April means one thing at Country Meadows: Practice Random Acts of Kindness. Organization co-founder, Mary Jane Leader, made kindness a daily practice. To honor her memory, Country Meadows dedicates an entire month to going the extra mile. We set aside the month of April for paying-it-forward and looking for the extra opportunities to make the lives of others a little brighter through a simple, kind gesture.
Check out just a few acts of kindness done by our residents and co-workers this month.
Country Meadows of Allentown
Residents spent hours making blankets they donated to a local women and children’s shelter. The ladies worked on the blankets in their rooms at night to make as many blankets as they could by the planned delivery date. Shelter administrators were so happy and couldn’t believe how many were made.
Residents also practiced kindness to God’s furry children. They baked dog biscuits for “students” of Leader of the Pack Canine Institute and delivered more than 100 doggie bags containing treats, treat recipe cards and notes of kindness. Country Meadows Director of Marketing, Eileen Kutzler, says, “The treats received a big ‘paws up’ from pups and their owners!”
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Country Meadows of Bethlehem
Residents made custom “Thank You” labels to wrap around hundreds of candy bars. The crew then delivered them to St. Luke’s Hospital, expressing gratitude to healthcare professionals’ continuous hard work within the community.
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Country Meadows of Forks in Easton
Residents took advantage of beautiful weather to beautify the campus by planting colorful flowers. The beautiful containers are brightening spirits.
Forks residents made pet toys with recycled materials. Water bottles were stuffed into clean socks and knotted to be “crunch” dog toys, and for cats, cloth pom-poms and string butterflies were made and attached to wands as teaser toys. The pet toys will be donated to Common Sense For Animals shelter.
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Country Meadows of Frederick
Residents and co-workers collected items for and packed blessings bags they then distributed to local charities. The bags contained personal items such as lotion, lip balm and snacks. According to campus Community Life Director, Melanie Long,” We felt that as a community we needed to recognize the people working at these organizations over the last difficult year.”
While they were out and about, residents strategically placed rocks they painted with inspirational messages of hope. They “hid” the rocks in local parks and random locals to make the day for the lucky folks who find these kindness rocks.
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Country Meadows of Hershey
Residents and co-workers presented “vaccine cupcakes” to volunteers and staff running a local COVID-vaccine clinic. Julie Steffen, dynamic living director, baked the cupcakes and says, “Our residents are so grateful to be fully vaccinated, and we are honored to thank those making it possible for others.”
Residents thanked the local Hershey postal service team by treating employees to “cups of cheer.” The postal workers were thrilled with the gesture, and residents remembered how good it feels to be kind.
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Country Meadows of South Hills
Residents assembled birthday care packages for families in shelters so they have supplies to have a birthday party for their children. They were very excited to help and give back to others in need.
In another kindness project, residents made tie blankets which will be sold to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association.
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Country Meadows of West Shore
Residents and co-workers are finding ways to practice kindness for local senior centers. They are painting rocks with inspirational, supportive messages and will place them around the senior centers. They were inspired by a resident who shared her experience with a senior center before moving to Country Meadows. She says her friends will enjoy finding the rocks!
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Country Meadows of Wyomissing
Residents enjoy relationships with students from the Penn State Berks campus throughout the year. To show their appreciation to the students, residents packed “Granny’s Student Survival Bags” filled with items students need to study for exams.
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Country Meadows of York-West
Residents and co-workers are hosting a food drive to restock the York County Food Bank with nonperishable goods. The Food Bank has been feverishly serving the public during the pandemic by hosting monthly food drive-up stations to help feed unemployed county residents. According to Bonnie Geisinger-Country Meadows, “We had such an overwhelming outpouring of donations from co-workers who have been blessed to have worked throughout the pandemic, and family members who are grateful for the opportunity to help.”
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If you have a kind act to share, please submit it to kindness@countrymeadows.com.