CARING Housing Ministries to Continue Community Benefit Project in Partnership with San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity

CHM raises $30,000 for non-profit during first year of volunteering and fundraising
CARING Housing Ministries President Nancy Spring recently announced that CHM staff will continue its volunteer work for one more year at the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity Chestnut Street building site as part of CHM’s community benefit project for 2015-16.


Soraya Diaz, CARING Housing Ministries director of operations, far left, presents a check for more than $30,000 to San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Sonja L. Yates, middle left, and Chelsea McHenry, volunteer and youth programs manager. The donation was a result of a fundraising effort and volunteer activities by CARING Housing Ministries staff in support of San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity’s Chestnut Street building project in Glendale. CHM used a $5,000 grant from CLH as seed money for this community benefit project.

“Our volunteer work was such a success in partnership with San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity that we decided to continue so we can participate in the completion of the project,” Nancy said.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity is in the process of building three affordable homes at East Chestnut Street in Glendale for low-income, first-time homebuyers. The homes will be three stories and will each be about 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms and two and a half baths.

In March 2014, CARING Housing Ministries staff members plus others from CHM’s parent organization Front Porch, began volunteering either at the building site or at a Habitat for Humanity not-for-profit home improvement store and donation center, logging in more than 1400 corporate–sponsored and personal volunteer hours. Thanks to a grant from California Lutheran Homes and Community Services, CARING Housing Ministries made an initial cash contribution of $5,000 to the project and participated in fundraising efforts throughout the year on behalf of the project raising $30,000.

As part of the total donation, Front Porch contributed more than $10,800 in matching funds through its Social Accountability in Action program, which funds projects, programs and services designed to meet community needs.

In years past, CARING leaders have organized internal staff development programs with funding provided by philanthropic partner California Lutheran Homes and Community Services. Five years ago, the programs evolved externally into community outreach projects, while maintaining their team-building elements.

 CALIFORNIALUTHERAN HOMES AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

California Lutheran Homes and Community Services (CLH) is a not-for-profit social ministry organization founded in 1947. CLH’s mission is meeting needs through ‘faith in action’ including support for residents of affordable housing communities managed by partner CARING Housing Ministries, and residents of Front Porch retirement communities, care centers and active-adult communities. CLH-sponsored retirement and active-adult living communities include Carlsbad By The Sea in Carlsbad, CA; Walnut Village in Anaheim, CA, England Oaks in Alexandria, VA and Cecil Pines in Jacksonville, FL. Among the programs and services supported by CLH are the CLH Center for Spirituality and Aging, whose mission is to meet the needs of older adults based on the understanding that aging is a spiritual journey; the Front Porch Gallery, which creates community by promoting an understanding of aging through art; the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing, which enhances wellbeing and quality of life through the adaptive use of technology; the CLH Auxiliary; and the Charitable Care Fund, which supports residents in need who have outlived their finances.

Grace Lutheran of Santa Barbara Leaves Legacy By Gifting Church Property to California Lutheran Homes and City Housing Authority

CLH to work with city to create much needed affordable housing for seniors

The recent closure of Grace Lutheran church in Santa Barbara signifies an ending in one sense, but it is also a sign of a fresh beginning. The gifting of the land to California Lutheran Homes and the city housing authority will allow Grace’s legacy of service to its community to continue by providing much needed housing to low-income seniors.

While the closing of Grace Lutheran Church creates a new legacy of shelter for vulnerable seniors through the development of Grace Village an affordable housing community for low-income seniors, the congregation is assuring vital ongoing support for its new residents through Grace Village Services as well as ongoing support for low-income families and individuals served by local community agencies.

Grace Housing Inc., a nonprofit corporation, has been formed to receive and distribute lease income from Grace Lutheran’s properties now administered by California Lutheran Homes. Income from these leases will fund local services through a Legacy Framework established by the congregation. The congregation will see funding continue for community organizations supporting the mission of establishing permanent housing for families and food security, including Transition House and Habitat for Humanity, as well as Grace Lutheran’s 40-year-old Saturday food program, the Grace Food Pantry.

Construction of Grace Village is expected to break ground in 2016, followed by an estimated 18-month construction schedule.

The Grace Lutheran facility will also continue to serve the community until construction begins, as the church building will continue to host the many community groups that have been meeting there over the years, including several 12-Step groups, Alzheimer's support groups, Grace Quilters and others.

