Author: gefcommunityconnections
Photos from left to right: Jacquie Eales and her husband Brent Webster; the birthday gal and her 60th birthday balloons; Jacquie and her son Brad
This year Jacquie Eales celebrated a milestone—her 60th birthday—but it was not your typical affair focused on all things cake, candles and cocktails (though there was still plenty of that on hand!) For the birthday gal, what was most important to her was gathering with her nearest and dearest on a special night that focused on GIVING back.
“Turning 60 gave me time to reflect on my past, be grateful for the present, and plan my future with more intention. I realized I don’t need more stuff. But I know there are many others that do.”
As a former member and chair of the GEF Seniors Housing Board of Directors, Jacquie has spent years advocating for and supporting vulnerable seniors. On her 60th birthday, Jacquie took her commitment to the next level by fundraising for GEF’s Quality of Life Fund, which helps seniors facing financial hardship to thrive by ensuring they have access to basic needs and resources.
A Party with a Purpose
Rather than receiving traditional birthday gifts, Jacquie invited her 40 guests to donate to GEF Seniors Housing. Jacquie’s guests were not surprised by this unique party idea – in fact they were supportive.
“It’s easy to do an Honorary Gifting event like this because you’re getting people together anyway, so use it to plant the seed and create awareness. Every donation big or small can make a difference. Even if someone gives $20 – if everyone in the room does the same, it grows.”
– Jacquie Eales, Philanthropist
Jacquie’s purposeful party raised nearly $3,800 that goes towards providing necessary items like mattresses, home furnishings, and kitchen wares to seniors most in need when moving into GEF communities.
Understanding Seniors’ Needs
In 2014, while working with GEF on a University of Alberta research project, Jacquie interviewed dozens of low-income residents to learn firsthand what contributes to their quality of life. This work was foundational to the development of GEF’s Quality of Life Philosophy, which is based on choice, dignity, well-being, accountability, and kindness.
“GEF has been a hidden gem in our community for 65 years providing homes to seniors with limited incomes. I wanted to create awareness about this organization.”
It was during her time as a board member from 2016 to 2022 that she saw firsthand the significant changes in need and the increasing complexity in circumstances of GEF’s clients. GEF’s Outreach Team identifies these clients and works with organizations like FIND to provide basic items such as beds, new mattresses, chairs, side tables, lamps, dishes, and cookware.
“Donations like these help GEF to support seniors—many of whom are coming from precarious situations—continue to maintain their dignity notwithstanding the journeys that have brought them to our doors.”
– Shanika Donalds, Director of Housing and Client Services, GEF Seniors Housing
A Legacy of Compassion
Jacquie’s long-standing passion for caring for older adults started with her grandparents and continued with her mother who was the Assistant Director at a long-term care centre. On days off from school, Jacquie and her brother volunteered at the centre and enjoyed portering, doing residents’ hair, and playing cards with them.
“We had early exposure to older adults and all their wonderful wisdom. My mother and her career in long-term care was also a tremendous example for us.”
Jacquie’s mom, Joan, donates her large book collection to GEF’s library project.
As a former Speech Language Pathologist, Jacquie says her work in geriatric rehabilitation to help seniors regain communication skills after suffering strokes and other neurological impairments was very rewarding. Now happily retired, when she’s not busy on the playground with her two grandchildren, Jacquie continues to support GEF in new ways.
“The best way to start is to simply ask, ‘How can I help?’ Volunteering time, donating goods, or even just spreading the word about GEF are all ways people can help.”
Ways to Get Involved
Whether you’re celebrating a milestone birthday or simply want to give back, there are many ways to help.
- DONATE – Choose the Fund for Seniors Most in Need.
- FUNDRAISE for GEF: Honorary Gifting, Charity of Choice, and DIY Fundraiser.
- VOLUNTEER with us.
Generosity is a gift that never expires and sometimes the greatest gifts are the ones that lift others up.
GEF marked its 65th anniversary by celebrating the joys of seniorhood and the vibrancy of its communities. The celebrations kicked off during Seniors’ Week in June and culminated with the unveiling of the 65th Anniversary Mosaic Art Project on October 1, the International Day of the Older Person. Here’s a look back at our celebrations.
