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Touch
of Gray - November / December 2003
Movies
at the Meadows
A Festive Season at Carolina Meadows
Movies
at the Meadows
Every Saturday night after dinner you can
see the week's featured movie - either an old and true favorite
or a more recent crowd pleaser - on DVD on the big screen
in the Club Center auditorium. There is free popcorn too.
Who is behind these increasingly popular shows? In the early
days of Carolina Meadows, Martha Brandeis, widow of Henry
Brandeis who had been Dean of UNC Law School, showed movies
on VCR tapes monthly - and later weekly - projected on a small
television screen in the Club Center bar. When residents complained
of the small screen size, the Residents Association purchased
a bigger TV, So many turned up that the weekly shows were
moved to the larger Board Room where forty attended weekly.
With the help of the Activities Department under Manager Kris
Snyder, Bob and Ellie Moore recently came up with the idea
of weekly Saturday night movies in the Auditorium with projection
on the big screen. The Moores hoped to encourage more residents,
particularly singles, to socialize once a week with their
neighbors. Saturday afternoon matinees were also scheduled
for The Fairways, (Assisted Living) lounge for those residents,
as Ellie said " who didn't want to stay up later to see
the show."
The Moores soon realized that better audiovisual equipment
was needed in both the Club Center and The Fairways for VCR
and DVD showings. One third of the $15,000.00 cost of the
upgraded equipment came from Carolina Meadows, Inc., one-third
from the Residents Association and one-third from the MemorialGift
Fund.
Programs started out with movie selections of old and true
favorites from Carolina Meadows' extensive Library collection
of tapes and from residents' private collections. Our weekly
shows are now frequently supplemented by more recent VCR and
DVD tapes from the VisArt store in Village Plaza on Elliot
Road in Chapel Hill. As a community service, VisArt makes
no charge to Carolina Meadows for the rentals of older tapes.
Transportation Supervisor Teena Capps schedules the pick up
the weekend tapes on Friday afternoons and their return to
the store on Monday mornings.
Besides the weekly shows, we are frequently entertained by
special movie nights, tying in with such campus-wide celebrations
as Irish, Scottish, Russian Turkish and Greek nights, drawing
as many as one hundred and fifty people to the Auditorium.
Working with the Moores on running the shows and taking care
of the popcorn machine are Larry Shailer and Marge Vaiden
with Bob and Kaye Nelson as back-ups as needed.
Organizing Saturday movies is but the latest of the community
efforts of the Moores, now both in their eighties. In 1994,
they came here from the Outer Banks where they were both electronic
enthusiasts and radio ham hobbyists each with their own call
letters. Ellie worked with Hospice on the Outer Banks and
when she came here quickly became involved with UNC Hospice
(formerly Hospice of Chatham County). Mary Honeycutt, Volunteer
Coordinator of UNC Hospice, recalls "Ellie served dozens
of patients and gave hundreds of hours of service. She now
coordinates volunteers for our twice a year memorial services.
Two years ago she won the prestigious Governor's Award for
Outstanding Volunteer Service for her work with UNC Hospice,
the Pediatric Playroom at UNC Hospital, United Way of Chatham
County and Carolina Meadows."
Don Hamm, chair of our Health Center Auxiliary, notes that
Ellie prepares all the schedules for the volunteer assignments
and keeps records of the hours spent. She also interacts with
residents in doing crossword puzzles, playing bingo and other
activities.
Mention of United Way brings us to Bob, who has in fact been
Mr. United Way at Carolina Meadows for many years. Thanks
to his efforts we became and still continue to be one of Chatham
County's major contributors. In 1997 Bob received a Residents
Association President's Award for his many activities. Trained
as a chemical engineer we know him better as a barbershop
singer. He has directed the men's Elder Statesmen singing
group, and sings lead tenor with our MeadowSingers. "Serving
as a volunteer par excellence" was how the citation described
Bob, for in addition to chairing the United Way he has chaired
the Residents' Budget & Finance Committee, and the Sports
Committee.
If you should stop by the Moore's sunlit villa by the Golf
Course some afternoon you will probably find both Ellie and
Bob busy at their individual computers. Bob's latest interest
is in digital photography and he is very skillful at editing
pictures for their six great-grandchildren, as he demonstrated
lately to the Computer Club. Ellie will probably be preparing
next month's Dates to Remember page for CM's Meadowlark newsletter,
"the most popular and most widely read page in the paper,"
as editor John Banks comments. How do the Moores do it all?