“Although with a measure of pain and a sense of loss, the closing of the Grace congregation does not mean the end of a ministry,” said Pat Wheatley, president of Grace Lutheran Church. “In fact, closing has provided the congregation an opportunity of expanding that ministry throughout the years as we try to listen to what God is calling us to do.”

As a long established Lutheran church on State Street with strong ties to the community for more than a century, Grace Lutheran knows the importance of leaving a legacy.

“The need in Santa Barbara for affordable, truly affordable, housing for the aging population was a ministry we could see belonged at this site,” said Rev. Lynn Bruer, former pastor of Grace Lutheran. “For more than a decade, as the congregation saw that it was increasing in age and not growing in numbers, they have had intentional conversations about the future and the mission.”

Along the way, Grace board members came up with several good ideas and affordable senior housing was one of them.

“This is a strong partnership,” said CLH president and CEO Rev. Gary Wheeler. “Both Grace Lutheran and California Lutheran Homes have a strong commitment to social ministry and the creation of affordable housing is a way of making a real difference in the lives of those we serve.”

The City of Santa Barbara recently updated its general plan to add additional affordable housing to meet increased need, according to Bill Jennings, CLH CFO.

“CLH has a long history of turning donors’ gifts into lasting legacies,” Rev. Wheeler said. “Our work with CARING Housing Ministries in the area of affordable housing is just one way we and our partners can make a difference in people’s lives. Working with churches who want to use their resources to leave a lasting legacy of social ministry is an important outgrowth of our collaborative work through the church.”

 For more information on how you can leave a legacy through CLH, contact CLH Executive Jill Hammer at 800-233-3709 or visit californialutheranhomes.org.

CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN HOMES AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

California Lutheran Homes and Community Services (CLH) is a not-for-profit social ministry organization founded in 1947. CLH’s mission is meeting needs through ‘faith in action’ including support for residents of affordable housing communities managed by partner CARING Housing Ministries, and residents of Front Porch retirement communities, care centers and active-adult communities.  CLH-sponsored retirement and active-adult living communities include Carlsbad By The Sea in Carlsbad, CA; Walnut Village in Anaheim, CA, England Oaks in Alexandria, VA and Cecil Pines in Jacksonville, FL. Among the programs and services supported by CLH are the CLH Center for Spirituality and Aging, whose mission is to meet the needs of older adults based on the understanding that aging is a spiritual journey; the Front Porch Gallery, which creates community by promoting an understanding of aging through art; the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing, which enhances wellbeing and quality of life through the adaptive use of technology; the CLH Auxiliary; and the Charitable Care Fund, which supports residents in need who have outlived their finances.  

Leave a Legacy and Change the Future

A message from Ross Merritt, CLH Foundation Executive

In our last issue of CLH Today we told you about some of the amazing ways your gifts have been used to benefit our residents and are meeting the needs of the community at-large. One of those stories explained how a gift from the estate of Carlsbad By The Sea resident Ellie Piers is being used to support cyber security for seniors. Ellie wanted part of her legacy to go toward protecting others from cyber criminals who often target older adults with financial scams. Thanks to a generous gift from her estate, the CLH-supported Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing has partnered with cyber security experts, law enforcement leaders and financial and technology firms to address this important problem. The ‘Piers Project’ is now moving forward with a collaborative effort in this much needed area.

Creating a Legacy to change the future does not need to be a difficult thing to do and often it is simply a matter of signing your name to a document (a Will or Revocable Living Trust) that leaves a charitable bequest to California Lutheran Homes and Community Services (CLH), or a Charitable Gift Annuity that pays you a fixed income for life, with mostly tax-free payments and a nice tax deduction. The remainder can be designated for an innovative idea like the ‘Piers Project.’ These are simple ways to help fund significant projects that can make a difference in the lives of those that come after us. We would love to discuss the possibilities with you!

If you would like to receive additional information about how you can leave a legacy, our programs and funding opportunities or hear more stories of how CLH is touching lives through social ministry, please contact me at 800-233-3709 or rmerritt@frontporch.net.


