EngAGE congratulates Menorah Housing Foundation on their unrestricted $50,000 grant from MetLife Foundation and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. The award honors Menorah Housing Foundation’s outstanding leadership, innovation, effectiveness and quality operations and services in the area of affordable senior housing. The award also recognizes the organization for successfully incorporating green components in their housing. The award is presented to only four organizations nationally.
“We are so honored to be recognized by the Met Life Foundation and by Enterprise with this award. It means a lot to all of our staff who work very hard, and often behind the scenes, to provide the best affordable housing for our tenants,” said Anne Friedrich, Menorah Housing Foundation president. “This grant will be used in our ‘Healthy Aging’ program. Specifically, we will be initiating an ongoing weekly art workshop for our residents through our partner EngAGE.”
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In preparation for the gala award event held at Long Beach Senior Housing, EngAGE provided a team to involve residents in creating a chalk mural that was to be displayed for the ceremony the next day. Randall Williams, an award-winning chalk artist, traveled from Burbank to be the lead. He was assisted by Toni Byrd, a mixed media artist, who will teach ten weeks of art classes at Long Beach. Regional Programs Director Robin Hart and C.O.O. Maureen Kellen-Taylor were also in attendance. This mural, a copy of a Van Gogh painting, now adorns the wall of the entry lobby.
Mural work in progress.
Completed mural.
The Awards Ceremony the following day was attended by EngAGE Team Members Maureen Kellen-Taylor, Robin Hart, Ireesh Lal, and Toni Byrd. Menorah Housing Foundation asked for an ongoing art class for this building following the ceremony. Toni Byrd is now teaching mixed media and visual storytelling using mediums that are accessible and easy to find materials. The classes are designed to engage both those who have not made much art as well as those who are quite experienced. Approximately fifteen residents, which include a few husband and wife teams, are enthusiastic and cooperative students. They work in mixed media, incorporating collage, painting with water colors, and drawing.
MHF Board Chair Jon Pynoos
Long Beach City Councilman Dee Andrews
Tenant speaker Elilzabeth Feurence
Dana Hendrix of HUD addresses crowd
Award Presentation
EngAGE Arts Programs at other Menorah Housing Properties
Last year EngAGE was privileged to receive a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs for arts programs at Pico Veteran Senior Apartments in West Los Angeles. The residents and staff responded so positively that Menorah Housing Foundation asked to retain a class there and to initiate classes at Adams (Los Angeles) and Parthenia (Northridge) Senior Apartments. Art instructor Randall Williams teaches a traditional style of learning to paint through emulation, a technique that he has developed over years of work with seniors.
EngAGE COO Maureen Kellen-Taylor commented, “Art transcends language barriers and many of the participants in the painting class do not speak much, if any, English.”
Regional Programs Director Robin Hart explained, “Randall uses gestures and pantomime to make himself understood by all. It’s like watching him play charades. There’s a manager who translates and he is also learning to say a few words in each of the different languages.”
Here are a few photos of Randall’s students and their work:
Contributed by Maureen Kellen-Taylor, Robin Hart, Elizabeth Sampson, Randall Williams
