Commun ty Matters Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor
September 2017
Walk to End Alzheimer’s This year’s Cowley County Walk to End Alzheimer’s is set for Saturday, Sept. 30, in Winfield. Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor has organized a team and has been hard at work raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association. You can support their efforts with two delicious upcoming events this month – a hamburger feed and Krispy Kreme donut sales. The team’s goal is to raise $5,000. Watch for event details. The team has had success with T-shirt sales through the summer, said Sarah Standerfer, team captain. Sarah said there’s still time to join the Presbyterian Manor team, register a team of your own to walk, or register as an individual. Go online to alz.org/walk and click on “Find Your Walk.” There, you can search by state or ZIP code. WALK, continued on page 4
Rena Hopkins visited the Middle East earlier this year.
Resident tours the Holy Land Rena Hopkins couldn’t pass up the chance to visit her granddaughter and family in the Middle East earlier this year. “They asked me to go. I said sure!” Rena, a resident at Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor, spent three weeks in Ammann, Jordan, and in Jerusalem, touring the sights of the Holy Land. They went out on a boat in the Sea of Galilee, saw a re-creation of Nazareth in Jesus’s time, visited the Old City of Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall, went up to Mount Nebo (where Moses looked into the Promised Land), and toured the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and Garden Tomb, where their guide skillfully evoked the last days of Jesus. Rena’s daughter, Connie Tyler, arranged the trip. Connie’s daughter has lived in Jordan for four years. She teaches global issues at her children’s school, and her husband owns a Crossfit gym. Both are Arkansas City natives. Despite what many of us see on the news about the Middle East, Connie said they felt safe during the entire trip. “Jordan is a very secure place; it’s HOLY LAND, continued on page 3
What does senior living cost? Have you ever wondered what it will cost to live in a senior living community? Which contract is best for your budget, a rental plan or an entrance fee? Can I afford to live in a retirement community? Questions like these and more will be explored at Arkansas City’s “What Does it Cost?” seminar Sept. 15. Bring your questions as there will be ample time for discussion about the issues that are most interesting to you. “What Does it Cost?” is part of Arkansas City’s Just Ask series, a free, ongoing lifelong learning program
featuring information from local, regional and national experts on topics of interest to older adults and their families. The event will start at 2 p.m. Sept. 15 at Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor, 1711 North Fourth, Arkansas City. Space is limited. RSVP by calling 620-442-8700. For more information about Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor, visit our website at ArkansasCityPresbyterianManor. org or contact Sean Page, marketing director, at 620-442-8700 or spage@pmma.org.
Welcome Sean Page, marketing director Community Matters
is published monthly for residents and friends of Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at PresbyterianManors.org. Sarah Griggs, executive director Sean Page, marketing director Lori Peters, activities director
To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact spage@pmma.org. Telephone: 620-442-8700 Fax: 620-442-8224 Address: 1711 N. Fourth, Arkansas City, KS 67005-1607
Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
ArkansasCityPresbyterianManor.org
Sean Page joined Presbyterian Manor in July as marketing and admissions director. He has seven years of experience in direct sales and leadership, most recently as a store manager for US Cellular for six years. Sean has an associate’s degree in computer science from Vatterott School of Technology. He is looking forward to representing Presbyterian Manor to local groups in Cowley County and building relationships with local seniors who may benefit from what is offered at the campus. Sean’s wife is a librarian for the
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Community Matters September 2017
Winfield public schools and is completing her teaching degree. They have two children. Like us on Facebook
Drawn to art Winfield artist’s drawing selected for Art is Ageless calendar Virginia McConnell’s artistic ambitions always seemed to get thwarted. When she was young, she wanted to be a commercial artist, but she was discouraged. Then, she wanted to be a window dresser for the big department stores like Macy’s, but they stopped hiring people to do that exclusively. She tried to get into drawing blueprints, but she didn’t have enough experience.
Virginia McConnell and her award-winning artwork.
“So I just entered. Some people are timid, and I just did it. No guts, no glory, right?” she said. “Then one day I had a picture, and I thought, ‘Wow, I did this.’ I hadn’t done that before. That’s how I got started. Now my whole house is full of pictures.”
Being featured in the calendar was a wonderful surprise, she said. “I was so excited, oh my gosh! I was jumping up and down, and my dogs were looking at me weird; they thought a bee had hit me or something.”
Now, one of them is poised to be included in the 2018 Art is Ageless® calendar. Virginia’s pastel “I Love “All this time, I didn’t have time to You So Much” won the blue ribbon do my art. But I always managed to for drawing in the Art is Ageless do some things. I did my house like competition this spring at Arkansas I wanted it and used my creativity City Presbyterian Manor (she that way,” she said. also took first in the photography category). The drawing depicts two In 2010, Virginia moved back to burrowing owls nuzzling each other Kansas from Colorado, after her adorably. Virginia drew it from a husband died. Shortly after she got an apartment in Winfield, a postcard photo she saw in a wildlife magazine, came in the mail advertising drawing and she got permission from the photographer to reproduce it. classes.
Today Virginia enjoys getting together regularly with a group of women over 50 to make art together. They are guided by an art instructor at Cowley County College who collects a small fee, which she uses to buy art supplies for her college students.
So, Virginia became a nurse’s aide at Wesley Hospital in Wichita. Soon she got married, and she later became an LPN and an operating room technician. But she never lost her creative drive.
HOLY LAND, continued from page 1
all the countries around it that are in turmoil. Right in Jordan we felt very comfortable,” she said. The hardest part was crossing the border into Jerusalem, which is heavily fortified. It was a time-consuming process with a lot of transportation transfers. Like us on Facebook
Once there, they got a wheelchair for Rena to be comfortable as they walked upwards of five miles a day. But Rena’s a veteran traveler, Connie said. “She and my dad did a lot of traveling. Through the years, she had been almost everywhere except the Middle East.”
Although she’s a prolific artist, Virginia has no plans to do it professionally. “I haven’t sold a thing, and I don’t want to,” she said. “If you sell then you can’t enter in the county fair, and I love that part.”
The Sea of Galilee was probably Rena’s favorite part of the journey— she received a certificate that acknowledged she had walked in the same place that Jesus walked 2,000 years ago. The sights were amazing, but Rena said the best part was being with her family. Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor
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WALK, continued from page 1
The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Since 1989, the Alzheimer’s Association has mobilized millions of
Americans to participate in fundraising walks and their efforts to end Alzheimer’s – the nation’s sixth-leading cause of death. Last year’s Cowley County walk raised $13,600 overall. Presbyterian Manor took first place in team fundraising.
Arkansas City Presbyterian Manor 1711 N. Fourth Arkansas City, KS 67005-1607 Return Service Requested
Memory care & gratitude We will feature gratitude in an upcoming issue of Community Matters. If you have a story about how gratitude has shaped you, or if you just want to tell the world what you love about living in your senior living community, we want to share the story. If you’ve got a story to share, contact Marketing Director Sean Page and your story could be featured in an upcoming edition of Community Matters.
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Community Matters September 2017
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