Search Results for: Madeline

Art is new to the Mansion. A genial, courteous man, he came to stay  in the Mansion to be near his brother John, who lived on the first floor. Art was assigned to an upper floor. A deeply religious man, he was struggling to find his own community there, as many of the residents had very different ideas about faith.

He and John had not spoken for some years, and it was important to Art that he be near his brother, whose health was failing.

The staff suggested that Red and I go see him, they thought he might be lonely. We talked about faith for a long while, and I thought Art was lonely, not for good people to talk to, but for some kind of ministry. I asked him if he wanted to receive letters at the Mansion (The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816) from people of faith.

The Army Of Good is quite diverse, I see, there are many people like me who are seeking our own spiritual pathways, and have left organized religion behind and many who are devout Christians, Muslims and Jews. I am pleased that they all feel comfortable reading my blog. I knew of I mentioned Art’s request, people who write to him, and they did.

Art and I do share an admiration for the teachings and writings of Jesus Christ. We both believe in small acts of kindness and righteous deeds.

Soon after we talked, John’s brother died in hospice care. I went to see Art and see how he was, and he was sad, but I saw his faith was sustaining him. He had expected to have more time with his brother.

I also saw that he was uncomfortable in the heat in his upstairs, where the sun bore down all day.

I asked him if he wanted an air conditioner, and checked with Kevin, the maintenance supervisor, as I always do. I ordered an 8,000 BTU  LG portable air conditioner which came Wednesday, we rushed it over there yesterday and Kevin installed it Thursday.

This morning, I went to see Art who had moved down to his brother’s room to be closer to his spirit. He and I are praying together this afternoon, Red is coming too. People don’t have to hold the same beliefs to find community with one another, we are all human beings, that is our community and connection.

The staff told me Art is thrilled with his new air conditioner, he is also greatly pleased with the letters he has been receiving from people of faith. He has just ordered 100 religious tracts so he can respond to the people writing to him.  He thanked me a dozen times for the air conditioner – it is supposed to be in the 90’s today, hot and humid – and also for the letters.

He said a beautiful thing to me as I left his room: “Thank you. I have a ministry now.”

Maria and I delivered another LG portable air conditioner to the Mansion, this one for Madeline, who is 93 and has a very warm corner room which gets the sun all day. She repeatedly said she didn’t need one, but after a series of conversation, she acknowledged that she would appreciate one. It arrived today.

Two more to go that I know of,  one for Bill and one for Sylvie. Thank you. People who wish to contribute to the work of the Army of Good – the refugees and the Mansion residents – can do so by sending donations to my P.O. Box, Jon, P.O.  Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or through Paypal, [email protected]. There is enough money on hand now to buy these two air conditioners. There are, of course, other holes to fill. Many thanks.

Many people are urging me to expand this program to other institutions and towns and to raise even more money for bigger things. But I would like this to stay small and focused. Our message is being heard, it transcends individual people and geography, through them we are defining or values and loving our country.  Each of us is making a statement that nourishes us and keeps us ground. We are also doing a lot of visible and measurable good. I’d like to keep it just the way it is.

Art has his ministry now, and he is comfortable in the summer heat. Those are some of the most beautiful words I’ve heard in a long time.

Today was cheesecake day at the Mansion, many of the residents were gathered in the activity room. I had an idea for them, and Julie Smith, the Mansion Activity Director, embraced it. Two of the residents had told me they were grateful for all of your letters and messages and photos, they wished to do something for the Army Of Good, whose soldiers had done so much for them.

I suggested a contest. The people out there, the ones sending them all of these wonderful messages, photos and gifts, would be invited to send a favorite photo of one of an animals – a dog, cat, bird, fish – to Julie Smith at the Mansion. The residents would meet to choose three winners, they would be awarded prizes.

We decided only to include messages that came in after August lst, in order to level the playing field. The photos sent in would go up on the Mansion bulletin boards.

So the contest is  underway. Send your favorite photo of animal – yours or anybody’s, dog or cat or cow or elephant or bird, etc. – to Julie Smith, Activity Director, The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, NY., 12816. The contest will end on September 1, 2017, the winner chosen a few days later.

The photos should be smallish – roughly postcard size, as display space is limited, but the limits are flexible, there just isn’t room for huge pictures. I love this idea, they want to give something back and this is a good way for them to do it. I look forward to seeing these photographs up on the walls of the Mansion hallways.

