Search Results for: notecards for the Mansion

I am intricately involved in Sylvie’s quite unique mail system. On any given afternoon, she is to be found in the Mansion hallway, writing letters to  her now numerous friends and correspondents. Her method is distinctive. Most days, there is a huge pile of letters freshly returned from the U.S. Post Office because Sylvia forget to put the return address on the envelope, or put a stamp on it.

As a supplier of her notecards and stamps, I can tell you she has her own original ideas about messages.

Sometimes she forgets to put the letters in the envelope, sometimes she puts the stamps on the letters, not the envelope. When letters comes back, she says she just considers each message a prayer sent out into the world. She doesn’t resend it or rewrite it, is God’s work to get the message out there.

I often sit with her to help, but she doesn’t want too much help with the letters, they are important to you and she reads  every one, and she answers every one but do not worry or be surprised if her thank you and follow-up letters do  not arrive. it is not for lack of trying or caring. And many times, they do arrive.

I’ve gotten Sylvie stamps, all kinds of notecards, licked the stamps myself. When it comes to mail, Sylvie is something of a chaos machine. They are all prayers, she says, smiling at me, no matter how they get there.

Today I brought Sylvia a plastic bag full of notecards, of which I have a 10-year supply, courtesy of the Army Of Good. No member of the Mansion will want for notecards and stamps in my lifetime and neither will Sylvie.

If you wish to want to write Sylvie and are patient, she will write you back and her messages are delightful, interesting and original when they get there. You can write Sylvie c/o Sylvie, The Mansion 11 S. Union  Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

If you wish to help the Mansion residents built a beautiful summer flower and vegetable garden, you can go here.

Ruth and Ken are a happy couple, always together, they spend afternoons sitting in the Great Room soaking up the sun. They go out occasionally to smoke.I asked them if there was anything they needed right now, and Ruth said “no, we have everything we need now.” That was sweet to hear.

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Here’s what’s up at the Mansion:

Our Horse Carriage trek around town is cancelled. The weather wrecked it when we planned it, and the farmer is no longer returning our calls. This summer, we’ll look for somebody else.

Last Friday, St. Patrick’s Day, we paid for a band to come and play Irish music. It cost $400.

On April 6, the RISSE soccer team is coming, at their own suggestion, to help serve lunch at the Mansion. There was a real connection between the refugee children and the Mansion residents, it surprised all of us, but then, everyone knows the experience of being cast out.

In May, I hope to offer the residents another boat ride and lunch on the Lake George Steamship Company. They don’t give discounts, I think the trip will cost around $400 to $500 depending on how many residents come. They had the most wonderful time eating, dancing, looking out on the water, they are still talking about it.

On May 28, I am taking Julie Smith, the Activities Director, and three residents of her choosing, to lunch at the Round House Cafe. On me. This is part of regular take-a-resident out to lunch program the Army Of Good is sponsoring along with me, to get the residents out into the world.

As the weather warms, I’ll be looking for outings to get them into the sun and the countryside and also into the community outside of their walls. I have learned this is important to them, and necessary.

In May, we plan to present a “Night Of Four Skits” at the Mansion. The families are all invited.

I am still distributing your notecards and stamps, they are profoundly grateful for them.

Your gifts and presents and decorations for Easter  have begun arriving. Thank you so much.

Here is a list of residents who like to receive mail and photos: Winnie, Jean A., Ellen, Mary, Gerry, Sylvie, Diane, John, Alice, Jean G., Madeline, Joan, Allan, Bill, Helen, Robert (Bob), Alanna, Barbara, Peggie, Dottie, Tim, Debbie, Art, Guerda, Brenda, Wayne, Kenneth, Ruth.

You can write them c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge,N.Y., 12816

I need your help in funding some of the outings I would like to offer to the residents as the winter draws to a close.Also to help with some of their smaller needs like clothes, bras, and shoes. You can contribute to this work by sending your contribution to my Post Office Box, Jon Katz, P.O.  Box 205,  Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Many thanks. Please mark your check “Mansion.”

The packages at the post office had dwindled to a mere 25 today, the third day of the Notebook onslaught and campaign. Lots of people have notecards, I see, and so many of them are beautiful, evocative, and creative. People will love to get them, I’ve already distributed 30 packs of cards at the Mansion – many with pens, stamps and colorful cards.

People are astonishingly thoughtful and creative in their gifts, and many of the notecards are wonderful to look at, saved from mothers and grandmothers. Every conceivable kind of flower is pictured or sketched, as are fish, birds, dogs and cats, trees.

There are elegant sketches, and Zen reflections and 19th century vignettes. There are blank postcards with pre-paid stamps, elegant Money cards from museums, hand-written cards from kids in school.

How wonderful to see.

Over all, we probably have between 400 and 500 packages sent from all over the United States. Writing and communications are essential to the Mansion residents, they are excited to have these cards and stamps.

I give you my word, every one of them will be used wisely and well, these cards spread joy in ways that surprise me. People who didn’t have stamps or pretty notecards said they didn’t write much, now they will. These notecards are so important, they are the pathway to communicating with the outside world.

Maria and I spent most of the afternoon opening the boxes, reading your letters., stacking the cards. It will take another couple of days, we’ll get there by Tuesday. This task is a pure pleasure. They will spread out like angels bringing joy and connection. Thanks again.

The Mansion/Refugee fund is down to about $1,000. If you wish to support this work, you can send a contribution to my post office box, P.O. 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 1286, or to me via Paypal, [email protected]. Thanks.

I just got the first proof of the cover for the new book “Tales Of The Mansion” a collection of short stories compiled by the residents of the Mansion in July’s short story contest. Robert, the winner, is in the cover shot, he is wearing some of the Fourth of July glasses sent to all the residents by one of the readers of the blog, a member of the Army Of Good.

Robert wrote a funny story about life in the Mansion from the perspective of a new residents. There are 15 stories in “Tales Of The Mansion.” We are planning a reading at the Mansion when the book comes out – it will be open to the public. I’m ordering a first printing of 200 copies.

Every resident and members of their families will get a free copy, some will be given to the Mansion, and some will go to Battenkill Books in  Cambridge for purchase and shipping anywhere in the world.

Thanks to Connie Brooks for agreeing to sell them.

The stories are surprising,compelling and revealing.  There is loss, hope and tragedy and yearning. We did little editing, I wanted the stories to be in the true voices of the residents, not all slicked up. It was a wonderful experience for me.

They came out of a story-telling workshop I conducted with Julie Smith, the Mansion Activity Director. I told them their stories were important, and I think they heard me. In assisted care facilities, there is often the feeling of being abandoned and forgotten. That’s why it is so important that their stories be told and read.

We have not yet set a sale price for the book, which will also include about a dozen of my photographs, all taken when the stories were first presented.

The book was designed by the very gifted Abrah Griggs, and artist and book illustrator from Vermont. The stories were organized and compiled by Julie Smith, the Mansion Activities Director, and myself. I’m  having the books printed on CreateSpace, it’s the best price we could find.

Any profits or revenues from the book will go to support outings for the Mansion residents -plays, parks, picnics, historic sites, etc.

I hope to have the books in hand in several weeks, if not sooner. I’ll wait to begin pre-ordering until we have a price, it will be as low as possible. Your support made this happen, I thank you.

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.