I gave Joan her new activity apron, a tie-on apron for memory patients who sometimes get bored and restless because they can’t always participate in planned activities. It gives them something to do with their hands, and zippers buttons and pouches to load, unload and manipulate.
Joan took to it right away, whenever she places her hands in her lap, there is something to do and feel. She seemed drawn to it, I think it will be helpful to her. Joan and I talked for a long time today, she told me tales of her dogs, shared memories of her husband, who was a hunter, she recalled a dog she loved who ran off.
Joan and I seem to know how to communicate with one another, this is a gift to me. Thanks your support in helping the Mansion residents get new tools to cope with their lives. The apron was purchased with funds donated by the Army Of Good. You can contribute by sending a contribution to The Gus Fund, c/o Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Your gifts matter. You can write to Joan C/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y. 12816.
Jon, you are “seeing and acting with mercy: That is holiness” as Pope Francis says in his new apostolic exhortation which he says is intended not as a treatise on holiness but a way to “re-propose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time.” Ya gotta love this Pope, with his emphasis on aiding the migrants as well as others. I hope he firmly wrests control from the conservative hierarchy who “seek prayer while disdaining service.
Thanks Jill, I do love this Pope..