Sincerely,


Ross Merritt

CLH Foundation Executive

CALIFORNIALUTHERAN HOMES AND COMMUNITY SERVICES

California Lutheran Homes and Community Services (CLH) is a not-for-profit social ministry organization founded in 1947. CLH’s mission is meeting needs through ‘faith in action’ including support for residents of affordable housing communities managed by partner CARING Housing Ministries, and residents of Front Porch retirement communities, care centers and active-adult communities.  CLH-sponsored retirement and active-adult living communities include Carlsbad By The Sea in Carlsbad, CA; Walnut Village in Anaheim, CA, England Oaks in Alexandria, VA and Cecil Pines in Jacksonville, FL. Among the programs and services supported by CLH are the CLH Center for Spirituality and Aging, whose mission is to meet the needs of older adults based on the understanding that aging is a spiritual journey; the Front Porch Gallery, which creates community by promoting an understanding of aging through art; the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing, which enhances wellbeing and quality of life through the adaptive use of technology; the CLH Auxiliary; and the Charitable Care Fund, which supports residents in need who have outlived their finances.  

Why Having Cancer Made Me Stop Rushing

By Mark Nepo for Next Avenue

Credit: Thinkstock

The following is adapted from Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness by Mark Nepo. Published in November 2015 by Sounds True.

One of the great transforming passages in my life was having cancer in my mid-30s. This experience unraveled the way I see the world. It scoured my lens of perception, landing me in a deeper sense of living. There are certain experiences that reform us, as if God’s a tireless blacksmith who, against our pleading, forges the metal in us, though it takes years for our heart and mind to cool from the pounding. My journey with cancer was how I was forged.

If I learned anything from having cancer, it’s that unless there’s a physical need — such as needing air to breathe or needing to stop a wound from bleeding — there’s no reason to rush, no matter the level of urgency being showered on us by others.
It Is Up to Us

Each of us is driving our own train, and the trick is not to go so fast that everything blurs and yet to go steadily enough that we get somewhere; though there are times when not going at all is tantamount to arriving.

The violent speed of our age doesn’t help. In a world so mobile and transient we can wake up married in Atlanta and go to sleep divorced in Fort Worth; the game has become who can snatch a mouthful of seed and be on their way first. In a world where sophistication means we show nothing, the mind becomes as cold as a camera shutter, opening and closing rapidly so as not to let too much in. In a world that makes a fortress of objectivity, we avoid the one frontier that returns us to first-hand experience: our ability to care. In a world that deems simplicity as dull, patience as slothful, and compassion as entangling, we give up inroads to our very core if we can no longer empathize.
Stopping Is Not Enough

Succumbing to speed is a form of isolation that makes us feel inadequate, because we’re always falling short, always catching up. But stopping alone is not entering stillness, because stopping alone does not let who we are merge with where we are. Still, to stop and slow down is a beginning, because we start to find what matters when we stop rushing.

Rushing can be defined as any instance in which we move faster than we need to. As soon as we begin to rush, whether hurried by an overbearing parent to the dinner table or harried into a career choice by an artificial deadline of our own making, we become estranged from ourselves; that is, a hollow forms between our inner self and the self that’s rushing through the world. Once divided from our sense of aliveness, we lose contact with that kinetic border called wonder. This estrangement from our aliveness is the beginning of alienation. And though there are many ways to feed our estrangement, rushing out of congruence – out of being where we are – is as sure a path as any to the netherworld of half-living.
‘The Temporary Ease of Hiding’

Throughout our lives, we struggle with the temporary ease of hiding and the pain of never surfacing: hiding our feelings of insignificance in our ambitions for a life of fame, hiding our confusions at the complexities of life in principles we hope will swallow them, hiding our pain of honest suffering in a resignation that stills the heart. And all the while our experience of what is real gets away from us.

But if we were to hide who we are in who we are, like hiding a body in its skin, if we were to let things be and not make over their impact on us, all hiding would evaporate and the constancy of our self would be final, real and unequivocal in its majesty of flaws.
A Different Way to Live

When we can manage to live our own life, letting nothing real slip away, the larger ocean of life draws us with a magnetism all its own, the way a fish is drawn by light to a surface it can’t imagine.

If we dare not to rush, not to live any faster than we are ignited from within, if we dare to slow into true presence the many times we do rush, if we dare to hear each other’s needs, if we dare to accept the discomfort of not knowing what to do until it becomes the comfort of a perennial question – we might find that one life in its unmitigated fullness may be more than enough.

Copyright © 2015 by Mark Nepo.





© Twin Cities Public Television - 2016. All rights reserved.


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Be Cyber Safe This Holiday Season

The Piers Project, an internet safety awareness campaign of the Center for Innovation and Wellbeing, offers helpful tips on how to stay safe online.
Are you planning a trip this holiday season? Understanding how, when, and where to use your mobile devices are important factors in keeping yourself protected during your travels. The Piers Project, an internet safety awareness campaign of the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing, has gathered some helpful hints from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Stop. Think. Connect.^TM initiative.

