By Joel Keller
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

When Janyce Hoogmoed moved to Cedar Crest from her longtime house in Mahwah, she hadn’t planned on becoming a community spokesperson. But after inviting all her friends from Mahwah to her new home for a welcome home luncheon sponsored by the community, that’s just what she turned out to be.

“The housewarming parties allow new residents the opportunity to show off their new home at Cedar Crest to some of their closest friends,” says Associate Tricia Montano. “These parties are a celebration of one’s decision to move to  Cedar Crest.”

New resident becomes tour guide
No one could have been a bigger promoter of Cedar Crest than Hoogmoed. She held the community’s first luncheon in late August, four months after she moved to the Pompton Plains retirement community. “Someone came and asked me if I’d like to invite friends and have a luncheon catered by Cedar Crest, and I said ‘Why wouldn’t I?’” she laughs. “I had neighbors with friends who really wanted to come. After the luncheon, I personally took them on the most thorough tour that anybody’s ever gotten here.”

“Thorough” is an understatement. The outgoing retired teacher commissioned one of Cedar Crest’s shuttle buses to take her and her 14 guests on a field trip to every nook and cranny of the campus. “I thought she owned the place,” joked Ron Caldara, whose wife, Lucille, has known Hoogmoed since college. “She took us everywhere. And she didn’t miss a trick. We saw all the dining rooms, all the different stores, and the swimming pool.”

While the Caldaras were impressed with many aspects of the community and their friend’s new home, the friendliness of the staff impressed them the most. “Every place we went, everyone was just so nice, so good, so helpful, and it wasn’t phony. I’m a retired criminal investigator, and trust me, I can tell if someone’s phony or not,” says Mr. Caldara.