EngAGE25 Celebration: Stories from Our Team – Laura Spidell

Posted on February 28, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

Thanks to EngAGE Northwest Executive Director Laura Spidell for #MakingADifference and sharing this story.

Terrace Glen is a new intergenerational affordable housing community in Tigard, OR. While showing the community room to a new resident and telling her about EngAGE programs and events, she started to cry. She was overcome with emotions of happiness and relief and said, “I’m just so grateful that I won’t have to be alone anymore.” It’s wonderful to see that after 25 years of EngAGE programming, our impact continues to grow in our newest communities.

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EngAGE25 Celebration: Creating Community

Posted on February 22, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

Residents share monthly birthday parties and holiday celebrations that reflect their communities. At Portofino Villas in 2020, residents cut their birthday cake and enjoyed an intergenerational, traditional celebration of the Lunar New Year.

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EngAGE25 Celebration: Stories from Our Team – Sandra Wareing

Posted on February 20, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

Thanks to Program Director Sandra for #MakingADifference and sharing this story:

“One day when I came to the property for a karaoke class, a resident was already waiting in the room and looking very sad. I asked him if he was OK. He said he was depressed because of his failing health and the lack of his family’s involvement in his life. But, because he loves to sing, he joined the karaoke session. He sang his heart out with his neighbors, and at the end of the class, he was smiling. I asked him again if he was okay, and he said he was great. He said the session of singing had really cheered him up, and he was feeling much better. It was nice to know that something so simple had made such an important difference in his life.”

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EngAGE25 Celebration: Wellness

Posted on February 16, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

Our programs help support an active lifestyle through an array of classes including cardio exercise, strength training, adapted yoga and Pilates, and tai chi. Healthy choices are easier to make with a social network that makes the process fun and boosts accountability. Photos are from Magnolia@Highland, Metro@Chinatown, and Burbank Senior Artists Colony.

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EngAGE25 Celebration: Creativity

Posted on February 8, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

Art classes have been a core offering at EngAGE communities since the early days. We believe that people of all ages, regardless of previous exposure to the arts, can develop an appreciation for art and become practicing artists. Here’s a glimpse of resident artists at work for their art show in 2022 at Magnolia@Highland.

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EngAGE25 Celebration: Tim Carpenter’s Essay

Posted on February 2, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

It’s founder Tim Carpenter’s birthday today, so we’re looking back at an essay he wrote for our blog in 2016 when he turned 55, an age that made him eligible to move into many of our communities. Photos: Tim with his paternal grandmother, an important influence in his life, and with his wife, Christal, in Portugal. Happy birthday! Read Tim’s essay here.

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EngAGE25 Celebration: First Writing Class

Posted on January 25, 2024 by EngAGE Editor

EngAGE Founder Tim Carpenter reflects on the earliest days of creating an organization that would revolutionize the way older adults live and thrive in community:

“I taught the first writing class at Heritage Park Duarte, a senior community. We did our first culminating event in Duarte, a night of personal stories performed by residents at the community center in town. Residents’ families and friends, politicians, people from the community/neighborhood, etc., came, and it was pretty revelatory that this could work to inspire people to change the way they aged and saw aging.”

That initial writing class eventually blossomed into the many classes we offer today on memoir writing, poetry, storytelling, play writing, and more. Here are a few photos from last year’s “Writing for Life” creative writing class at Burbank Senior Artists Colony, led by teaching artist Sarah Jacobus. EngAGE held a reception to celebrate the opening of a graphic display of the work from the class on the theme of “Where I’m From.” The installation was in the upstairs landing for two months for residents and visitors to enjoy.

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