You have brightened the lives of these people, and they would like to brighten yours. Good luck. I can’t wait to see these photos.

Note: A few weeks ago, writing about some of the residents running out of personal funds for soap and shampoo, I also said that some residents were running out of money for medication. That was an error on my part, no resident has ever run out of medication there that I know of, the staff does not permit it. I was referring to one  resident who was having issues with her insurance company, but that had nothing to do with the Mansion, and in fact, the staff resolved the dispute for her. My mistake

The residents buy toiletries like soap and shampoo out of their own personal accounts, and some do struggle towards the end of the month to buy what they need. That is no longer a problem, thanks to you, there is no plenty of soap, shampoo and body wash. But no one is left without their medication. I wanted to clarity that.

If you wish to write to the Mansion residents, here is a list of the residents who would like to receive your messages: Jean, Ellen, Mary, Gerry, Sylvie, Jane, Diane, Alice, Jean, Madeline, Joan, Allan, William, John K., Brother Peter, Helen, Connie, Robert, Shirley, Alanna, Charlotte, Barbara, Peggie, Dorothy, Art, Brenda, Bruce, John Z. You can write them c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

Art came to the Mansion a month ago to be near his brother, a resident there. Art was assigned a room upstairs, his brother was on the first floor. Both rooms are warm in the summer, the upstairs one is especially uncomfortable. Because of the windows and wiring, the upstairs rooms can only be cooled by window air conditioners.

The lower floor rooms need portable air conditioning units, they are more expensive. Two months ago, we bought a portable unit for Connie, it has worked well for her, and enabled her to start her knitting again (when her back heals up.) Two weeks ago, Art’s brother John died.

Art is moving downstairs into his room. I was going to get a window  unit for Art, have switched that plan and am purchasing a portable unit from Amazon, the unit is arriving on Wednesday.  It is an LG 8,000 BTU unit. I’ve asked the Mansion to conduct a room by room survey of the facility to see if anyone else needs or wants an air conditioning unit for their rooms.

One or two rooms simply cannot be wired up for them.

We haven’t checked with all of the residents, but I think  there are two more possibilities for room conditioners. I have enough money for Art’s unit and for one more, if it’s a window unit it will be much less than the portable. My goal by the end of the summer is to have air conditioners for all of the residents who want one and need one.

Last week, we bought a 10,000 BTU unit for the Activity Room, it will be installed this week. And thanks.

I’ve learned a lot about many things working with the Mansion residents, including air conditioning and toiletries, one of them asked if I would be the building super. I passed.

Other good news. I sent off the Mansion stories to the artist and book designer  Abrah Griggs who is assembling these evocative stories in book form. I’ve decided against an e-book format, we’re going with print books only, including 10 of my photographs. The books will be printed by Create Space, and I’m ordering 150 to start.

The Book will be called “Stories From The Mansion.”

They will be distributed free of charge to the Mansion residents and their families.  Connie Brooks of Battenkill Books has agreed to sell them at her bookstore for those of you who might want to purchase one. We have not yet set a price, but it will not be high.

Any revenue from the books will be evenly distributed to the writers. I hope to expand this project. (The Mansion residents are coming to the October House, so is the RISSE soccer team.) They are practicing their songs.

This is such an important thing for the residents, their stories are important, and they need to be told. Thanks again for the books and soap and shampoo. We are good.

A good chunk of money is going out of the fund this week, if you wish to donate in any amount, you can do so by sending payments to P.O. Box 2015, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, and also via Paypal, Friends and Family, [email protected]. Please mark it Mansion or Refugee so I can instantly keep track of it, thanks.

Letters are precious to the residents, many say they feel connected to the world again. Here is a list of the residents who wish to receive your letters, photos and messages, they can be sent to The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

-Jean, Ellen, Mary, Gerry, Sylvie, Jane, Diane, Alice, Jean, Madeline, Joan, Allan, William, John K., Helen, Connie, Robert, Shirley, Alanna, Charlotte, Barbara, Peggie,  Dorothy, Peter, Arthur, Brenda, John R., Bruce, John Z.

Thanks again.

The Mansion residents now get a lot of letters, which they love, but I am also learning they send a lot of letters. I came across a touching scene in the Mansion hallway yesterday, Joan and Julie (the Activities Director) were sitting and talking, they were absorbed in conversation,and Julie was taking notes.

