Our residents understand the value of “giving back,” which is why our Still Significant Program is such an integral part of our community. Every month, we gather our resident ambassadors to participate in various charitable community acts. In the past year, the ambassadors have done all sorts of things including putting together backpacks with school supplies to donate to local schools, bringing cards and gifts to City of Hope for the patients, and making brown bag lunches for Pasadena’s Union Station – a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. This past week’s festivities involved the ambassadors putting together bags for Meals on Wheels. These bags included canned goods, dry goods, blankets, flashlights, as well as shampoo, soap, toothbrushes and other toiletries. I was fortunate enough to accompany two of our ambassadors in delivering the bags to the Meals on Wheels organization and was very touched by their heartwarming appreciation of what the residents contributed. It is truly amazing to see our residents put so much love and time into our Still Significant Program every month and it helps provide all of us with a feeling of purpose and accomplishment.
Our residents are not the only ones who love the idea of giving back! Our fearless leader, Cc DeGraff started a very successful program for the holidays; a reverse advent calendar. Simply put, the staff became the advent calendar, and were encouraged to pay it forward. Every day during the month of December leading up to Christmas, The Kensington Team Members were asked to bring specific items each day, that were then collected and donated to a local food bank or charity. Team Members generously contributed canned food, clothes, scarfs and gloves, dry goods, toiletries, books and toys. It was a spectacular sight to see boxes and boxes of items filling up for 24 days. At the end of the 24th day, we lined up all the boxes and everyone was thrilled to see exactly all the fantastic feats we can accomplish together as a team.
As we enter a new year and a new decade, The Kensington residents and staff are getting excited about doing more to help our local community in new and creative ways. As Mother Teresa said, “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”