An Award Winning Evening for Judy!

Resident Judy Gonshor was the honored guest at the Heritage Girls award ceremony on May 16th.  When the leader of the Heritage Girls found out that Judy is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the famous hymn-writer Fanny Crosby, she knew that she had to include Judy in the awards ceremony, because three girls had just earned their Fanny Crosby badges!  Judy looked like a seasoned public speaker as she walked up to the microphone to speak about her famous relative, who wrote the lyrics to over 8,000 hymns, even though she was blind for her whole life!  Judy's daughter Jackie, also a relative of Fanny's, was present for the ceremony, as were several members of the Joyful Noise Singers, who led the gathering in singing two of Fanny's most popular hymns, "Blessed Assurance" and "To God Be the Glory".

Happy Spring!

We were planning to do something with the big bin of silk flowers that we had accumulated over the years, and we wanted to do something to decorate our doors for spring.  So we purchased sheets of styrofoam, cut out the initials of the participants, added a ribbon to hang them, and then let everyone do their own thing.  Each finished door hanger turned out totally different from each other door hanger, even though everyone started with the same ingredients!  Special thanks to our next door neighbor, Chiko, who is from Japan but is staying at Youth With A Mission for a few weeks.  She was a huge help in cutting wire stems and helping with the gluing process.  She had as much fun as the participants, and she promises to return in July after her mission trip to South America!  We appreciate all of our wonderful volunteers!

The Lebanon Senior Singers Visit Juniper Village!

The residents of Juniper Village at Lebanon were recently treated to a very special concert by the Lebanon Senior Singers.  They only make a few community appearances each season, so we felt very honored that they chose to visit us.  It was standing room only as they performed beautiful arrangements of some of our favorite songs, including "Y-M-C-A", which had everyone throwing their hands into the air.  They promised to visit us again for their holiday program.  We will be looking forward to that!

Day of Caring Comes to Juniper Village!

On Saturday, April 22nd, over 1,000 volunteers from all over Lebanon County came together for breakfast at Lebanon High School, and then they dispersed throughout the County from 9:00 am to noon to do volunteer jobs at various agencies and facilities.  Juniper Village at Lebanon was fortunate enough to be chosen by the Youth Advocate Program (YAP), who brought some great prizes and then helped us to play Bingo for an hour.  Then we all moved to the lobby to hear another Day of Caring Volunteer, Bob Phillips (who is also our County Commissioner!) sing some of our favorite songs from the 40's and 50's. Christine and Paul couldn't help but dance to the swing music, and Joe provided some great backup and harmony with the extra microphone.  It was a fantastic morning for everyone involved!  Both Bob and the YAP volunteers said that they will be back again!

May 2017 Events in Lebanon, PA: Grow Strong Daily

Continuing our Spring Alive In All Seasons focus on healthy again, we continue to let wellbeing thrive with a May focus on Fitness. Staying fit throughout all seasons of life is possible and at Juniper we promote fitness every day of the week! We recently shared on our Facebook page a New York Times story, authored by Gretchen Reynolds, providing results from the Mayo Clinic who recently conducted an experiment on the cells of 72 healthy but sedentary men and women who were 30 or younger or older than 64. The volunteers were randomly assigned to a particular exercise regimen. There were some unsurprising differences: The gains in muscle mass and strength were greater for those who exercised only with weights, while interval training had the strongest influence on endurance. But more unexpected results were found in the biopsied muscle cells. It seems as if the decline in the cellular health of muscles associated with aging was “corrected” with exercise, especially if it was intense, says Dr. Sreekumaran Nair, a professor of medicine and an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic and the study’s senior author. In fact, older people’s cells responded in some ways more robustly to intense exercise than the cells of the young did. So pick up those weights, get on that bike and remember it’s never too late to benefit from exercise. And if you’re not doing so already, follow us on social media so you don’t miss a thing.

We invite you to Grow Strong Daily along with us with programs such as Fitness Five and our Route 66 Walking Program. Learn more about fitness and keeping your heart healthy at our Heart Healthy Luncheon and educational presentation. Staying fit throughout all seasons of life is possible.

Our fabulous May 2017 events in Lebanon, PA at Juniper Village at Lebanon include our:

§  Open House Independent Living/Garden Apartments in The Club of the Community House to learn more about our beautiful Garden Apartments as we have first and second floor, one and two bedroom, apartments available with optional meal plans and a variety of fun and educational activities are also available with a month-to-month rental model with no buy-in fees, so if you’re thinking about downsizing, now’s the time to see what Juniper Village has to offer as light refreshments will be served and each tour participant will receive a “goody” bag to take along on May 11^th from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. (RSVPs not required but appreciated at 717-272-8782.)

§  What Theralink and Vitality Days Are presented By Genesis Rehab with Jim Dumser, MPT, Director of Rehab, who will discuss Theralink and Vitality days as it relates to Juniper Village’s Connect4Life program and the Theralink program, which includes physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, in these special programs that help our residents continue to maintain or improve their physical abilities, reducing fall risks and hospitalizations; there is no cost to attend this informational session and a light lunch will be provided in The Club of the Community House on May 17^th from noon to 1:30 pm. (RSVP by May 15^th at 717-272-8782.)

§  Third Annual Community Yard Sale including a large selection of books and puzzles with all proceeds, including the food sales, supporting the American Heart Association held rain or shine in The Club of the Community House and tours of the community will also be available throughout the morning on May 20^th from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm.

§  National Senior Health & Fitness Day as we are proud to have partnered with WellSpan Health to participate in this 24^th annual event; during this fun-filled day, seniors will have the opportunity to participate in a yoga class, our Band-Together class, a specialty fruit and salad bar, and a presentation by Dr. Lisa Helwig to learn more about senior health, so all seniors are encouraged to join us for this exciting event on May 31^st from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. (RSVPs not required but appreciated at 717-272-8782.)

We look forward to sharing our May 2017 events in Lebanon, PA at Juniper Village at Lebanon with you as you Grow Strong Daily.