A “Vibrant Community” Unveiled
First launched at the 65th anniversary kick-off event in June, the Mosaic Art Project came together over the summer and became the legacy project of our anniversary year. Artists Kelly Jans & Lisa Kutzner, who are also GEF staff members, worked collaboratively with residents and tenants from across our 41 communities to create the artwork. They chose sunflowers as the overall theme of the composition because the cheerful yellow petals remind us to embrace joy, seek out light, and stand tall in the face of adversity – a fitting description of seniorhood itself. Residents and tenants contributed to the mosaic by expressing what being a senior means to them. Participants did not necessarily know about the sunflower theme when they painted their individual canvases.
All was revealed at the October 1 event, which took place at Strathcona Place Apartments, was livestreamed on YouTube, and featured the creators of the masterpiece as the V.I.Ps. Project participants were invited to share their personal stories during an innovative open-mic segment. While each story was unique, they all reflected the optimism, resilience, embodiment of life, warmth, and longevity that seniorhood represents.
“We wanted to focus on one impactful activity that would leave a memorable impression on our community. “Vibrant Community” reflects the unique lived experiences of each individual within our communities as well as the creativity and vibrancy that exists in our communities as a whole.”
– Bernadette DeSantis, GEF Seniors Housing Director of Communications and Engagement,
Chair of the 65th Anniversary Committee.
Community members chose to name the mosaic “Vibrant Community” in honour of GEF’s rich history and vision to create vibrant affordable communities for seniors. The artwork will be on display at GEF’s Central Services location, and a photograph of the mosaic will be displayed in each GEF community for all to enjoy.
A recording of the unveiling event is available on our YouTube Channel.
Community Celebrations
Throughout the summer, tenants and staff, residents and their families were invited to celebrate the 65th Anniversary at their annual Lodge Summer Fairs and Apartment Barbecues. The weather cooperated for many of the outdoor events, but even when the events had to move indoors due to extreme weather conditions, there was plenty of fun and food had by all.
Together We Thrive: Celebrating Seniors and our Supporters
Stunning displays of culinary and visual artistry at Art Walk.
Seniors’ Week (June 3 to 9) is an opportunity to recognize the contributions of seniors, and with GEF becoming a senior itself, we chose June 6 to kick off our celebration of seniors and seniors-serving organizations. We gathered with our partners in the community at McQueen Place Lodge to mark 65 years of supporting low-income seniors to thrive in their Golden Years. Special guests included representatives from the Alberta Government, City of Edmonton, Alberta Seniors & Community Housing Association (ASCHA), Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton (SAGE), and members of the GEF Board of Directors. The event showcased the culinary and visual artists from our GEF communities. With this being our Sapphire Anniversary, we chose blue as our theme colour because it symbolizes loyalty and peacefulness in a long lasting relationship. A local school group collaborated with our seniors to produce the “wings” display which became a fun photo booth at the kick off event and summer fairs.
Brandon Lunty, Co-Chair of the Alberta Seniors Lodge Review Panel.
“The seniors housing sector in Alberta is constantly changing and shifting to best respond to the needs and expectations of today’s seniors. GEF is a leader in innovation – from intergenerational programming, supporting low-income community members, extraordinary dining experiences, and sustainable capital and operational models.”
— Irene Martin-Lindsay, Executive Director, Alberta Seniors & Community Housing Association (ASCHA)
McQueen Place Lodge residents and staff enjoy the celebration.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
A HUGE thanks goes out to all of our 400 + GEF staff, whose dedication and commitment to creating a warm, friendly, and welcoming environment for everyone who lives in, works at, or visits our communities have brought us to where we are today and will help us get to where we want to be in the future.
For their role in our journey to becoming Alberta’s largest non-profit social housing operator for seniors, this year’s staff appreciation theme was ‘Enjoy the Journey’, and staff received “Explore the City” summer fun packs. If you’re looking for opportunities to connect, give back, and positively influence seniors’ quality of life, click here to join our dedicated team.
