Everyone understands the allure of retirement communities that advertise exciting resident events. Having a thriving social life as you make the transition into a retirement community is extremely important. Fear of giving up freedom is what discourages many people from choosing to downsize.

At Ardenwoods we not only offer events planned with our residents in mind, we also offer resident planned events! This Valentine’s Day we helped a couple of residents coordinate to throw “Sweets to the Sweet in Verse and Dessert,” a resident-lead community event.

Our Rocking Chair Readers group joined forces with Dona Marie Nelson to present a special poetry reading with a specialty dessert reception to follow. Paul Bryant, who helps to lead the Rocking Chair Readers group at Ardenwoods offered to focus the group’s efforts on putting together a poetry reading in honor of Valentine’s Day for the community. Shortly after, resident Dona Marie Nelson approached Kari Schrader, Community Life Services Director at Ardenwoods, about hosting a specialty dessert reception for the community. Schrader couldn’t help but envision a joint event to celebrate the holiday!

Each Ardenwoods resident received a personal invitation to the event as well as reminders posted around the campus. What occurred was a lovely gathering of about 50 residents on Valentine’s Day to enjoy live poetry and dessert.

At Ardenwoods we take pride in how community minded our residents are, and encourage them to bring activity ideas to our staff. We love having engaged residents who not only look forward to events, but also want to contribute in any way possible. Thank you to Dona Marie and Paul for all of your hard work and your commitment to our community!

We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait for spring! With the dreary days and threat of bad weather creating hazardous situations for everyone, we’re ready for a little bit of relief from the biting cold. Luckily, the seniors at Ardenwoods Retirement Community have an advantage against the imminent bad winter weather. They don’t have to worry about salting their driveway, the road scrape schedule, or whether or not they’ll have access to food.

If you’ve lived in any mountainous region, you’ve probably experienced getting trapped in your home because of ice or snow. Your freedom feels completely at the mercy of Mother Nature, which can be stressful. Even with the threat of bad weather, our residents at Ardenwoods have access to our amenities. They can visit our dining room, or take a to-go meal back to their apartment if they wish. They can visit our fitness center or indoor pool for a little bit of exercise while snow flurries around us. Residents can even watch the snow falling on the Blue Ridge Mountains from the comfort of their couch. We take pride in providing our residents with the peace of mind that even in inclement weather, they will be safe and taken care of.

Are you tired of the weather controlling your life every winter? Consider exploring all that Ardenwoods has to offer and schedule a tour today!