At Portofino Villas in Pomona, CA, residents’ crochet skills keep developing!
Hand-crafting brings out residents’ creativity! Here they’re making a wall hanging decoration out of plastic soda bottles, yarn and little paper flowers. Clever!
Research demonstrates that participating in arts activities improves the health and quality of life of older people.
Program Director: Clarisa Arostegui
October 2018
Portofino Villas is an AMCAL community.
Elizabeth Sampson makes an emotional pitch to her theatre company to raise money for the children who live at the Vermont Family Apartments community.
Elizabeth is grateful to The Road Theatre Company members who donate so selflessly every year to these children: “The Artistic Directors Taylor Gilbert and Sam Anderson, along with the company members, turn out their pockets to me directly, or they donate what they can to the PayPal account – right up to the last minute of me going to Marshall’s to purchase toys. Some of them specifically make sure we can get the Target gift cards for the 13 to 16 year olds. It is an enormous act of generosity, and I am humbled by them every year.”
Elizabeth raised $600 the first year, enough to buy toys for the 40 or so children in the building. The next year she raised a little bit more and was able to cover toys and a real tree. The following year she raised over a thousand dollars and was able to cover toys, a tree, a Santa suit, and money towards a holiday hot meal. This continued until last year, when Road Company member David Gionnopolis volunteered to be the Santa Claus in his own Santa suit and hand out the toys. Quite a treat for the kids!
This year, there are 64 children at Vermont, and another Road company member, Keelia Flinn, also wanted to help out. She owns and runs a dojo in Studio City (Studio City Martial Arts) where she put out a donation box. She gathered 26 wonderful children’s gifts. Between the money Elizabeth raised and the Martial Arts dojo, this was a good year for the children at Vermont Family Apartments.
Elizabeth not only raises the funds, she also shops for the gifts, and makes sure they’re wrapped and labeled. Here is the NoHo Senior Arts Colony team, along with Elizabeth and NoHo SAC Program Director Mark Salyer, with the gifts they wrapped for the children.
On the big day, a full meal is served, and a live DJ entertains, made possible by EngAGE Program Director at Vermont Family Apartments, Sandra Vargas. Volunteer Tony, before he is Santa, assists with set ups and preparations. Kids wait impatiently outside the door. The room fills. Finally, Santa enters . . . and there is a hush.
Santa moves through the room, then finds his seat. An excited little girl sneaks a peak around the Christmas tree. Santa has a pink bear for her, and her hands go up to her mouth in amazement!
The youngest are first to visit Santa. Not a single one cried, and only one pulled his beard off! Curiosity?
Next, the big kids lined up, and checked out the beautifully decorated Christmas tree. They were happy to receive their gifts and gift cards.
The gifts that remained are on site, and Sandra will give them to the kids who were not able to attend.
One thing we know: as long as there are children at Vermont Family Apartments . . .
. . . and kindhearted volunteers and generous supporters . . .
. . . Santa will be back!
EngAGE thanks Elizabeth Sampson, the generous members of The Road Theatre Company, Studio City Martial Arts, the NoHo SAC team, and everyone else who donated and volunteered time and effort to create another merry holiday for the children at Vermont Family Apartments.
EngAGE changes lives by transforming affordable senior and multigenerational apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness, and creativity.
EngAGE C.O.O.: Nancy Goodhart
Program Director: Elizabeth Sampson serves in other EngAGE communities and volunteers for the Vermont Family Apartments Toy Drive.
December 20, 2018
Program Director: Sandra Vargas – Vermont Family Apartments
Program Director: Mark Salyer – NoHo SAC
Made possible with support from The Road Theatre Company; Solari Enterprises, Inc., and the North Hollywood Senior Arts Colony.
Made possible with funding from The Eisner Foundation.
Vermont Family Apartments and North Hollywood Senior Arts Colony are Meta Housing Corporation Communities.
At the monthly birthday celebration at The Metro at Chinatown Senior Lofts in Los Angeles, CA, EngAGE and WSH Management provided delicious food, light refreshment, and birthday cake. Gift cards supplied by EngAGE were raffled off to lucky winners.
During craft class, residents had a blast creating colorful tie dyed t-shirts.
Chinatown residents are very grateful for the Food Forward Program which provides them with fresh produce once a month.
EngAGE changes lives by transforming affordable senior and multigenerational apartment communities into vibrant centers of learning, wellness, and creativity.
Program Director: Sandra Vargas
Birthday celebration made possible with support from WSH Management.
Metro @Chinatown is a Meta Housing Corporation Community.
At Portofino Villas in Pomona, CA, residents work to improve body and mind with yoga practice and ESL classes.
There’s time for celebration, too, with the monthly birthday parties that are not only fun, but also help build a happy and healthy sense of community.
EngAGE embraces a whole-person approach to creative living, providing college-level programs in the arts, wellness, and lifelong learning.
Program Director: Clarisa Arostegui
Date: October 2018
Birthday party made possible with support from FPI Management.
Portofino Villas is an AMCAL community.
Residents at Tavarua Senior Apartments in Carlsbad, CA, enjoyed tortellini spinach soup from a cooking class, given by Program Director, Tracy. This dish was healthy and very tasty. We discussed how to modify the recipe to suit individual tastes and diet requirements.
EngAGE embraces a whole-person approach to creative living, providing college-level programs in the arts, wellness, and lifelong learning.
Program Director: Tracy Ligon
Event Date: Oct. 22, 2018
Tavarua Senior Apartments is a Meta Housing Corporation Community.
Tune in to Experience Talks, our weekly “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener,” on Sundays at 5:30 PM PT on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 China Lake, 93.7 N. San Diego, streaming live online, and now syndicated on up to 100 Pacifica Network stations! Experience Talks is produced by the non-profit EngAGE, Inc.
Miss the show? You can always hear it as a podcast on the Listen Page of our website! You’ll also find an archive-in-progress of all of our previous shows there for you to enjoy. New shows are usually posted within 48 hours after broadcast.
LILY DULAN is a Psychotherapist (MFT) with a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. She played an instrumental role in starting the GLBT Affirmative Psychology specialization at Antioch University. Ms. Dulan also holds a Master of Arts Degree in teaching from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a certified Heart of Yoga Teacher. She studied Spiritual Coursework at Agape International Spiritual Center under the tutelage of Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith.
Drawing on her studies of both Eastern and Western disciplines, Lily developed a revolutionary system of healing called The Name Work. Lily also started The Kara Love Project, a foundation in memory of her first daughter, Kara Meyer Dulan, who died from SIDS at two months old. The foundation partners with local and international organizations to serve underserved and marginalized individuals and communities (www.thekaraloveproject.org) .
Ms. Dulan facilitates The Name Work workshops throughout the country and conducts one-on-one sessions in person or virtually. She also hosts a variety of educational and charitable events in the greater Los Angeles area. Learn more at www.thenamework.com.
Lily lives in California with her husband and her two daughters.