We also give gratitude to our board members, community partners, volunteers, donors, residents, tenants, friends and family members. Thank you all for being a vital part of our 65 years of service to the community. If you’d like to get involved and support our Vibrant Community check out the ‘Get Involved’ tab on our website to volunteer or donate. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the lives of seniors.
Special thanks to the 65th Anniversary Committee for their role in making the celebrations so memorable.
Let’s enjoy the journey ahead knowing that every small step we each take today paves the way for tomorrow.
Photos from left to right: Amre Supply at Buchanan Manor Apartments, Virginia Park School students at Virginia Park Lodge and Apartments, cadet volunteer at Pleasantview Place Lodge and Apartments.
Planting Days 2024 saw our biggest turnout yet, and along with some generous donations, will be remembered for the heartwarming connections that blossomed amidst the soil and sunshine. Nearly 70 volunteers came out for the three-week event (May 15 to June 7), including our corporate partners, school groups, and volunteers from the community. As volunteers worked alongside staff, apartment tenants, and lodge residents to revitalize our outdoor spaces, conversations were sparked, memories were shared, and relationships took root that will last long after the summer blooms fade into fall.
Hands-On-Help
Our corporate partners made a strong showing at this years Planting Days, with new businesses such as Amre Supply, Arkuda Restoration, Bell Mobility, Budget Printing, Ford Credit, Old Navy, Royal Caretaking, Schindler Elevator, Serta Simmons, Supreme Landscaping, and Sysco, joining perennial favourites Ecopest, Source Office Furniture, Telus, and Telsco to plant happiness in our communities. Teams varied in size, ranging from one person to groups of 14, each donating a couple of hours of their time away from work commitments to spend quality time with seniors and engage in gardening activities.
Given the physical limitations of our seniors, the hands-on help of volunteers and staff means the groundwork like digging and weeding gets done while seniors enjoy their gardening experience without any barriers. Another way our business partners contributed to the campaign is through donations. Businesses provided everything from refreshments to keep volunteers nourished and hydrated, to raised planter boxes, and donations to our Quality of Life Fund.
Cultivating Connections
Telsco Security staff (right) enjoy sharing mealtime and conversation with Rosslyn Place Lodge residents after a morning of planting.
Planting Days is an opportunity for our corporate partners to give back to the community. It’s also an opportunity to cultivate connections with the seniors we serve to enrich their quality of life.
During my summer holidays in the 1960s, my parents and I would drive from Slave Lake to visit my grandparents in Radway. One of the highlights after greeting them with hugs was visiting the fruit tress and vegetable garden. Dedo, my grandmother taught me how to pick the best fruits and vegetables without damaging the plants. So much to learn about food and plants at the age of 6! -Donna B.
Heartfelt Contributions
Our community volunteers have always been a part of our GEF family, along with our staff, actively engaging with our seniors, enjoying each other’s company and positively influencing their quality of life. Our gardens and planting beds, now full of life and color, are a daily reminder of what we can achieve when we come together.
As GEF celebrates its 65th year of providing safe, welcoming, and affordable social housing for seniors, your support plays a crucial role in enabling us to create natural spaces that enhance the mental and physical wellbeing of seniors, providing a source of pride for those who call them home!
Our gardens will be the location for the summer fairs and barbeques to mark the 65th Anniversary celebrations. We need volunteers to help us maintain our gardens throughout the summer. Click here to sign up and become a Gardening Volunteer! It is not too late to donate – Our GEF communities need more planter boxes to encourage our senior’s gardening efforts.
Click here to see a video of all our communities in full bloom.
On a beautiful spring morning, Ottewell Place Lodge was buzzing with excitement for a special get-together as residents eagerly awaited the arrival of their tiny friends from Terra Centre.
“For many, these moments bring joy and evoke cherished memories from the most impactful time of their lives; child-rearing,” says Eva Moodley, Activity & Wellness Coordinator
Within moments, 10 toddlers eager to play with their senior pals filled the lounge with toys and laughter. Little did they know about the surprise in store for them, thanks to a heartfelt donation from residents Bill and Donna Shanks.