Before You Leave:

• Update your mobile software and/or computer
• Back up your information on an external drive or cloud system
• Keep your devices locked when they are not in use

While Traveling:

• Avoid automatically connecting to public wireless networks
• Exercise caution before you connect to public wireless hotspot(s)
• Steer clear from clicking any unknown or suspicious links
• Be mindful of what you post while you are away on vacation—the more you share on websites like Facebook, the more likely you’ll be offering hints that nobody’s home!
• Avoid participating in data-sensitive activities, such as online shopping or viewing your bank/credit card accounts on publicly accessible computers and unsecured wireless networks
• Protect your mobile device(s) by keeping them near you at all times, especially in public spaces

Learn of more helpful tips and suggestions on protecting yourself online here. Happy and safe holiday travels!

The Piers Project is funded by a gift from the family estate of Ellie Piers to benefit the Front Porch Center for Innovation and Wellbeing’s (CIW’s) ongoing mission of using technology to enhance wellbeing among older adults. Piers lived at Carlsbad by the Sea, a Front Porch retirement community in Carlsbad, CA. Her contribution allows the CIW to address Cyber Security through education, training, and the use of technologies that promote Internet safety, especially in the Greater San Diego Area.

How to Recover Your Footing When Things Go Awry

By Donna Sapolin for Next Avenue

 

Thinkstock

“A woman at 20 is like ice," famed Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida once said. "At 30 she is warm and at 40 she is hot.”

So, by that logic, at 50 or 60 she must be red-hot. In fact, the only characteristic she may still have in common with ice is how solid she is — how she reveals her inner self and the degree to which she's had to contend with people trying to walk all over her.

Yet the obvious depth and shimmering emotional intelligence that many mature women possess may not always be enough to let them keep their footing on thin ice.

There will be times when they’ll still feel as if they’re slipping and sliding across a frozen pond, trying to outpace the cracks opening up behind them.

I was feeling like that a few weeks ago, just as the chill of winter set in. Crucial things that had lent definition to my life were shifting and despite all the “practice” I’d had in negotiating big changes, restoring a sense of stability was proving to be a bit of a challenge.

Right around this time, I found myself at New York City’s Rockefeller Center, where I paused to watch the ice skaters. That place is always magical to me and it's especially captivating at holiday time.

But this day, it was a whole lot more — it served as a reminder that when pathways get slippery we may need to learn new ways of navigating them.

My eyes drifted to the center of the rink where a middle-aged skater traced the motions of her apparent instructor — a radiant woman whose long, gray hair sliced through the cold air as she spun around. The two women whirled in perfect synchrony, their torsos taut and erect and their arms stretched out elegantly to their sides.

I imagined myself not as a southerner who had always done her best to avoid treading on icy surfaces, but as an Olympic figure skater — steady on her feet and able to traverse the terrain with grace and confidence.

Truth is, marble tile is the only slick white substrate I’d ever set foot on that hadn’t scared me. Texan-tall with creaky knees and a long way to fall, the notion of balancing on thin blades to cross frozen water always seemed impossible and inadvisable.  

But now it seemed to be just what I needed. A few days later I signed up for a skating lesson with the instructor with the great hair and spent the first 20 minutes squeezing the life out of her hand.

My teacher (I’ll call her Heidi), a former top competitive skater, quickly sized up her mission: She needed to make a sizable dent in my fear before I’d be able to make any real progress. It was also important that I learn to stop, that I feel as comfortable falling and getting up from the ice as walking onto it.

She devoted the first lesson to communicating basic techniques while I held on to her for dear life. I’d only committed to taking one lesson, but she convinced me to take another. By the end of the second session my fear was all but gone and I was skating — really skating — gliding on one leg with bent knee while smoothly lifting the other out behind me.

After the lesson was over, I continued skating alone for a couple more hours to the mental prompts Heidi had provided: “Bend and glide, bend and glide, bend and glide.” I kept my gaze fixed on where I wanted to go and had a great time.

Heidi’s other instructive phrases went on reverberating through my mind long after our sessions. “Let loose,” she’d urged. She meant of her hand, but her guiding words have helped me release other inessential emotional "props," like frustration and worry. “Glide it out,” she’d said, reminding me that coasting is a legitimate means of progress, especially on the heels of conscientious effort.

