After recruiting Cedar Crest community member and chemical engineer Bill Sperry, Ferguson took action in what has so far saved the community $350 a month in waste-hauling costs and countless dollars in diesel fuel. Not to mention two shuttle buses, four mowers, and one ATV now emit zero carbon into the environment.

Partners in biodiesel

Using biodiesel technology, Cedar Crest converts 500 gallons of used cooking oil (vegetable oil and animal fats) from its four on-site restaurants into fuel for its vehicles that run on diesel fuel. The clean-burning, nontoxic, biodegradable alternative fuel contains no petroleum and almost no sulfur or aromatics.

Sperry, who has lived at Cedar Crest for almost nine years, worked hand-in-hand with Ferguson to evaluate the most appropriate plan of action and to implement safe operation of the new equipment, which is housed on campus.

“I was a consultant on safety and final design,” says Sperry, who attended a biodiesel conference with Ferguson while in the project’s planning stages. “We evaluated different companies and packages, and we chose one that best fit Cedar Crest.” All the biodiesel equipment at Cedar Crest has undergone and passed tedious inspections by the fire marshal and building code inspector.

Sperry, a retired chemical engineer for DuPont, in Wilmington, Del., says he likes knowing he helped do something good for ecology. “Instead of throwing away energy used in cooking oil, we harness that energy,” he explains. “[It] is renewable and will help us protect the environment. This system also helps save the community money because Cedar Crest will not have to pay for oil to be hauled away.”

Significant savings

The initial equipment cost Cedar Crest $17,000, but the community saw a return on its investment in just eight months.

“It’s a huge savings in diesel fuel,” Ferguson says. “And those vehicles that use it have a zero carbon footprint.”

With very little labor involved, the equipment processes 80-gallon batches, which can be pumped directly into any of the community’s diesel vehicles. All of those vehicles remain on campus, saving the community an additional $.30 a gallon road tax.

While biodiesel fuel currently costs more at the pump than regular diesel, the community reaps savings unseen by most individuals because it produces its own.

“Residents are excited about Cedar Crest taking a green initiative,” Ferguson says. And they also love seeing the community find ways to save money.

What’s next

Cedar Crest’s next eco-initiative will convert food waste into water. Read more about Food2Water in next month’s issue.

Note: You should never fuel your vehicle with clean or used grease or vegetable oil that has not been converted to biodiesel fuel.

To learn more about biodiesel fuel, visit the following websites by the U.S. Department of Energy:

• www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/biodiesel.html
• www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/biodiesel.shtml

What prompted the dramatic lifestyle change? Arnetta moved to Fox Run, the Erickson Living community in Novi, Mich.

“When I first moved in here, I discovered the world of exercise. My working life had never given me time for exercise,” Arnetta says. “I just decided that with this gym here, I was going to see what it felt like to be in shape.”

Star pupil goes to head of class

Fox Run boasts an on-site fitness and aquatics center that makes staying healthy convenient for those who live at the community. Shortly after Arnetta moved to Fox Run, she began training once a week with one of the community’s personal trainers, who encouraged her to add a water workout to her routine.

Arnetta started attending weekly water workout classes, and when the instructor left Fox Run for another job, the fitness center staff asked Arnetta if she would take over the class.

“That makes me feel really good,” Arnetta says.

Arnetta leads a weekly water workout class for about ten fellow community members. She says the class focuses on stretching as well as aerobic exercise, like jumping jacks and running in place, using the weight of the water as resistance.

Irv Boynton, who moved from Commerce Township, attends Arnetta’s water workouts. He says he’s always enjoyed swimming but hadn’t previously done other water exercise until Arnetta encouraged him to give it a try.

“I thought it would be good to have somebody be a little bit of a motivator,” Irv says. “I appreciate [Arnetta’s] demeanor and her whole approach to life and athletics and good health.

Life with dad at Fox Run

Arnetta shares her Fox Run apartment home with her husband Bill and her 98-year-old father. The trio has a spacious Lansing-style apartment home, which features two separate bedroom suites on opposite sides of the home and a third bedroom in the middle that they use as a media room. It also features a full kitchen and open dining and living area.

Arnetta first started looking at Fox Run because her father was living with her at her Farmington Hills home. She says maintaining her large house and yard was becoming a burden, and she thought it would be best to move to a community where continuing care would be available if her dad should need it.

“I knew I had to downsize, and I wanted continuing care for my father,” Arnetta says. “And I thought, ‘Why not have that [option available] for myself too?’”

