Cedar Lake Assisted Living & Memory Care

During our ongoing women's history programming, several residents requested a deeper dive into the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. So a dive we did! After watching a biography of the First Lady, our audiobook club started reading Mrs. Roosevelt's "You Learn by Living." These ...activities led up to a performance by the remarkable Leslie Goddard, a renowned and award-winning historian, author, actress, and lecturer portraying Eleanor Roosevelt in an informative and entertaining one-woman show. Leslie was brilliant, and we can't wait to have her back later this year!

Everyone was in "The Winner's Circle" for our family day Kentucky Derby Party. We started the afternoon out by making fancy Derby Day hats, then enjoyed mint juleps while answering Kentucky Derby trivia questions. The main event was our own resident-created interactive horse racing ...competitions where residents and family members worked together to have the horses cross the finish line and win prizes.

Our trip to the Lake Zurich High School, C.U.S.D. 95 production of Frozen: The Broadway Musical was spectacular! Disney only gave the rights for the musical to one school in the entire state, and LZHS had to audition to win the opportunity to perform in the production. They could not have done a ...better job! The sets, the costumes, the acting, singing, and dancing were all first-rate. Everyone agreed it was the best high school production they had ever seen. Jane, our Broadway expert, said, "I've been to dozens and dozens of shows all across Broadway, and this was just as good, if not better! And these are kids!" We think we will see these amazing young people on stages and screens soon. Thanks to Cindy and everyone at LZHS who set us up with fantastic seats and accommodations. Our residents met with many of the cast and crew after the show, and these talented students could not have been more excellent. Warm hugs all around!

Our partnership with Purrfect Cat Rescue started last year and has been among the most rewarding programs ever had. We foster kittens in our community through this partnership. We also use our time and talents to make kitten beds, treats, sweaters and toys. Today, we first traveled to Purrfect ...Cat to volunteer some quality TLC time. We dropped off homemade beds, sweaters and toys and then spent the morning playing and cuddling with the kittens.
We look forward to growing our partnership with this fantastic organization.

Our friends at St. Matthew have begun their "Shine" week of programming with our residents with two special visits from Malachi, the Comfort Dog. On Monday, Malachi and the beautiful folks from St. Matthew brought in "Flowers of Joy" for our residents. On Tuesday, Malachi and ...friends returned with a cuddly surprise - a miniature Malachi for every resident! Our friends from St. Matthew have brought us so much kindness and generosity

Our residents were happy to donate their time and talents to help feed children in Guatemala. This outing to Feed My Starving Children was a great mixture of FMSC veterans and newcomers. We packed enough food to feed 66 children for an entire year! Sandra said it best, "It's so inspiring ...to know that the food we prepared, labeled, and packed; will soon be going directly to children who need it most."

Stephen's favorite band is The New Colony Six featuring singer and songwriter Ronnie Rice Fan Club. When Stephen heard that Ronnie was coming to town for a show, he jumped into action, playing the music and videos of his favorite artist to all of the residents. He encouraged the Entertainment ...and Programming Department to organize an outing, which drummed up lots of interest. Once there, Stephen met his musical hero, who was as wonderful offstage as he was onstage. Stephen got a premiere spot just to the side of the stage. Going to their concert was a bucket list item, and it was checked off in a unique way that we will all remember forever!

As part of our ongoing exploration of women's history in March, we had a performance by the amazing Martina Mathisen. Martina made history come alive by bringing to life notable women, from Annie Oakley and Clara Barton to Anne Sullivan and Amelia Earhart, and many more. We highly recommend ...this engaging program!