by Connie Kent

photos by Gary Crites

The Fairy Godmother Scholarship Program is supporting ten first year students, ten second year students, four juniors and four seniors at various Oregon colleges and universities. Like many organizations, the Fairy Godmother Scholarship Committee has had to re-invent its operations due to the pandemic.

Each high school in Jackson County is allotted a certain number of applications based on the school’s enrollment. Usually in the fall, high school counselors are invited to an after-school meeting to learn about the details of the scholarship. This year, the meetings were held via Zoom.

Counselors invite the most qualified girls to apply. They must have financial need, have remarkable grades, take advanced classes, participate in extracurricular activities and volunteer work, and some also work many hours for wages. Here are the 2020 scholarship winners. During high school, the girls all demonstrated strong motivation and determination to pursue their goals and improve their lives and their communities, sometimes while overcoming difficult conditions at home.

Completing the application in electronic form is a hardship for some of the girls. Schools have made Chromebooks available for distance learning, but access to the Internet is a problem for some. The high school counselors help the girls overcome these obstacles.

In March, Committee members will go to their computers to begin reviewing thirty-plus completed applications, something that previously was done with paper copies. Using a rubric, they will evaluate each application. Then they will meet remotely to compare scores and choose the top candidates to interview. Finally, rather than meeting the girls at the high schools, they will invite them to Zoom interviews.

Each scholarship recipient is offered a fairy godmother to serve as her mentor. This older woman volunteers to provide whatever assistance the girl might need as she adjusts to college life. Since many of the girls are the first generation to attend college, such help often isn’t available from home. In addition, many of the girls come from heartbreaking family backgrounds, and the presence of a mentor in their lives is critical.

Mentors are recruited, encouraged and supported by experienced Committee members, all remotely. Mentors maintain contact with their fairy goddaughters by text, email, snail mail, and/or video conferencing. Here is a picture of mentors of the 2020-21 academic year.

Since the program began in 1997, the Fairy Godmothers have awarded almost 400 scholarships. The Program is funded entirely by donations. It operates under the umbrella of the RVM Foundation’s 501(c)3 tax status. Each girl receives a sizeable scholarship of $5000 per year. While they are attending college, the girls are monitored to ensure that they maintain the standards that qualify them for ongoing scholarship support.

In the past, a Donor Celebration was held each year, to which new Manor residents and previous donors were invited. At the late afternoon gathering, scholarship recipients spoke about how the program has affected their lives. Moved by what they heard, Manor residents and members of the community have responded with generous donations. This year, a “Have a Heart” campaign is being conducted by mail, with written testimonials rather than speeches.

Here is one such testimonial, from Julissa:

“The Fairy Godmother Scholarship means that as a first-generation student, I have the opportunity to pursue my dream of becoming a Registered Nurse. I have a strong group of women who believe in me as an individual and as a student, and I have an amazing mentor, — , who is always there to answer questions and check up on me. The Fairy Godmother Scholarship means that I have wonderful women who believe in my overall goal to help our community.”

Haily wrote, “I am so appreciative to have received this award towards helping me achieve my goal to become the first college graduate in my family. . . I am so excited to start the next chapter in my life with the help of my mentor.  I am so grateful for this scholarship and your faith in me.”

The Fairy Godmothers’ lives are enriched by sharing in the lives of aspiring local girls, providing them with new opportunities during this time of challenges and change.

By Joni Johnson  

A few of us gathered around the Socrates Café talking about what brought us joy.  Joanne Hafner was not there.  But if she had been, she would have mentioned Instacart.com.  She started using it early in the pandemic because she didn’t want to go to the stores.  At that time, there was a question of mask use and a reluctance to go shopping “out there”. She discovered Instacart.com and was an immediate convert.

Instacart works with a large number of stores including Safeway, Albertsons, Costco, Fred Meyers, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Staples, Target, Best Buy, the Wine Shop, Big Lots, Rite Aid, Natural Grocers, Petcoand the Vitamin Shoppe.

According to Joanne, you get two weeks free and then it’s a $99 yearly fee.  When I used Instacart, I discovered there was  also a small service fee – less than $3—for each order.  On the Instacart website, you fill out a shopping list and decide on a tip.  You have to spend $35 at a particular store to avoid a delivery fee.  They offer you time windows that are available for your delivery, and then drop off the items at your door, ring your bell and then off they go.

If they don’t have a specific item, they have can substitute something with your permission.  If they know they are out of a particular item when you order, they will tell you at the time of your order.  Joanne ordered produce and has only been disappointed once with a too soft tomato.

Joanne says that she loves Instacart and feels that it is well worth the money.  She definitely plans on continuing to use it even after Covid goes away.  She feels that it saves her all sorts of time and energy so she is willing to put up with the cost and an occasional mistake.  Other residents who use Instacart were all were happy with their decisions.

I decided that I needed to try this out myself.  Joanne uses a computer, but I have an IPhone and Instacart provides a downloadable app, which I imagine would work just as well on any modern cell phone that provides for message texts.  There is also an 800 number where people over 60 can get help with ordering, but I really think it is much easier if you have a computer.  So I set up my account and downloaded the app.  (They sent me the link so it was very easy).