Arnetta says moving to a smaller home where she doesn’t have to worry about maintenance has made a real difference in her happiness. Instead, she and Bill spend time with their nine grandchildren and can focus on simply enjoying life together.

“I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders,” she says “We have so much freedom here; I don’t have to worry about planning dinners and cooking.”

In addition to working on her physical fitness and inspiring other people to do the same, Arnetta takes advantage of the many leisure activities and opportunities for personal growth available at Fox Run. She plays in the community’s bell choir, sings in the chorus, and participates in a music study group. She writes for Fox Run’s newsletter. And, because she is able to live with her father, she spends plenty of quality time with him as well.

“My dad and I still go bowling every week,” she says.

That changed late last year when his tags were returned to him, spurring a chain of events and unexpected honors for Richard, who lives at Brooksby, the Erickson Living community in Peabody, Mass.

Lost and found

Then-teenager Mike Villagomez, a resident of Saipan, discovered Richard’s tags in a field in 1981. Last year, Villagomez’s wife Erlinda mentioned the tags to a colleague in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Saipan. The colleague, deputy marshal Randy Kruid, found Richard Urie on the Internet and connected with him. Kruid and Mrs. Villagomez then enlisted the help of another colleague who lived in Massachusetts and was able to deliver the tags to Richard at Brooksby.

“A young marine lost a dog tag, and you don’t expect it to come back to you 67 years later,” Richard says.

Sharing honors

While Richard provided interviews for Brooksby’s own TV station, TV919, and for local newspapers, back in Saipan Mrs. Villagomez asked her uncle, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, who represents the Northern Mariana Islands, to present Richard with a medallion for his service.

Sablan and Massachusetts Congressman John F. Tierney made the trip to Brooksby earlier this year to present Richard with the commemorative medallion in a ceremony in Brooksby’s interfaith chapel.

“This gentleman has become our family,” Sablan told Richard’s family, friends, and fellow veterans who attended the event. Sablan explained that his father, who was a teenager when Richard was in Saipan, doesn’t talk about the conflict there except to say, “Just be grateful that you didn’t live through it.”

“I wouldn’t be here without Mr. Urie,” Sablan adds.

Richard accepted the award on behalf of his Brooksby neighbors and those who fought in the Pacific.

“This award means a lot more to a lot of people of Brooksby,” Richard said after being given the medal, which joined the dog tags around his neck. “We were a generation. Whether you fought or were at home, we lived through the war.”

Richard added: “I accept it in honor of all the people who fought in the Pacific. It was a long trip for a lot of people. I honor the people who didn’t come back and the people who did.”

Before those in attendance, Richard reflected upon his memorable experience of landing in Nagasaki, Japan, in September 1945 just after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The people he met in Nagasaki were stunned but also relieved that the worst seemed to be over, he said. Richard served in the Marines for four years and was a private first class.

“It was very touching,” says Richard’s daughter, Beth Driscoll, who attended the ceremony with her husband. “I’m very honored to say that my father served in World War II.”

Enclave for grace

At Brooksby, Richard participates on the dining committee, working with those who live and work in the community to enhance and maintain high-quality service in its restaurants.

“Our enclave here is a unique place,” Richard says of Brooksby. “I think this is a magnificent way to live.”

Overwhelmed and surprised by the attention and chain of events that have prompted fellow veterans to contact Richard since hearing his story, Richard maintains his humility and graciousness.

“I’m very proud to be the recipient and the conduit of this award, but I’m just the marine that made a mistake,” he says, referencing the dog tags he lost 67 years ago.

Now Dick shares his stories and the lessons of World War II with four local schools.

A dream comes true

In 2011, Pam Martello, a history teacher from J.L. Simpson Middle School in Leesburg, Va., asked Dick to share his story with her students.

“It’s something I always thought about doing,” says Dick, who lives at Ashby Ponds, an Erickson Living community in Ashburn, Va.

“Over the last few years I’ve written a half dozen stories about my wartime experiences for my children and grandchildren,” he continues. “I shared these with Pam, explaining to her that a private’s view of combat has no glory but many exposures to pain and death.”

Dick also emailed a friend who had a grandson in middle school to find out, firsthand, what questions were on students’ minds.

Ultimately, Dick decided to address the sights and sounds of war while driving home the point that World War II was fought and won very differently from wars today. He spoke to six history classes on his visit to J.L. Simpson and left a lasting impression.

