April & May 2024 North Shore Living Newsletter
We Appreciate Our Volunteers
We held a Volunteer Appreciation lunch on Wednesday, May 15th for our wonderful volunteers to thank them for all their time and talents they share with us each month. Sharon Brenner has been passing mail, visiting with residents, serving snacks, and doing a variety of chair exercises with us for about 30 years. Her laugh is contagious and she sure knows how to bring excitement into any activity. Chet Lindskog has been calling Bingo for us since Walt Mianowski passed away and brings us World’s Best donuts from time to time. We like donuts. Linda Harsdorf has been volunteering for a few years now. She does manicures, reads to residents, waters plants, spends quality time with a resident who loves to play the piano and bakes us treats. Linda also makes beautiful seasonal door decorations and fixes our entry way displays. Dick Bockovich assists residents with Bingo and is a delight to many. He also helps get residents back to their rooms after Bingo is over.
Penny Ortmann has been coming in and reading stories to us for years. It is always enjoyable to have some fun stories read to take us on an adventure. Penny also brings us fresh baked Kringla, which is so yummy. Mary and Mark Glasnapp are swell all around volunteers. If they are in town they are usually available to us which is so wonderful. They treat us to pizza. They also play Dominoes almost every Saturday and they help me with our craziness on New Year’s Eve and many other times I need a few extra hands. Diane Nowers is a well-rounded lady in that she is here for us in the winter to read, helps with Bingo and other games, visits with residents, and brings books to one of the residents. She dresses up as an elf for Christmas, she dresses as a hunter for hunting opener and reads deer stories to us, she helps with games, brings us fresh flowers from her garden all summer long and even brings us treats. Can you believe we like homemade treats to go with our coffee?
Ken Netland has been volunteering for several years now. He currently is leading Wednesday morning Bible study and helps with our Wednesday afternoon exercise chaos fun. Ken helps on Portage band nights to assist residents with the Tango and Two Step. Just kidding on that one, but he is busy pushing wheel chairs round and round so residents can dance. Some Friday’s he treats us to home smoked fish which is always to the residents delight. Becky Kayser has been very helpful with Christmas decorating, birthday parties and New Year’s Eve celebrations. She also checks in and helps out as she is needed and able. Joanne Krause has been coming and doing crafts with us in her spare time. Patsy Smith helps out with games and is willing to get a little crazy. Kimber Wraalstad helps out when I need extra hands. Anne Dennen takes loving care of our bird aviary. We are very thankful for Anne’s thoughtfulness with this endeavor. It is no simple task.
You Just Can’t Stop the Music
Harris Mills pops in and plays great music on his guitar. Tom Novotny, our one man band, has been entertaining us for our happy hours for the past two years. We sure enjoy his lively music and enthusiasm. Lavona Czaplicki and Marsha Hansen do monthly sing-a-longs to the residents delight. Portage Boys usually play the third Friday of each month and have been entertaining us for years. We are so excited on the nights Portage Boys play. It seems that Portage Boys are one of the highlights of their lives. Doug Sanders has been playing piano for us for many years.
Goodies, Coffee and Churches Share the Love of Jesus
Zoar Lutheran, Bethlehem Lutheran, First Congregational, and Evangelical Free churches take turns coming in sharing hymns, treats and fellowship with us most every Sunday. Tonya and Kaleb Klegstad bring us fun, fancy and delicious treats. Barb Wright, our most excellent baker, as everyone knows we love sweets to go with our coffee. Barb Wright brings us the most delicious chocolate chip cookies ever made. She keeps us stocked up on goodies throughout the year and bakes all of our Christmas treats.
Funnies
Last Friday Miss Molly and I were visiting with a resident when another staff member came in to bring her fresh water. The residents says to her, “Slow down, the pays the same.” Another resident said to the Pastor awhile back after receiving communion, “Next time bring a bigger cup!” As Miss Molly and I had just gotten back to work, Miss Molly was busy visiting with residents all on her own. She ran into one residents room then left quickly. I could hear the resident saying, “Get back here you little Sh@&^%# I haven’t seen you in a long time”.
And So It Goes.
Do you ever have a destination picked out and plans get waylaid? I’ve been working remotely in good old Arizona from the middle of February to the beginning of May. My friend Buffy flew out to Arizona to drive me back home as I still can’t drive more than a few blocks. My friend and I were having fun visiting Bryce and Zion National Parks when I got a phone call that my mom was in the hospital. We were 116 miles from the Grand Tetons and abandoned our road trip and headed for home as momma’s are more grand than any Tetons.
It was fun interacting with residents via FaceTime for this amount of time, but it is really good to be able to see their sunshiny faces and give them a few hugs and to meet our newest residents. A huge thank you to Carrie Framsted, Dani Meyer, Erik Pignolet, Veronica Heslop, Hilja Iverson, Marice Zimmer and Patty Wilson for holding down the fort while I was out fighting with the heat and cacti.
We sadly said see you later to Marice Zimmer, Hilja Iverson and Renae Smith. Marice left to help with the family business, Hilja is going to grad school and Renae retired. Dani Meyer also moved on full time work and will be seeking schooling perhaps this fall.
Thank you so much to all of our volunteers for coming in and spending quality time with us. Thank you to our excellent quality staff that are pursuing other endeavors. We will miss you all. Old Age Ain’t For Sissies and our residents prove that every day.
We still need more volunteers. I am also in need of an Activity Assistant. Give me a call at 218-387-3518.
Lisa Bloomquist