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Fellowship Square provides affordable housing and services for older adults. |
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Virtual Anniversary Celebration
Resident Life
Community Partners
Christy's Corner
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Adult Dental Benefits in Virginia
Gardening is a Healthy Hobby
New Fall Intern
We're Hiring!
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You are cordially invited to NOT attend our originally planned fundraiser at Bull Run Winery this December.
Instead, please join us for a virtual event to celebrate
Fellowship Square's 60th Anniversary!
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
7:00 pm
(Zoom link to follow)
Stay tuned for more information …
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Our Residents are Keeping Busy! |
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Lake Anne Fellowship House
Sara B. has lived at Lake Ridge Fellowship House for 16 years! She taught herself to crochet at the age of 10. Starting with a ball of yarn and crochet hooks, she just fiddled with them until she figured out how to make stitches. Her first creations were potholders, then as her skill level grew, she began making hats and baby blankets. Nowadays, she uses a knitting loom and colorful yarn to create newborn and children’s hats. Additionally, she creates beautiful homemade crocheted baby blankets. She donates the hats and blankets to the local hospital, but still saves a few for her children, grandchildren, friends, and has even sold some. She is waiting in anticipation for her granddaughter to have a baby so she can make some lovely items for her first great grandchild!
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Lake Anne Fellowship House
L. Ming has been a resident at Lake Anne Fellowship House for over 10 years. To keep busy during COVID, he gets up early every morning to exercise outside of the building. He also helps take care of the plants in the outdoor resident area.
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Largo Landing Fellowship House
A true example of a loving couple, W. & M. Tisdale have been married for over 40 years and resided at Largo Landing Fellowship House for a little over seven. Among the many things they enjoy together, cooking is one of their favorite activities! Their culinary repertoire includes everything from black-eyed peas and cornbread to “Cheesecake Pie” from time to time. Thankfully, their cooking hobby keeps them quite busy during the pandemic.
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Community Partners Help Out |
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Our generous partners in the community ensure that we receive weekly and monthly food donations at each of the four Fellowship Houses. As a reminder, we need healthy adult volunteers (age 18+) to assist in getting these food donations to our senior residents. Please continue to check the Volunteers page of the Fellowship Square website for upcoming opportunities. |
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Support Our Annual Campaign and Support Our Residents |
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The longer the pandemic is with us, the more severe the impact it will have on our efforts to raise critical funds. This year marks our 60th Anniversary but we’ve had no real opportunities to celebrate.
With your help, we’re hopeful that we can raise the funds we need and prevail through these challenging times. Please consider making a donation to help fill in where other funds are running out. We don’t know when the pandemic will be over – but it’s our intent to not only survive this crisis but come out stronger because of it.
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Independent Doesn’t Mean Alone |
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Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Fellowship Square staff were able to monitor and observe residents regularly to watch for signs of self-neglect. However, since March, almost all resident interactions have been over the telephone or through email making it difficult to catch issues as they arise and provide needed support.
All Fellowship Square properties are independent living. The US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allows for seniors to live independently so long as they have home health aides or care providers to assist them with daily living activities like bathing, dressing or preparing meals.
Nearly 20% of Fellowship Square’s 800+ residents have at least one home health aide that visits daily. Even during the pandemic, home health aides are considered essential workers and have continued to show-up and assist the residents that are challenged with daily living functions. Some of the residents that have a home health aide require nearly all of their activities of daily living to be carried out by an aide; and this meets HUD’s definition of independent living. At the same time, not all who need assistance have it, and some residents will tell you that the assistance they do receive is not of high quality.
Your donations and support are at the heart of the care we give to residents. Necessities like emergency food, non-covered prescriptions, co-pays for doctor’s and dentist’s visits, transportation and other services and activities are not easy to afford when you have very little to start with. We rely on your financial assistance to help cover these expenses – and others – to keep our seniors living independently.
We just launched our Annual Campaign – please keep an eye on your mailbox for this important letter or DONATE NOW to support Fellowship Square. Your contribution makes a lasting investment in the lives of seniors.
With gratitude,
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Keep Up that Green Thumb! |
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Indoor gardening has so many benefits for seniors and is a fun activity to get involved in during quarantine. Gardening is a great way to keep one's mind engaged and an opportunity to nurture and care for something — especially when that something will result in a beautiful or tasty reward!
Quarantine has been hard for everyone, especially for our Fellowship Square residents. Starting an indoor garden can help alleviate feelings of loneliness and boredom that has set in since the onset of the pandemic, and it is much easier and less expensive than starting an outdoor garden. Additionally, growing flowers and plants can quickly liven up any apartment; herbs can be grown to enhance cooking.
Benefits:
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Stress Relief: Having a garden to tend to is often calming and promotes a sense of peace. It can also serve as a distraction when there are stressors present.
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Extra Oxygen: Plants produce oxygen as they absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale. Having plants around the home will help create a better breathing environment.
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Sense of Purpose: Gardening can offer something to work toward and a sense of accomplishment. If growing basil, mint, or a beautiful orchid is the goal, a little time should be set aside each day to give care to the plant.
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By Shailee Patel
Fellowship Square Programs Intern
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Above, a Fellowship Square resident and her beautiful plants! |
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Welcome to Fellowship Square’s
Newest Intern
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Tatiana Cherry-Santos — Fellowship Square Fall Intern
Tatiana Cherry-Santos resides in Boulder, Colorado, but her family is from Chile and she travels between the two regularly. Currently, she is a senior at Roanoke College (located in Southwest Virginia) majoring in Spanish with a minor in American Politics, as well as two concentrations in Legal Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. After graduation, she plans to teach in Colombia for a year and then proceed to law school.
Tatiana enjoys the outdoors and is looking forward to spending time on the Potomac before it gets too cold. She is also always looking for the best vegan food around, including a spicy chicken sandwich which she has yet to find! She is enjoying her time in the D.C. area and hopes to contribute to having a positive impact on Fellowship Square and its critical mission.
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Lake Ridge Fellowship House Service Coordinator
(part-time position located in Woodbridge, VA)
Come work for an exciting non-profit that is serving the community and making a difference in people’s lives!
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Reminder: If you have a Thrivent account, please designate Fellowship Square for donations
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Stay in touch with Fellowship Square on Facebook!
We post articles, updates on activities and events, our monthly newsletter, and pertinent information regarding our properties.
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