Sharing Bible Study With Residents at VMRC’s Woodland Park
Check out the new Green House Homes @ Woodland Park.
My father, a retired minister, and my mother are leading a short Bible study once a week at Woodland Park, Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community’s (VMRC), newly opened Green House Homes. The weekly activity is engaging and fun for mom and dad, and they enjoy sharing scripture as well as music with the group members. Most of the participants who choose to attend are physically fragile and some also have significant memory loss.
Each Thursday my parents bring a lesson, as much as possible, from the weekly lectionary – the three-year cycle of Bible readings that corresponds with the events of the Christian church liturgical year. Many ministers base their Sunday sermons on these readings, and many churches schedule their Bible study groups to help members learn more about the lectionary passages prior to the Sunday service when the passages are read during worship.
At the Woodland Park Bible study sessions my parents just about always read a Psalm. Dad chooses the next reading based on how well-known and familiar it is, because the participants are increasingly engaged when they recognize the story, and some may even share a thought or two after hearing the passage read aloud. With this group familiarity with a passage is more important than any one lectionary passage.
Music and hymn singing become more central each time my parents lead a session, since just about every member of the group seems to automatically remember words to many of the old-time favorite hymns. Read more »
Celebrating the Opening of Woodland Park – Part II
Dr. Bill Thomas speaks at the Sunday dedication of Woodland Park.
Several years ago, when Jody G. started working at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC), she watched a video about the Green House Homes that were to be built. Immediately she fell in love with the concepts and wanted to become a shahbaz, the name for each person who works in the home.
I knew right then that I wanted to go to work in a Green House with its atmosphere conducive to building relationships and where the residents would have a say in what happens each day,” she said. “I couldn’t wait until the houses were built.”
The second celebration at VMRC was a day to thank collaborators – attending from near and far — people who worked together to bring the new Green House Homes to life. According to CEO Ron Yoder, the entire process took nine years and two months of hard work — dreaming, envisioning, planning, designing, and building three houses. The plan is to build a total of ten houses, each with living space for ten residents. Check out the many pictures on this blog or check out the pictures of the inside of the Woodland Park homes at the VMRC website.
My parents at the grand opening. Photo courtesy of VMRC
Sunday’s speakers included representatives from the Mennonite Health Services Alliance and the Virginia Association of Nonprofit Homes for Aging, and both groups will probably arrange to bring members to visit and learn more about Woodland Park. Susan Frazier, the CEO of NCB Capital Impact, a nonprofit that partners with organizations to improve elder care, shared some Green House Homes facts (see below). Thanks were offered to the architects and interior designers who created the beautiful spaces and made them look like real homes, and extra special recognition was given to VMRC staff members like Jody G., who will work in the homes as shahbazim — sharing, working, and caring for the residents in each house.
Woodland Park Green House Homes in the Snow
Woodland Park in the Snow
Lots of people are working all over the place at the Green House Homes at Woodland Park in Harrisonburg, Virginia. At Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) the staff is in training, the furniture is arranged, and everywhere people are making last-minute tweaks.
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the kitchens?
One of the homes will be ready for residents in two weeks. VMRC is about to add a new community to its vibrant and caring culture. Grand opening ceremonies are January 5th and 6th at VMRC.
I will be blogging from the events on Saturday and Sunday.
It snowed last week in the Shenandoah Valley, and I took this picture of one of the new homes at Woodland Park.
BTW: These homes have mountain views!
Woodland Park Green House Homes-Finishing Details: November 22, 2012
The New Homes at Woodland Park.
Today is Thanksgiving, and I am grateful that I had a chance to tour one of the Green House Homes at Woodland Park in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Woodland Park is a part of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, and it’s almost finished!
I learned today that when people visit one of the beautiful homes, they will ring a doorbell, just like when a visitor arrives at any other house. Wireless access will enable residents to connect their own devices, but an iPad with Skype and FaceTime (and technical support) will be available to any resident who wants to make a video phone call to family members or friends.
Each Woodland Park home has ten bedrooms, a great room common area with a fireplace, a sunroom, and a media/television room. The kitchen is a work of art — with accessible appliances and counters that make it easy for people in wheel chairs to access.
Watch for more pictures and information about the grand opening. Woodland Park move-in day is fast approaching!
Check out the pictures below.
Woodland Park (VMRC) Green House Homes Update: August 26, 2012
Construction of the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community Green House Homes at Woodland Park is moving along. On two of the buildings the outside stonework will be completed soon. The stonework was so lovely that I shot a close-up with my camera.
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Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising – April 28, 2012
The walls continue to rise above the foundations at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
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Green House Homes News from Maryland
Check out some of the specifics of the new Green House elder community in Baltimore.
A Kaiser Health News article, Maryland’s First Green House Project Nursing Home Aids Low-Income Seniors, described a new community on the site of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
Associated Catholic Charities will run the Green House Residences at Stadium Place.
Am I mistaken or is does the headline contain an oxymoron? Is it possible to have a Green House Project Nursing Home? I think not, given that Dr. Bill Thomas calls himself a nursing home abolitionist. The two concepts most definitely should not appear in the same place!
You can check out other Green House Homes locations using this handy map.
To learn more about the actual construction of Green House® Homes, please follow my series about Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community and the construction at Woodland Park.
To learn more please read these posts about Woodland Park Green House Homes, a new community at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
- Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising - April 28, 2012
- Green House Homes at Woodland Park (VMRC) Construction Update, April 8, 2012
- VMRC Construction Update: On Foundations Firmly Laid - April 3, 2012
- All About the VMRC Woodland Park Groundbreaking - January 5, 2012
- Green Houses for Older Elders
- Replacing a Nursing Community with Green House® Homes
- Nuts and Bolts of Green House Planning
- Building a Green House Home – The Inside
- To learn even more about Green House® Homes go to the web site and request the DVD and/or guide-book.
- To locate a community that features the Green House Project model, check out this handy map.
Green House Construction Update at VMRC – April 3, 2012
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A few weeks ago I spent a day with my parents, and I checked out the Green House Homes construction at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
The earliest part of construction, right now after the groundbreaking, is the most challenging time for everyone to watch, because we want to see more than we are seeing. It’s that way with any construction project.
Holes are dug, concrete footings are laid, and I even observed some pipes here and there. We all want to see buildings, but they are not rising up just yet because foundations must be firmly installed before the rest of the structures are built.
The Bible mentions the need for strong basic infrastructure in Isaiah 44:28, “…and its foundation shall be firmly laid.”
Becoming A Grown-up Child
One day in April 2007 my husband and I were the adult kids in our families — we are the only adult children
— and the next day we became what we laughingly call “real grown-ups,” helping first one, then two, and for a while all three of our parents. It’s time to give back, and we do so willingly and happily. However the process is not easy, and it is not free from anxiety and tension. Check out the As Our Parents Age About page to learn more about the mission of this blog.
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As Our Parents Age by Marti Weston is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on work at AsOurParentsAge.wordpress.com and AsOurParentsAge.net
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by emailing As Our Parents Age. To learn more about this blog go to the AsYourParentsAge About page.Connect with Marti on LinkedIn
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