows me, knows that this garage sale is a huge event and worth the drive if you like high quality clothing and "stuff". All of my proceeds are going to the "queen" cause.
Have a great weekend; we are busily getting ready for the "bus trip" I am sure there will be great stories on Monday, but none that can be shared here!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thanks for Lunch!
We had a great event today and here is very big thank you to everyone who assisted to make this fund raising effort successful. We served over 181 dinners! WOW! Thanks to all of the staff of medilodge of yale for their dedication to this crazy day...Believe me it was a tad crazy! We have a week off and then we are going to be back with a large community event here at the facility. The residents love the extra people coming in, visiting, and sharing in our efforts. One of my queen mums suggested today that we get bologna crowns for them to wear as greeters...I told her perhaps we could make some tomorrow as an activity..We both had a good laugh over the looks they would gander as the door greeters, sitting in their Sunday best, with a "pretend" ring of bologna on their head. She thought it would be a good conversation starter..I think I would have to agree with her.
On another positive note, we are getting tremendous feedback about how we have involved the elders in this process. So much so, that yours truly has been asked to speak at a best practices event to be held the week before bologna festival. I will be speaking to my peers about the importance of community involvement and what we are/have done to change the community culture of long term care...I am going to take our where in the world board, and pictures of the events that the elders have participated in during these 6 weeks. Again, I will reiterate the experience for all of us is worth more then the outcome...We are having a thrilling adventure this summer!
On another positive note, we are getting tremendous feedback about how we have involved the elders in this process. So much so, that yours truly has been asked to speak at a best practices event to be held the week before bologna festival. I will be speaking to my peers about the importance of community involvement and what we are/have done to change the community culture of long term care...I am going to take our where in the world board, and pictures of the events that the elders have participated in during these 6 weeks. Again, I will reiterate the experience for all of us is worth more then the outcome...We are having a thrilling adventure this summer!
Monday, June 25, 2007
EBAY Auction Item to benefit Bologna Festival
Here is a huge shout out of thanks to Dean Rumsey, a fellow administrator at MediLodge of Sterling. He has placed his entire logo-golf ball collection up for auction on ebay. It is over 500 logo balls from around the country with several one of a kind event tournament balls. Check it out it is auction item number 330139368129. We can get them delivered to pretty much any where in Michigan or northern Ohio if you are interested in them. All proceeds go to the bologna festival/yale chamber of commerce. Thank you to Dean for donating and supporting our cause!
Week One On the Road to the Crown!
Who in the world sent our email to the Pentagon? That was the comment from the residents this week, as we recieved over 25 different emails from around the globe. Thank you to everyone! We have the world map up, and emails from places like England, Alaska, Alabama, and the U.S. Virgin Islands represented. Please keep the emails to the queen mums coming in; this has been a great discussion topic, and the excitement is building!
A huge thank you to a few people who really went out of their way this past week; To the Yale Manor Senior Apartments, for having a sloppy joe lunch for us and for their great support! (These are our prom party buddies)! Also to everyone who has sent in donations; we also had several vendors/business associates send in donations, and we thank you for your support. We will be posting a complete list of vendors who support the yale chamber/bologna queen toward the end of the fund raising events in July.
This week found MediLodge very busy, the staff and my department heads all pitched in and gave above and beyond. Again, their dedication is why MediLodge is such a remarkable place. I think the best part for us who volunteered this weekend, was hearing the feedback from people who have never been in our building, but have "heard" about us in a positive light. To someone who understands the difficulty of marketing a nursing home; having people talk about you in a positive light without first hand experience, is like winning the battle of battles. It is a great affirmation of why we do what we do!
This week's activities include; steak and chicken barbeque delivered, eat in or pick up at MediLodge; our girls bus trip and then getting ready for garage sale. We have our "facility" salesman already to start selling bears in the front lobby today, along with t-shirts and cookies.
We hope to hear from you!
A huge thank you to a few people who really went out of their way this past week; To the Yale Manor Senior Apartments, for having a sloppy joe lunch for us and for their great support! (These are our prom party buddies)! Also to everyone who has sent in donations; we also had several vendors/business associates send in donations, and we thank you for your support. We will be posting a complete list of vendors who support the yale chamber/bologna queen toward the end of the fund raising events in July.
This week found MediLodge very busy, the staff and my department heads all pitched in and gave above and beyond. Again, their dedication is why MediLodge is such a remarkable place. I think the best part for us who volunteered this weekend, was hearing the feedback from people who have never been in our building, but have "heard" about us in a positive light. To someone who understands the difficulty of marketing a nursing home; having people talk about you in a positive light without first hand experience, is like winning the battle of battles. It is a great affirmation of why we do what we do!
This week's activities include; steak and chicken barbeque delivered, eat in or pick up at MediLodge; our girls bus trip and then getting ready for garage sale. We have our "facility" salesman already to start selling bears in the front lobby today, along with t-shirts and cookies.
We hope to hear from you!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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!
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!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Kicked Off!
We are 24 hours from the official kick off! I am already exhausted! That is a rare thing for me. Those who know me; know that I am usually full of energy. I think maybe the school/and bologna committment coming to a peak at the same time is a bit much. But; I will survive and be stronger; at least isn't that what the saying means; that which does not kill you makes you stronger?
Anyway; the t-shirts are in; they are adorable! The mugs, glass, hats and stuff will be sorted and sold tomorrow night. I hope we get a great turn out and the queen mums are anxious to start writing thank yous! Today saw us stuffing, and sending letters; last night one of the queen mums helped us stuff and sort over 200 envelopes, and she was a great help. The resident salesman is anxious to get his hands on our shirts for selling; he was inspecting the wares today as we sorted, and getting his price list ready.
I will have pictures of the kick off event on the my space by Sunday night. Watch for them!
Jana
Anyway; the t-shirts are in; they are adorable! The mugs, glass, hats and stuff will be sorted and sold tomorrow night. I hope we get a great turn out and the queen mums are anxious to start writing thank yous! Today saw us stuffing, and sending letters; last night one of the queen mums helped us stuff and sort over 200 envelopes, and she was a great help. The resident salesman is anxious to get his hands on our shirts for selling; he was inspecting the wares today as we sorted, and getting his price list ready.
I will have pictures of the kick off event on the my space by Sunday night. Watch for them!
Jana
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The Next 6 Weeks of Fun!
Well, the week of bologna kick off has finally arrived! I am busy setting up a paypal account; sending out letter's for donations, and getting the blog ready to go. The myspace is all set up; and we are going to be uploading pictures/merchandise items to this site and the myspace shortly. The queen mums are excited and anxious to see who/where we get email and well wishes from. The events calendar will be posted shortly. Dates to remember: July 27, 2007 is the date of the crowning, and where it is determined who raised the most money for this great cause.! Hope to see your donations soon!
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