Seniors in the Park is Back This Year!
(Updated Nov. 2) To keep our friends connected to Marin’s natural beauty and history during this pandemic, we had to do our Seniors in the Park program online. While this keeps everyone safe from Covid, it doesn’t compare to actually being out in the great outdoors. Now that our seniors are fully vaccinated, Seniors in the Park is back! For Novato’s Creekwood Senior Home residents, July 23rd was a cause for celebration as they were able to join us at San Rafael’s Lagoon Park for the first Seniors in the Park event in almost 2 years. There were lots of smiling faces, tapping toes and snapping fingers to the heartfelt singing and playing by ukulele player Nawelo Shapiro. Generously sharing Hawaiian culture and history, she also educated us on the ukulele's origins. We love you Nawelo! (pronounced, ‘NaVelo’)
The following week, San Rafael’s Pineridge residents were reunited with another friendly uke-playing character, Ned Ripple, who this time played guitar and brought along his kindly music playing friend Mark. They played a session of vintage, upbeat music that completely changed the demeanor of a particular resident from a very serious look on her face to a lighthearted beam. Happiness among the group was in abundance! And to top it off on Sept. 15th, Mary Keydash brought her ukulele and percussion instruments and led a sing along with residents of Three Home Village.
Complementing the picnics were several of our dedicated volunteers, as well as some friendly furry ones. An afternoon “out of the house” is exactly what was needed and we look forward to taking our friends to many more of them!
(Many thanks to LITA’s Tanya Mendoza for coordinating these events and for this article)
“Relief from the long lockdown was apparent through the smiling faces of our resident friends. We even received a thank you card of gratitude from one of the facilities for this mood lifting summertime outing.”