A Labour of Love
“I had been making things with plastic canvas for a while and one day I got the notion to make a block with letters and numbers similar to wooden alphabet blocks,” says Bill. “About that time the grandchildren and great grandchildren came along, and I started giving them each their own box of blocks.”
Since moving into the lodge nine months ago with wife Donna, Bill, a master craftsman, kept making the alphabet block kits as a way to keep busy. Fueled by his love for his family the kits piled up quickly. Donating them to them to the children of teen parents provided a perfect match for a labour of love.
“We were so impressed by the opportunity Terra Centre gives young parents and we thought it would be a good way to support them,” says Donna.
The toddlers were thrilled, and both the givers and receivers admired the meticulously handcrafted blocks with mutual appreciation, while fostering an easy connection between the young and the young at heart.
Fostering Connections
From the perspective of activities and wellness programming, Eva notes that intergenerational visits have cognitive and emotional benefits for both seniors and children.
“The best part about these programs is that they become a positive feedback loop. The more engagement we have at each visit, the more benefits there are all around, and for future visits.”
For GEF Seniors Housing, moments like these demonstrate our vision of creating vibrant, affordable communities for seniors.
We invite our partners in the community to get involved at any of our 41 locations across Edmonton. Send us a message through our Contact Us page under the Get Involved tab.
Despite the extreme cold temperatures outdoors, we find ourselves still glowing from the outpouring of generosity that wrapped our seniors in a warm embrace last month. It’s incredible how a community coming together for one day can create ripples of happiness to carry us into the new year on waves of hope. Click on the image below to experience the joy felt across GEF this holiday season thanks to your support of our 2nd annual Giving Tuesday campaign.
Setting Goals, Surpassing Expectations
Together with our corporate partners and individuals in the community, we raised an incredible $18,050.00 on Giving Tuesday (November 28, 2023), surpassing last year’s total of $10,000.00. A special shoutout to Nakamun Group as well as Acoustical and Total Cleaning Services, whose contributions will help enrich the lives of nearly 4,000 seniors who call our buildings home in the year ahead. Visit our Corporate Giving page to see the full list of our 2023 corporate donors.
Gifts to Nourish Body and Soul
A portion of the funds raised on Giving Tuesday went towards providing grocery gift cards to help our seniors with the rising cost of living. Over 100 seniors received gift cards as door prizes at their community holiday parties. Dozens of others delighted in the joy of winning thoughtfully chosen gift baskets, also provided by the companies who help us provide services to residents, tenants, and staff. An additional 250 seniors could go on free bus outings to the Borealis Lights Tour.
Families Fulfill Communities’ Wish Lists
We also received donations from individuals who support our mission to help seniors live with dignity and thrive in their communities. A generous donation from a family member combined with a discount from The Brick made the dream of a big-screen TV a reality for tenants of Ottewell Manor. Now the whole community can come together for movie nights and watch parties.
Volunteers Deck the Halls and Spread Joy
A special shoutout to the incredible volunteers who dedicated their time to infuse holiday spirit into our communities. Your contributions, from decking the halls to delivering gifts, created unforgettable moments and fostered connections that are integral to building the vibrant, affordable communities for seniors we envision.
Special thanks to The Gap/Old Navy store employees in Edmonton, and the countless individuals in the community who purchased gifts for our seniors through the London Drugs Stocking Stuffers for Seniors campaign. Through the combined efforts of multiple corporate partners and a little help from Santa, we surprised 1,350 seniors across 27 communities with gifts from the heart.
Continuing the Journey of Giving
Our journey does not end here. As we wrap up this chapter of giving, we invite you to join us in carrying the magic of the holidays forward into the year ahead. Visit our website to donate to our Quality of Life Fund. You can direct your contributions to a community of your choice, ensuring that your generosity touches lives exactly where you wish. Together, we’ll continue to spark joy, one act of kindness at a time.