-- Des Reilly, Resident
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A
Festive Season at Carolina Meadows
This year as in most years since Carolina
Meadows opened its doors, the holiday season leading to Hanukkah,
Christmas and the New Year, will be marked by rounds of music,
feasting, gift-giving, and in the spirit of the season, a
mutual reaching-out between the Meadows residents and staff
and their neighbors in nearby communities. Lights will sparkle,
evergreen trees will appear where none grew before, and the
sound of caroling will peal through the dusk of the dark December
days.
For residents and staff of Carolina Meadows, one of the most
festive of the holiday events will be the Employees'
Appreciation Party. For many of the years since the first
residents moved into their new homes in 1985, the Residents
Association has discouraged the giving of tips and gratuities
to staff members, even for much-appreciated special services.
Instead, the residents were urged to make a once-a-year contribution
of $100 to $200 to the Employees' Appreciation Fund.
In a gala holiday party, money from the fund was distributed
to the employees in the form of checks.
When Bob Buzenberg was president of the Residents Association
in 1992-93, he felt that the Fund did not fully express the
appreciation that residents felt for the staff. Now a resident
of the Fairways, an assisted-living facility, Buzenberg recently
recalled his thinking. "I thought that what we were giving
was pretty chintzy for the whole year, so by the time I became
president, I thought we ought to go for a dollar a day, $365
per household for the year, because we get a lot of help from
a lot of different people all year, and we want them to know
it. Then I went into the issue of these new CCRCs (Continuing
Care Residents Communities) that were being built. The most
difficult thing they will face is not getting people to stay
there, but finding staff. They would just love to come over
here and unload our staff, and I said to the residents, if
you would like to live here without the staff we have you
are welcome to it. I would leave."
For several years after his presidency
ended, Buzenberg helped to promote and round up resident donations,
which totaled $117,647 last year from a resident population
of about 665. This fund provided a bonus of $867 for one of
the longest-serving staffers, an average of $364 and a minimum
of $25 for the newest part-time workers. The formula for allocating
the funds disregards the base salaries of the staffers and
awards cash on the basis of years they have worked at Carolina
Meadows and the number of hours they worked in the previous
year. With the exception of the executive director, every
regular employee shares in the distribution.
This year, Dud Waldner, vice-president
of the Residents Association, is in charge of collections
for the Employee Appreciation Fund. Characterizing the staff
as "experienced, caring, friendly, and dedicated,"
he urged residents to consider increasing their contributions
beyond the $365 standard.
On Friday, December 12, temporary workers will take over the
food service and other non-emergency functions at Carolina
Meadows and regular employees will gather in the Auditorium
for a festival, theme of which this year will be a Pajama
Party. Most of Carolina Meadows' 201 full-time and about
130 part-time workers will gather for catered refreshments
and entertainment. Presently a delegation of residents designated
by the Residents Association will arrive with bundles of checks
to be presented to the employees along with thanks and congratulations.
Recalls Bob Buzenberg from his visits to the employees'
party, "You would be surprised how many hugs you get!"
As a special feature of the party, resident Tom Purcell will
install his model train system and place it in operation.
The train is an accurate scale model of the once-famed Burlington
Zephyr, the first of the streamlined trains that hauled passengers
in speed, comfort and style in years beginning before World
War II.
The Carolina Meadows employees, in turn,
will reach out to needy individuals in Chatham County. They
will place an "Angel Tree" in the lower level of
the Club Center, and with help and advice from non-profit
agencies of Chatham County, will place the names of "angels"
needing assistance on the tree and contribute gifts to the
angels. Last year, the employees worked with the United Services
for Older Adults in Chatham County to select angels to be
assisted. Lisa Gamache, head of the Human Resources office
at Carolina Meadows, explained: "The employees pick names
from the Angel Tree and purchase appropriate gifts. Sometimes
these gifts add up to nearly a truckload for an individual."
This year the employees are working with the Domestic Violence
and Rape Crisis Center and other Chatham County agencies.
One of the more festive occasions will
be the decoration of a 15-ft. fir tree in the lobby of the
Club Center. The fir, grown on a tree farm in Western North
Carolina, will be set in place and hung with decorations against
a background of taped seasonal music. The Residents Association
annually decorates smaller Christmas trees throughout the
Club Center - primarily in the Auditorium and in the Dining
Room. It's a fun and festive time for the volunteers.
Both the Health Center and the Fairways will also be decorated
by volunteers. -- Bob Parker,
Resident
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