I asked what they were doing, and Julie said they were sending messages to one of their regular letter writers, a woman in North Carolina who had cancer. She had written to one of the residents about her cancer, and they decided to write  her regularly, and offer her the same kind of support many of them had been getting from people all over the country.

Julie asked some of the residents for ideas about what to say to this woman.  They have been writing to her for some months now.

One message urged her to “live life to the fullest.” Joan wrote, “I’ve had cancer, I know it’s scary but knowledge will help.” Peggie asked her to have a great summer. Another resident urged her to “hang in there.”

The Mansion residents are no strangers to cancer, one wrote “I’ve just completed 6 months of chemo-therapy with flying colors. Everything is in good shape.” Another resident quoted Philippians 4:12 from the Bible: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”

Another send this message; “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

The Army of Good has send many things of value to the Mansion residents, from soap to clothes to air conditioners. But nothing has touched them more or mattered more than your letters and photos and messages.

Living in an assisted care facility like the Mansion, the people inside often feel cut off and isolated, as if the world as forgotten them.

I am sharing their stories and encouraging them to write and paint their stories, they are the stories of their lives and their stories are important. Red saw them meeting and  joined in, and it was a beautiful thing to see  how much these people cared about a stranger with cancer who they had never meet and most likely will never meet.

They are no strangers to fear and loneliness, no stranger to sickness either. And they love to give as well as receive.

Out out of your messages, all kinds of trees and branches grow. If you wish to write the Mansion residents, you can send them messages c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

The residents on the current list are Jean, Peter, Ellen, Mary, Gerry, Sylvie, Jane, Diane, Alice, Jean, Madeline, Joan, Allan, William, John K., Helen, Connie, Robert, Shirley, Alanna, Charlotte, Barbara, Peggie, Dorothy, Arthur, John, Brenda, Bruce.

Red and I visited Art this morning for the first time, his room is on the upper floors of the Mansion. He is a man of great faith, and appreciates receiving messages from people of faith, he is a devout Christian. He sends tracts in return.

We brought a Honeywell portable air conditioner for Shirley and Robert, who live upstairs,  but when we arrived with it, it seems that Shirley’s sister brought some window fans and the room was better and Shirley forgot about our discussions.

Robert confided to me that Shirley doesn’t really care for air conditioners. I sensed it would be awkward to try to put the air conditioner in her room, yesterday was yesterday,  but I am used to this, at the Mansion, plans are fluid and ever evolving. People forget things, get sick, move on.

I went to Art’s room, which I know is also warm in the summer, and he said he would love the air conditioner, but he was moving to a room two floors down shortly,  his brother, who lived in that room, had passed away. He came to the Mansion to be near him. That room needed a window unit, not a portable.

I said I was sorry, and went searching for another home for the air conditioner, which we brought over and was unloaded into the Mansion basement by Kevin, the maintenance director. He installed Connie’s unit. I didn’t have to go far to find a need for the unit.

The Mansion Activity Room, presided over by Activity Director Julie Smith, is often boiling on warm days, there is a floor fan but it offers little relief from the heat. More  residents are in the Activity Room at any given moment than anywhere else in the Mansion besides the dining room at meals.

They attend religious services there, draw and sketch, watch movies and the news, sit and talk, paint and sew.

Julie said she would be thrilled to have the Honeywell there, and we agreed to give it to her.  It made perfect sense.

It will be installed later this week and will offer a cool and quiet respite for anyone in the Mansion who needs it, all day long. There are always people in the Activity Room. Curiously, this all turned out for the best.  Help for the residents requires flexibility and creativity. It always works out

We are doing our own survey of the upstairs rooms to see who might need a smaller, cheaper window air conditioning unit than the Honeywell, which cost $349 dollars. I can get a window unit for much less than that – about $122, and will begin working on this project. The room son the upper floors get especially warm in bright sun.I think $500 will do it.

If anyone wishes to contribute to that project, I think I will need four units, you can donate by sending a check to my post office box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or donate through Paypal Friends And Family, ID [email protected]

If anyone wishes to write Art or the residents of the Mansion, here are the first names of those who wish to receive messages.

Jean, Ellen, Mary, Gerry, Sylvie, Jane, Diane, Alice, Jean, Madeline, Joan, Allan, William, John K, Helen, Constance, Robert, Shirley, Alanna, Charlotte,  Barbara, Peggie, Dorothy, Arthur, John R., Brenda, Bruce, John Z.

Thanks for the good that you do. The residents have soap, everyone has books, the cards and letters are still coming.