When Stanley Construction first met with tenants of Knox-Met Manor to describe their plan to replace the windows of the seven-story building – with the seniors still living in their units – tenants thought it would be impossible. How could they live in a construction zone for six months, with no windows, in the middle of the summer? By the time the project wrapped up, the seniors and the construction team were sad to say goodbye to each other. What happened to bring about this happy ending to a challenging project?
Building Lasting Connections
Throughout the project, the Stanley team demonstrated a remarkable commitment to being senior-friendly, and treated the seniors with the utmost respect, ensuring the work did not come before their Quality of Life.
Over time, the workers’ kindness grew on the tenants, and they formed friendships. One tenant (pictured above with a few of the Stanley crew members) would occasionally prepare lunches for the workers, which the workers appreciated.
At the September 12 wrap-up BBQ hosted by Stanley with support from Cooper Equipment Rentals, both sides expressed how much they cherished the connections that were formed and how much they will miss one another.
The great new windows were almost a bonus compared to the relationships formed during the construction project!
A Sustainable Upgrade
The new windows are triple pane, PVC, casement style windows with a special coating that reflects solar rays, helping to keep the suites cooler in the Summer. In total, 159 suite windows and 18 shared area windows were replaced, contributing to greater energy efficiency.
To further enhance tenant comfort and energy efficiency, GEF made sure to install new roller-type solar shades on all of the suite windows facing south.
Together, We Can Make a Difference
This project exemplifies the kind of partnership we aim to foster between our community partners and the clients we serve. As part of our Quality of Life Philosophy, we promote and encourage relationships between seniors, staff, and communities based on respect, kindness, and compassion.
We invite other vendors and partners to collaborate with us to enrich the lives of seniors and to give back to our community.
Visit our donations page to learn more about our current campaigns and contribute to our Quality of Life fund. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the lives of seniors.
The Great Knitting Giveaway – Reinvented!
For over 15 years, the Great Knitting Giveaway has connected GEF seniors and local charities through a common desire to help Edmontonians in need. Our talented knitters have given countless hours to create thousands of scarves, toques, blankets, and mitts for charities such as Hope Mission, The Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, and Crystal Kids Youth Centre.
The one-day event has traditionally been an opportunity for charities to come pick up items that have been lovingly stitched by GEF seniors, and for the knitters to collect their yarn for next year’s projects. Year after year, individuals in the community have generously donated yarn for this cause.
At the October 2022 Great Knitting Giveaway, for example, GEF donated 5,240 items to local charities and received nearly 4,000 skeins of yarn in donations.
A New Vision for the Great Knitting Giveaway
Through previous event feedback, knitters expressed a desire to see where their items were going and possibly meet the people receiving them through more intimate and regular meetings. Instead of the previous one day giving event, our knitters now take the initiative to reach out to charities individually, find out what the specific needs are and then focus on weaving love and time into creating warm items to donate.
With this new focus of allowing knitters to tailor their projects according to the specific needs of the charities they choose to work with, meaningful connections are being made in the community between the knitters and recipients.
Weaving Connections Within the Community
Last winter, knitters from Rosslyn Place Lodge visited Operation Friendship Seniors Society to help sort donations at their distribution site and see the impact of their donated knitted items. Click here to see the story on YouTube.
The Great Knitting Giveaway 2024 is underway with even more opportunities throughout the year to connect with charities in need. This fall, the dedicated knitting group from Rosslyn Place Lodge donated warm winter woolies to the Salvation Army.
Stay tuned for regular updates throughout the year of the many knitting projects in the works and on their way to impacting more charitable organizations who need them.
Donate Yarn, Make a Difference!
The Life Enrichment Team supplies knitters with yarn on demand throughout the year and is readily accepting NEW yarn donations to continue the Great Knitting Giveaway efforts. Our various collection points in Edmonton are:
West Central: Central Services, 14220 – 109 Avenue
Southside: Ottewell Place Lodge, 6207 – 92 Avenue
Northside: Rosslyn Place Lodge, 10915 – 134 Avenue
If you have any questions about yarn donations, please call 780.482.6561 or email communications@gef.org.