I asked Paryese Bates Becker, the Mansion Activity Director, what she most wanted right now in her strikingly successful work to enrich the activities program.

Paryese hates to ask for anything – something she learned as a kid – but I’m getting so I can pry out of her what she most wants and needs.

She told me she most wanted a train set for the Mansion’s great room, a railroad set that moves on remote controls and can have a village, stores, and streets around it in time. What a brilliant idea, how thought, how much the Mansion men and women would love watching that train move on the track.

Paryese wanted to put the train set in a paper box so it could travel back and forth between Memory Care and the Mansion itself. I told her she might regret that these railroad sets, I learned, are fragile and are damaged easily. I researched and found a railroad hobby store = Adirondack Train & Hobby, near Saratoga Springs,  and I visited them the other day to get their input.

Paryese

This is a transformative idea.

The couple at the train shop were accommodating, even offering a sharp discount on a small set with remote controls and tracks.

We talked about maintenance and ease of use, and they reaffirmed my feeling that the train set ought not to be moved but was very easy to set up and use. I learned a lot from them, and they guided me to the right set for the Mansion.

This is not something I want to buy unseen on Amazon.

I told Paryese we can get a much smaller and cheaper set for Memory Care. They have less space. Paryese hates to ask me for money, but a really cheap set wouldn’t work at all there.

This would greatly enliven the great room used mainly for dining and sing-a-longs. The men and many women in my meditation class went wild when I told them about it.

So I am going to try and deliver this for them. As I wrote above, I’ll need about $450. Two years ago, I had a lot of reserve in the fund; now, it generally stays pretty low – around $175. Times have changed, and I respect and accept that.

I hope this is something we can do. Small donations are as valuable as larger ones; larger ones are fine. There isn’t usually much overage these days, but if there is, I will apply it to the fund for the clothes and personal effects I know the residents will need. Any donation goes to good use and purpose.

I try to ask for funds as rarely as possible these days.

But this one lit me up. Paryese works awfully hard and has radically improved the activities for Memory Care and the Mansion residents. I’d love to do this for her and the residents.

You can donate via Paypal, [email protected], or Venmo, Jon-Katz&Jon-Katz-13. You can also send a check to the Mansion Fund, Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, New York, 12816.

Some people are embarrassed to send small amounts; please don’t be. Small amounts add up, larger donations are welcome.

I’ve gone over the space needed and the operation details, and I am confident this work will make many residents happy and busy. A moving train and city seem to bring back lots of memories and get people excited.

In addition to running the train with remote control (steam comes out of the engine). Maryse has been dreaming of this for months and looking on Amazon for toy train kits.

Those would not work in the Mansion, although they are much cheaper than the ones in Adirondack Train and Hobby. They are charming people and will help us put all this together least expensively and most efficiently.

I hope we can do this; all I need is $450. I appreciate any help you can provide. This is a lovely idea.