I decided to order from Freddie’s. I ordered using my computer but during the shopping phase, the texting occurred using my phone and app.  I ordered later in the day.  I could have had it delivered within 5 hours but I preferred to wait until the following morning.  I had loads of two-hour windows to choose from then, so I chose 11am-1pm.  Later that evening, I decided to add 4 more things to the cart.  It was very easy to do.   In my order, they found 2 items that might require substitutions and asked me if I would accept particular substituted items just in case. During the shopping phase, I was texted with another substitution choice which I was able to work out with texts and pictures.

Before Joanne called me up and suggested this article, I had never thought about ordering on-line even though I really don’t like shopping.  I kept thinking the produce or the meat wouldn’t be as good. After writing this article, I am beginning to convert.  It certainly saved me time and I like to shop by computer- especially in the winter. But I realize there are other delivery options out there, so I’m going to do some more looking around before I settle on which one I want to use.

Thank you Joanne.  It certainly could be better than sliced bread!

STAY TUNED NEXT MONTH FOR Part B:  JONI’S GROCERY DELIVERY RESEARCH AND SELECTION ADVENTURES.  This will include more input from residents as well as information about the differences between pick-up and delivery and the differences in delivery directly from Fred Meyers, Albertsons, Costco and Safeway versus delivery using Instacart.com. It will also include how the Manor provides delivery service from Fred Meyers to any of its Residents.

by Bob Buddemeier and Joni Johnson

On January 19, Residents Council President Gary Crites and Vice President Gini Armstrong introduced an innovation: a Zoom discussion group as a follow-up to the Residents Council meeting on the 18^th.  A dozen residents talked for an hour about RVM and residents Council issues of mutual interest, ending with a consensus that it had been very worthwhile, plus a commitment from the officers to make it a monthly event.

The first topic to come up was the Plaza dining area renovations. An issue that attracted general agreement involved management of walkers and wheelchairs – there were concerns about the use of “walker garages” with servers as valet parking attendants.  Would there be enough servers to avoid delays in either food service or walker parking?  Would there be enough pedestrian space to avoid congestion as diners, servers, and walkers moved about?  How would wheelchairs and scooters fit into the mix?  The consensus was that these questions needed to be addressed from actual experience, by getting enough residents and servers to actually simulate the process and look for possible problems.  Gini and Gary will talk to Stan about the wheelchairs, and those participants at the meeting with walker issues agreed to inform Stan, Eric, and the DSAC of this need, and to participate in tests to identify potential problems.

Discussion then moved on to issues regarding institutional support of resident needs.  The opinion was expressed that, although we are fortunate to have some very caring and supportive staff members and executives, this seems to be a matter of good fortune rather than policy or organizational structure on the part of RVM or PRS.  There was general agreement that there needed to be more reliable ways to meet resident needs such as in cases of illness, or death of a partner.  Some central and reliably available source of sympathetic information and assistance is needed to make sure that RVM is a consistently caring community. It was agreed that Gini and Gary would help form a small committee to look into existing policies and organization at other communities and to suggest how we might implement a more meaningful approach here.

Participants also brought up the need for supportive assistance in terms of integration of new residents.  Currently, newcomers are somewhat on their own and fairly isolated, not having the chance to meet people on campus as typical in pre-Covid days.  The Ambassador program seems to have temporarily died during Covid, although it is being considered again. A new online Newcomers group has been formed to help RVM newcomers meet one another during the Pandemic.  This new group, started by one of our own newly arrived residents, has already had one Zoom meeting and a second one is planned for February.  If you are interested, please contact Asifa Kanji at asifakanji@gmail.com.

RVM New Letter Writing Project joins with

the “Senior Ninja Project” to Celebrate the Holidays

By Joni Johnson

What do you get when you mix the creativity and desire to be of service of 5-15 year olds with the creativity and that same desire to be of service of us older folk who have been around the block a time or two?  Especially during this difficult period of separation and seclusion. You get lots of love and virtual cuddles!

Jane and Steve Harris, with the support of the Wellness Advisory Committee and along with a core of writers (many of them from the same committee), created a card writing project here at the Manor soon after the Covid crisis began. The purpose was to alleviate people’s sense of isolation by letting our residents know that they were being thought about and supported.  As Jane said, cards can be a healing gift to people.  Cards can be held, displayed and re-read, a reminder of the warm and caring feelings of the sender.  It certainly helps people deal with the depression that can come with this long period of isolation.

Completely separately, Willow Wind Community School in Ashland set up a “Seniors Ninja Project” to have students provide support to seniors in the community as a way to promote outreach and service to others.

Initially, the RVM writing project had twenty-eight participants sending cards featuring photographs by Bob Carter to RVM community recipients.  By now, well over 100 cards have been sent for all sorts of reasons — Thanksgiving, holiday and “just because”.  And from these beginnings, new relationships have formed with distanced meetings, phone calls, walks and e-mail correspondence as well as plans for getting together after restrictions are lifted.

So how did the Ashland Senior Ninja Project get involved with the RVM writing project?  By serendipity and good will.  Our own Sarah Karnatz’s former OSU advisor now has a son who goes to  Willow Wind Community School,  and she offered to connect Sarah with The “Senior Ninja Project”.These students provided over 150 cards made by participants from all grade levels. Most of the cards went to the writing project and the rest went to residents in the Health Center, Care Suites and the Memory Support Center.  The principal of the school even brought the cards herself to Sarah on the Monday before Christmas and the rest is history. Look at these cards and let them bring a smile to your face.  Remember, there were 150 of them, each different, each made by hand.