A local senior care facility is spreading holiday cheer for a good cause.
Keepsake Village at Greenpoint in Liverpool is doling out wreaths to local businesses and individuals to decorate. Once decorated, the 24-inch artificial wreaths will be collected and sold at a silent auction Dec. 7 with the proceeds to benefit North Area Meals on Wheels, which services the Liverpool-North Syracuse area. Heading up the event for Greenpoint are executive director Dave Baillette, marketing director Maria Lisi, and Florence Felt and Lisa Merrill, who are in charge of communications for Keepsake Village.
According to Felt, communications director for Keepsake Village at Greenpoint, another community owned by the same parent company tried it last year with successful results, spurring this year’s local effort.
“We had a community in Indiana that did it last year to raise funds for a charity,” Felt said. “This year we decided to do it company-wide. Our Liverpool campus, which includes our memory impairment organization at Keepsake Village, is raising money for North Area Meals on Wheels, while the James Street facility is focusing on homeless veterans.”
Felt said the Liverpool community chose NAMOW because it often gets overlooked due to the fact that executive director Donna Barrett does such an excellent job running the organization and people are unaware that it’s in need.
“We wanted to do something for the area at large, and NAMOW does such a good job that they don’t get as much notice as other organizations,” Felt said. “They really do service all of Liverpool, North Syracuse and Cicero. We felt that they’re really a good neighbor, somebody who could use some assistance. They go unnoticed every now and then.”
Felt said NAMOW is also an organization that’s near and dear to her own heart.
“I volunteered as a driver one Thursday a month a few winters ago,” she said. “I don’t know how they do it, how they coordinate everything day after day. It’s fantastic, what they do. I believe Donna told me more than 200 meals every day come out of her kitchen.”
Most of all, she said, it’s easy to see the impact a fundraiser can have on an organization like Meals on Wheels.
“Everything we give to them really impacts the community we live in,” Felt said. “It’s not like some nonentity where you don’t know where your money’s going. You see the people every day [who benefit from Meals on Wheels]. It’s your neighbor, the people you see at the grocery store. I have a coworker who just realized his mother is ready for Meals on Wheels. These are your neighbors.”
Barrett echoed the Meals on Wheels slogan:
“We are Meals on Wheels so no senior goes hungry,” she said.
Felt said while some wreaths will be dropped off, workers from Greenpoint will be picking some up. She said she hopes all of them will be back in by Dec. 2. Some are back in already.
“We have one from Bradley Jewelers that’s just fantastic,” Felt said. “Right now it’s hanging on my office door. It’s beautiful. I’m kind of hoping people will forget about it so I can take it home.”
A variety of organizations have signed up to make wreaths, including a number of child care organizations. Felt said she was excited to see how many kids were involved in the project.
“There’s an intergenerational aspect to this that I love to see,” she said. “It’s a life lesson for them, and it’s very eye-opening for the adults.”
The open house is from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 7 at Keepsake Village at Greenpoint on Old Liverpool Road. There will be hors d’oeuvres and liquid refreshments to accompany the silent auction. Auctioneer will be Mike Price. RSVPs are appreciated, but not necessary. To get a wreath to decorate, contact Keepsake Village at Greenpoint at 453-7911.
