Editor:
For more than 40 years KinVillage has provided a range of housing, health and wellness programs for older adults in South Delta.
The past nine months, delivering its mission - supporting older adults to live their lives fully, while nurturing a sense of community, has been seriously challenged by the global coronavirus pandemic.
The threat of COVID-19 necessarily narrowed our focus to safety, implementing preventative public health measures that often, unfortunately, had a major impact on social connections of our clients, with each other and, for our residents, with their families and friends. We closed our Community Centre and Day Program for Older Adults, strictly limited visits with Care Home and Assisted Living residents, and asked our more than 250 active volunteers to stay home.
Thankfully, in a rather gloomy year, there have been “silver linings” - the understanding, patience and resilience of the older adults we’re honoured to serve and their families, our staff’s courage, compassion, and dedication, and the recognition and encouragement of the South Delta community. You extended many kind gestures that showed you care about seniors.
Last spring, each evening we heard the cheering, and we received much-needed practical gifts such as masks, face shields, and sanitizer from individuals and local businesses.
As the weeks progressed, our staff so appreciated your considerate messages and the flowers, gift cards, and meals. December brought a remarkable outpouring of thoughtfulness for KinVillage residents – cards and gifts from local schools, churches, employees from the City of Delta and Amazon, and other kind souls.
Our call for outdoor decorations was answered; with community offerings our staff created brilliant displays that our Care Home residents, and staff, admired all month. The police and fire departments paraded in our parking lots. These examples reflect the understanding and compassion of you, our community.
I am so proud of how well KinVillage has responded to the pandemic.
Forty years of service, adapting to changing needs, challenges and opportunities, positioned KinVillage for this time and will help us in the months ahead, as we gradually return to “normal.”
We will then re-focus on our future expansion plans and, what I most look forward to in 2021, open our doors again to our South Delta community.
On behalf of all of us at KinVillage, thank you for showing you care about the seniors at KinVillage. You lifted spirits – of those who live and work here.
Donna Ellis/CEO KinVillage
