Newton Presbyterian Manor
Chaplain’s Corner by Greg Schmidt JULY 2021
Fundraising campaign holds personal significance for steering committee member When Mary Ellen Tippin first heard about “Together, We Thrive,” a fundraising campaign for campus improvements and new outdoor gathering spaces at Newton Presbyterian Manor, it resonated with her on a deeply personal level. “My own mother was a resident at the Broadway Apartments for the last 11 years of her life … and they were wonderful years,” said Mary Ellen Tippin, steering committee member. “She made so many wonderful friends, enjoyed the helpful staff and participated in practically every activity offered to enhance her life.” “Together, We Thrive’s” goal of raising $75,000 is earmarked to create a new outdoor deck— including landscaping, furniture and accessories—along with a complete renovation of the community’s beauty salon. The latter of which Mary Ellen “Before” the remodel of the beauty salon. believes her mom would have particularly enjoyed.
Together, we thrive – continued on page 3
I love exploring the depth and fullness of beautiful paintings! And some of the paintings I enjoy most are landscapes. I love viewing calm, peaceful, endless miles of ocean. But I also love it when the artist captures those turbulent, churning, whitecapped waves amidst 20-foot swells. And I love soft, rolling golden waves of four- to six-foot high tallgrass prairie feeding hundreds of North American Bison or wild Mustangs. And among we “flatlanders,” who doesn’t love an endless vista of snow-topped peaks and shadowed valleys featuring the millions of Bristlecone Pine, Colorado Blue Spruce and Quaking Aspens reaching heavenward throughout the Rock Mountains. Soft. Tranquil. Powerful. Exposed. Naked. Raw. And while I very much enjoy looking at such landscapes, I don’t want my life to emulate them. Mostly, I hate getting caught feeling bare, unkempt, wild, or unfocused. I would rather appear calm, collected, on target, and put together to the watching world. Vulnerability is cute when it’s a commodity you are selectively choosing to give away. It’s painful when it takes you by surprise. Our Newton Presbyterian Manor residents as well as our Heart & Soul Hospice patients and their families make a myriad of decisions. And one of them is whether or not they’re going to let a Chaplain they’ve likely never met to enter
Chaplain’s Corner – continued on page 2
Get the latest on visitation and COVID-19 at our campus at NewtonPresbyterianManor.org/covid-19.
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