On August 15, 13 residents from The Lodge at MapleCreek packed backpacks to give to school-aged kids in Lutheran Social Services of Michigan (LSSM) Foster Care in Grand Rapids.

The backpacks were full of supplies including pens, pencils, pencil boxes, folders, notebooks, scissors, glue sticks and bottles, coloring supplies, rulers, snack packs, tote bags and a small piece of advice from the residents "Do your best at whatever you do!"

"The residents wanted to do something to reach out to others," said Christa Schwarz, activity director at the Lodge at MapleCreek. "Our goal was to have enough supplies to provide bags for 50 foster children, and we're happy to say we exceeded that goal."

Items were donated by MapleCreek family and staff as well as by Meijer, Elmer’s Glue, Wolverine, Sodexo and Walgreens. The residents were able to give back to the community, and enjoyed reminiscing about their school days while packing the bags.  We hope to make it an annual event!

On June 30, The Woods at MapleCreek in Grand Rapids teamed with Connie's Bridal for a wedding fashion show. The Woods at MapleCreek is a specialized memory care community on the MapleCreek campus. There were wedding dresses modeled and on display from the 1930’s until today that belong to residents, staff and friends. Connie’s Bridal provided the the current wedding fashions.

In the photo are Ethel, a resident; her niece, Rachel, who is wearing Ethel's wedding dress from 1952; and Rachel's daughter, Madox.

"This was a terrific opportunity to provide a positive intergenerational social engagement, specifically geared toward dementia," said Beth Terborg, certified therapeutic recreation therapist at The Woods at MapleCreek. “Large events, such as weddings tend to stick out in the minds of dementia patients, and there are usually positive connotations associated with them. The idea for the event started with a relaxation group and the residents ended up reminiscing about their weddings.”

The current owners of Connie’s Bridal, Maria Hacker, Gabriela Garcia and Gabriela De La Vega, have a special connection to MapleCreek. Gabriela’s first job was as a nursing assistant at the senior living community. Her experience at MapleCreek (over a decade ago) was one that has touched her heart.

Mlive featured the story on their website and on the front page of the Southeast Advance newspaper. Read the article here:  http://www.mlive.com/kentwood/index.ssf/2012/06/wedding_fashion_show_designed.html

B.J. Walters celebrated his 103^rd birthday with a party at Hope Village in Williamsburg on June 13. Residents enjoyed some of B.J.’s favorite foods for dinner, along with a birthday cake. Tables were decorated with highlights of 1909, the year he was born. B.J. was one of the first residents to move into Hope Village, a senior living community. “It was a great day to celebrate a very special man, who is a wonderful example of how to age well,” said Cathy Stathkis, Hope Village administrator.

On March 23 and 24 Rita Livingstone, In-Home Support Specialist in the Monroe Home Care Services office, took her client, Melina King,to Grand Rapids for the special Olympics. It was the first time the Monroe group attended the Special Olympics“Melina was so excited that she laughed on and off the whole time,” said Rita. “There were many activities including dancing, arts and crafts, a dental checkup, a smile class (to teach people to smile no matter how bad things are), souvenirs, and a meeting with state beauty contestants. We all enjoyed our time there.” It’s obvious from the photo that Melina enjoyed the outing! Lutheran Social Services’ Monroe team won a medal for basketball.

Jacob Atem, one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who was helped by Lutheran Social Services' refugee foster care program, is raising funds to equip a health clinic in his native village, Maar. Jacob was only 6 when he joined other Lost Boys fleeing from civil war in Sudan. They walked for months across the desert to find refuge in Kenya. Jacob arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 2001 and became a U.S. citizen in 2009. Now he is a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida and president of the Southern Sudan Healthcare Organization (SSHCO). The organization has built a small clinic in Maar and now hopes to be able to ship a container full of medical supplies there from Chicago. Here's a short video where Jacob talks about his hopes for the clinic.

Jean Skiver, 85, just never got around to being baptized. She attended a Baptist church with her first husband, and became close to the pastor’s wife. Her second husband was an active member of a Lutheran church, and she attended worship services with him but never formally joined.

Jean moved to The Terraces in Grand Rapids, which offers catered independent living for active seniors, 13 years ago. She says it’s a very caring community.

“When I moved here, I met a man who is still a friend and who was active in the chapel. I would also attend his Lutheran church in the community,” said Jean, who spent her working years as a housekeeper in a hospital and a college.

At MapleCreek, Jean enjoys the wide variety of social activities that offer fellowship with other residents. She started going to a volunteer-led Bible study Because Jean has some health problems that it hard for others to understand her, she doesn’t like to speak in group settings. She relies on her friend, Barb Bell, who also lives at MapleCreek, to be her voice, helping her to participate in activities she formerly avoided. She also began talking to MapleCreek's chaplain, Rebecca Ebb-Speese, known as Pastor Becky, about spiritual matters. Jean says she enjoys exploring issues of faith.

