New neighbor shares what makes his community his home

By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Gerry Sorensen, a retired teacher and school principal from Staten Island, New York, says that each day he went to work, he had an agenda of things he wanted to accomplish, but usually by the end of the day he would be lucky to have accomplished only one or two tasks on his laundry list.

“And the same thing is true here” at Maris Grove, he says. “That’s because everywhere you go, whatever you are doing, you meet the best people and get sidetracked with talking to them or engaged in something completely unexpected. It’s an exciting, friendly place. It’s truly what I love about living at Maris Grove.”

More than just ‘staying busy’
But don’t let Sorensen’s comments fool you. He has a full agenda and accomplishes a lot. He says he is a member of “too many clubs to count” and that he’s “actually refusing a lot of activities because if you get stretched too far, you can’t get anything done.”

Sorensen’s first passion these days is woodworking. He spends much of his time as manager of the wood shop, tackling projects for good causes and helping out his neighbors.

“He recently made a cross for the new chapel,” says Pastoral Ministries Manager Rich Sutton. “It’s so beautiful that we’re using it in both the Protestant and Catholic services here.”

But after completing the project, “I didn’t want to leave out our Jewish neighbors,” Sorensen says. So the master woodworker recently completed a large Star of David and is working on an ornate cabinet to store the community’s own Torah.

“We’re not a huge group here at Maris Grove,” says Rena Miller, president of the Jewish community. “But it was so nice to be remembered and thought of. That’s the type of person Gerry is—very thoughtful and kind.”