Over and over she prompted me to stand upright but make myself soft, find the fun and skate around problems like ruts and people. And that’s exactly what I did — on the rink and off — and it’s made a world of difference. The old status quo that fueled my former sense of stability now seems far less necessary than moving forward (with at least one foot on the ground).

Interestingly, Rockefeller Center was never supposed to have a skating rink. To quote the landmark's official site: "The Sunken Plaza, as the area was originally called, was lushly landscaped and boasted high-end shops and restaurants, but few people could be enticed down the stairs leading from the Channel Gardens. In the winter of 1936, in an effort to attract attention to the Plaza, Rockefeller Center’s managers contracted an engineer from Cleveland to build a temporary rink. It became a permanent fixture.”    

Which just goes to show — when life feels like a deep pit or you find yourself standing on uncertain ground, a bit of willpower and creativity can go a long way.

Copyright© 2014 Next Avenue, a division of Twin Cities Public Television, Inc.

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How Boomers Can Sell Their Homes to Millennials

This real estate broker suggests four projects to snag a sale

By Sabine H. Schoenberg for Next Avenue


Newsflash to retiring boomers: Millennials account for 32 percent of real estate buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s why it’s essential to know what Millennials want in homes. Their values and desired lifestyles are very different than their boomer parents.

Millennials, perhaps more than boomers, have very specific criteria when choosing homes. Make your house fit their criteria and you will expand buyer interest, which means your home will sell faster and probably at a higher price.

What Boomers Wanted, What Millennials Want

Generally speaking, boomers who bought homes to start families purchased what their budgets allowed and fixed them up over time. Nothing could be further from the minds of typical Millennial buyers.

For the most part, Millennials are looking for the finished product and will pay for it. They want what they see in magazines — nothing less. They don’t seem to view themselves living in any one place for a very long time, so there’s no time for gradually rolled out home improvements.

The bottom line: To capture the highest selling price, undertake some key home renovations before listing your house for sale.

Here are four projects to consider:

Open the kitchen to a family room and combine them into one space. Millennials want kitchens that are great places to hang out with everyone while cooking. Even if the removal of a wall creates fewer cabinets and, in your mind, reduces the functionality of the kitchen, do it and increase the desirability of your home.

For the same social reason, if at all possible, give your kitchen a center island with room for stools, because that’s where Millennials want to congregate. (If you have a dining room, they may well turn it into their home office.)

Be certain your home has easy WiFi access throughout the house. Millennials demand the ability to use their smartphones and tablets everywhere. So make sure cell signals are strong and, if they’re not, install WiFi boosters. A faltering cell signal can be a deal breaker for Millennials.

Fill your home with eco-friendly materials. Boomers taught Millennials that recycling was a big “green” idea. Millennials take this a giant step further, viewing themselves as “members of the planet.” Consequently, eco-friendly materials and lifestyle choices are a part of Millennial DNA.

Fast-grown materials like bamboo in flooring and wood with FSC (Forestry Stewardship Certification) in kitchen and bath cabinets are important considerations, and thus clear selling points.

Oh, and save yourself from any conversation about underground oil tanks: if you still have one, remove it before listing your house.

Make sure your house is healthy for its inhabitants and visitors. Millennials want to see health-focused home improvements such as no-VOC off-gassing from paint; mold- and fungus-free basements and good air quality. They also prefer wood flooring over carpet and look for super energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.


Home Location and Size

That said, there are two other things you should know about Millennial buyers that you can’t do much about.

One is that accessibility to an urban center will figure into the pricing of your home. Millennials want to be walking distance or minutes from town. Being out in the boonies and spending lots of time driving is not appealing to them. If your house isn’t near a city, discuss with your listing broker how best to offset this negative.

Unlike boomers, who often opted for more property in exchange for slightly more remote locales, Millennials will accept smaller lots just to be near the city.

The other issue you can’t do much about is that a large house may be a turn-off to Millennials. The-bigger-the-better mansion-sized homes were status symbols for super-successful boomers. But that concept is antithetical to Millennials, no matter how successful they are. Many of them reject size over efficient use of space.

As a real estate broker, I frequently hear statements from Millennial buyers like: “I don’t want to be in separate parts of the house and never see my family.”

For them, compact, well-designed “open concept” and “connected” floor plans are the order of the day.

Every seller can improve the selling value of his or her home. A bit of good planning, based on key trends, and the right upgrades can position yours for the broadest audience. In real estate, “good luck” is generally created.


© Twin Cities Public Television - 2015. All rights reserved.



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