Early in the new year, Jean told Pastor Becky she wanted to be baptized. “I want to accept God and to feel more connected to church,” she said.  “I had my children baptized and now it’s time for me.”

Pastor Becky officiated at the ceremony and Barb Bell served as Jean's sponsor.

“My quality of life has changed since I moved to MapleCreek and started attending spiritual activities,” Jean said. “I know these are good for me. I feel better about my life.”

After witnessing Jean’s baptism, another resident came to Pastor Becky and said she’d never been baptized either, and she wanted to do it too. Her ceremony was held the following day, with all the residents in attendance serving as sponsors.

Remember Alex Chivescu, the teen in foster care who starred in our video, It Started With a Letter (You can view this video on our homepage at www.lssm.org)? In order to remain in his high school until he graduated, Alex needed to find a foster home in the district, which he did by writing letters to strangers. In the video Alex jokes that he’s “a viable candidate for the next homeless-to-Harvard’ movie.” He’s now a scholarship student at Harvard – and a TV movie has been made about his experience! Called “Finding a Family,” the movie will air on the Hallmark Movie Channel on Jan. 12.

Heres a little bit about the movie "Finding A Family" from HallmarkMovieChannel.com:

"Finding a Family" is based on the true story of Alex Chivescu, a ward of the state of Michigan, who knowing he cannot be emancipated from the foster care system, searches for a new mom and dad within the school district that he believes can fulfill his lifelong dream of attending an Ivy League university. 

You can learn more about the movie by visiting HallmarkMovieChannel.com. Below you can watch a trailer for the film.

The plea came the week before Halloween. A client of our In-Home Services program in Saginaw was in desperate need of clothing. She is autistic, still in high school, and recently had a medication change that caused a fast and dramatic weight gain. She went from a size 9 to size 22. The girl has lived with her aunt since birth, and the care provided by Lutheran Social Services enables her to live at home, rather than in a group home or institution. But the aunt has a very limited income. She could not afford to buy the girl  a new wardrobe. Coping with her disabilities was hard enough -- now the girl also had to cope with a change in body image and clothes that didn't fit. Pastor Phil Hemke, our director of Church Relations, emailed his clergy colleagues at Bay Area ELCA churches last week to see if their congregants could help. Many of the pastors took the story to the altar that Sunday, including Pastor Kathleen Basner at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Saginaw. The very next day, Tammy Hynes, manager of In-Home Services for the mid-Michigan region, got a call from church member Pat Wolff, who was moved by the appeal. Just that morning, before church, Pat had decided to clean out her closet. Tammy went to Pat's house and picked up a large bag filled with nice clothing, which she dropped off at the girl's house that afternoon. "God is so good!" said Tammy. And so are our Lutheran Social Services supporters.

Harriett Erickson, 88, lives at Luther Community Manor in Alpena, a HUD-subsidized senior apartment community. She has worked with a group of quilters at nearby Immanuel Lutheran Church since 2006. Each of the 10 to 15 members of the quilters group has a job: some cut material, some tie, some finish the edges. Harriett sews the pieces together. She recently completed her 221^st quilt top. The group donates their quilts to local people in need, such as families that have had a house fire. They also send their quilts all over the world through Lutheran World Relief. The group’s quilts have gone to Hurricane Katrina victims and to soldiers in Afghanistan. Some of the people who receive the quilts have nothing, says Harriett. Soldiers especially appreciate these handmade “comforts from home.”

SWELL – Sharing With Everyone Lutheran Love – is a swell group of volunteers from Lutheran churches in the Kalamazoo area who come together to support the children in Lutheran Social Services’ foster care program. Over the summer, they put together 70 backpacks for the children in Lutheran Social Services’ care in southwest Michigan, stuffing them with everything a child needs to begin the school year right. The backpacks (which seemed almost bigger than the children who received them) contained toiletries such as soap, toothbrush and toothpaste as well as school supplies like notebooks, glue, scissors, crayons, pens, pencils, markers and more. Foster parents receive a daily stipend to provide for all the children’s needs, but at the beginning of the school year, when children need so much all at once, paying for everything can be a struggle. “Our children’s faces lit up when they saw their backpacks,” reported Mary Muliett, director of Services for Children & Families in Southwest Michigan. The Kalamazoo-area foster care program has been growing quickly. As a result of the Children’s Rights settlement, many foster care cases are being transferred from the Department of Human Services to private providers like Lutheran Social Services.