“The teacher joked that her students are never that quiet for her,” says Dick, who returns to the school this spring when students begin their study of World War II.

Word of Dick’s innate ability to bring history alive has spread like wildfire. Other local schools asked him to share his stories.

Reality of war

Dick’s honesty is what makes his lessons so popular. By addressing the sights and sounds of the battlefield, he helps to create a sense of reality that words in a textbook could never achieve.

He candidly speaks of his first experience with incoming artillery and the impact it had on his life.

“Honestly, I was scared,” he says. “I was certain I’d never see daylight again. So I prayed. Not to get old or even for the end of the war, but just to get one more day. Thus far I have received 24,569 more days, but my first prayer, every day, even this morning, was to thank God for each day of my life.

“I tell this to the students straight up, and I remind them that every day is precious, and I hope that each of them has at least 24,000 more days ahead of them,” he adds. “They should appreciate every single day as a gift. Wars are not glamorous. Wars are about death.”

Modern day comparison

Dick also explains the difference between the way wars are fought today in comparison to his experiences in World War II.

“What’s been going on in recent years, for example, in Afghanistan, is worse than what we faced in several ways,” he says. “We had a uniform different from our enemy. There was normally a front line with us on one side and them on the other. And the biggest difference between World War II and all wars that have come since then is that when we went across Germany and reached the Elbe River and captured all the German land, the war was over. Not anywhere since then have we had that kind of closure.”

Lasting lessons

On May 8, 1945, V-E Day, the war in Europe came to an end. Dick shares with the students a photo taken of him on that historic day. He and his squadron spent the previous two weeks in a small German town tasked with protecting a bakery.

“It’s not a bad service,” Dick says. “No one is shooting at you and the bakery gave us a loaf of that good dark German bread every day. The 2nd squadron was on another street guarding a bank. And that’s really the way it’s supposed to work out. The U.S. got no land, no bounty, no reward. What we really hoped for was for the German people to enjoy continuity of lifestyle.”

Dick and his wife Jean visited the bakery in 2008. “The fact that this bakery was still operating in 2008 means that we were successful in our efforts,” he says.

Power of the truth

By sharing not only the realities of war but also the hope that grew from America’s victory, Dick inspires the students to contemplate his words and ask questions.

“The kids listen so intently,” he says. “They are rapt. When they start asking meaningful questions, you know you got to them. I give them the most straight-up answers I possibly can. They are very involved and very receptive. Sharing my experiences in this way is very rewarding.”

Nobody knows that better than Susanne Howard, special trips coordinator at the Parkville, Md., Erickson Living community. Similar to a travel agent, Howard plans trips and escorts Oak Crest residents to destinations all over the world.

“We’ve been to so many places—the Canadian Rockies, Alaska, the Panama Canal, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Nova Scotia, Memphis, Tenn., the Hudson River Valley, Myrtle Beach, S.C.—and done so many different things. However, I draw the line at skydiving, rock climbing, and bungee jumping,” says Howard, a former Baltimore County school bus driver.

Getting there is half the fun

Joe Smith has attended many of those trips since moving to Oak Crest in 2004. “The first trip I went on was to Branson, Mo.,” says Joe. “A friend of mine went with me, and we never laughed so much in our lives. After that I was hooked, and I think I’ve been on at least 20 trips since.”

A father of 11 and grandfather of 27, traveling wasn’t something Joe had an opportunity to do until after he retired. “We had taken a few trips here and there to visit family in New Jersey and Minnesota. For our 25th wedding anniversary, our kids sent us to Bermuda. But for the most part we were too busy raising children to really travel much,” he says.

So when the opportunity for a trip to Alaska came up, Joe didn’t think twice. “Without question it was one of the best trips I’ve been on,” he says.

The travel bug bit Joe’s neighbor Shirley Bollinger at an early age. “When I was growing up, once a year my mother and I would take the train to Washington, D.C., to visit relatives,” says Shirley. “I loved it! I remember always thinking that the train ride was never quite long enough.”

With trips to Nova Scotia, Alaska, the Panama Canal, Hawaii, Europe, the Mediterranean, and twice cross-country by train under her belt, Shirley knows firsthand how much work goes into planning for a trip. But, she says, since moving to Oak Crest 11 years ago, traveling has never been easier.

“[Howard] does a superb job of planning every detail of a trip so all you have to do is pack your bags and show up,” says Shirley.

