me and happy to see me doing so well.” Residents of Columbian Place provide activities for the entire community: maintaining a library, hosting movie nights, running a knitting club. Roma Nowakowski teaches art classes. Bill Loran participates in a Bible study. With volunteer assistance from local K of C councils, there are also events such as pancake breakfasts, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day brunches, and barbecues. Debbie Verbeke, general manager of Columbian Manor and Columbian Place, noted the strong sense of community that is lacking at other facilities for seniors. “Other places are just not as personal,” she said. Although there are no immediate plans for further expansion, councils in other provinces have looked to what K.C. Charities has done in Saskatoon, noted Jeanneau. There remains potential for communities to form partnerships with local municipalities or dioceses, or even to use the land occupied by closed parishes. For now, residents such as Al Weninger are grateful for what the Knights have already accomplished. “It’s a wonderful way to spend your remaining years — among friends.”♦
Clockwise, from far left, bottom: Debbie Verbeke, general manager of Columbian Manor and Columbian Place, is pictured in her office. • Residents of the Bob Jeanneau Assisted Living Centre visit during lunch. • Columbian Place, a 75-unit complex for seniors, officially opened in September 2012. • Residents of Columbian Manor are pictured on their balcony. • Chris Reddekop (center), who has worked with K.C. Charities since the 1980s, visits with residents.
COLLEEN ROULEAU, a native of Saskatchewan, currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta. SEPTEMBER 2013
♦ C O L U M B I A ♦ 15