At a monthly meeting called Residents on the Go (ROTG), Howard invites Oak Crest community members to share their travel ideas. “It’s an opportunity for residents to give their input on where they would like to go and what kinds of things they would like to see,” says Howard. “Once we get a list of ideas, I have someone who then helps me get an itinerary together. I try to factor in things like how much walking there will be, how readily available restrooms are, and how easily special diets can be accommodated.”

Off the beaten track

All trips are advertised throughout the community with flyers, as well as on the community’s in-house TV station. On average, 15 to 25 people travel with the group. Notable past trips include a ten-day paddle boat cruise on the Queen of the West down the Columbia, Snake, and Willamette Rivers, in Oregon, and a trip to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt.

“Susanne is great at coming up with fascinating travel spots,” says Joe. “She finds lots of interesting places that you might not necessarily think of on your own.”

Howard is busy planning trips for 2012 and 2013, including a trip aboard the Grand American Queen Steamboat from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh. Other destinations include the Caribbean Islands; British Isles; Normandy, France; Atlantic City, N.J.; the trains of the Colorado Rockies; Ocean City, Md.; Canada; and the Tournament of Roses parade in Los Angeles, Calif.

No doubt Shirley and Joe will be on one or more of those trips. “I would never have the opportunity to travel like this if I had not moved to Oak Crest,” says Joe. “Over the years I’ve been to so many interesting places and made so many friends. It’s just been great!”

Eileen’s gateway to Linden Ponds was a close friend who Eileen accompanied on visits to the community and later joined for cards. When her friend moved in more than three years ago, Eileen was still living in her eight-room house of 52 years in Randolph, Mass., and she recalls, “I had no intention of moving.”

But as time passed, Eileen says, “I didn’t need stairs or a big house.” She found herself mostly housebound during the stormy winter of 2010 – 2011, and her four children told her they worried about her spending another winter like that.

Fitting resources

Once she made the decision to move, Eileen welcomed Linden Ponds Personal Moving Consultant Lynne Ford to her house. Ford visits people planning a move to the community and helps determine the furniture arrangement in their new apartment home. Eileen chose the Georgian-style one-bedroom apartment home with a den and one and a half baths.

“It’s perfect for me,” she says.

Eileen also chose a real estate agent from Coldwell Banker, on Erickson Realty and Moving Services’ list of preferred vendors. Once her house sold, she customized her new home by working with Linden Ponds Custom Interiors to change the kitchen countertops to a more vibrant color and to have drapes made.

Since her move, Eileen has settled into a busy routine of games—mah-jongg twice a week, canasta once a week, and Mexican train dominoes Monday nights after dinner. “Everybody here is very friendly,” she says.

Eileen lives in the same Linden Ponds neighborhood as her longtime friend who first moved to Linden Ponds. She has also begun using the on-site medical services, including a physical therapist and a new primary care physician.

“I really think they have everything here that you could possibly want,” she says.

100-plus species

Aside from enjoying the aesthetics of birds, every week the group records information about the birds they see and sends it to Cornell University as part of the citizen science project and e-bird list. “That way, people from all over the United States can tap into what we’re seeing here at Riderwood and use it for their own research,” says Becky Hedin, Riderwood resident and member of the Birders group. Becky’s husband Alan diligently reports the weekly findings.

“Recording the findings is neat,” Becky says. With the data, the group can graph the types and numbers of birds they see within a specific time period; this helps them notice trends such as the rise and decline of a species. Since the recording started, they’ve seen more than 100 different species of birds on campus.

Becky and Alan founded the Birders group when they first moved to Riderwood nine years ago, with the encouragement of their new neighbor, Anne Blackburn. Later, fellow resident Don Messersmith joined and helped expand the group.

The Birders use field guidebooks as well as Don’s expertise to identify the birds they see. Different markings determine different species. Even if birds share the same colors, unique markers on both wings and breast narrow down the identification.

Benefits of birding

In addition to the enjoyment of seeing birds in their natural environment, “It’s good exercise,” Don says. “It’s a good hobby for people that gets them outside and learning about and appreciating nature.”

Group members needn’t be expert birders. Amateurs are welcome. The group only requires an appreciation of all things feathered that fly.

Becky and Alan appreciate birds from the sunroom of their Lancaster-style apartment home. They can watch birds frolic and play in a birdbath that Alan has had since he was an infant. They also use the patio garden outside their home as a place to plant blueberry bushes and other plants that attract birds.

“Seeing the birds actually come and enjoy the plants serves as a dual purpose,” Becky says. The birds enjoy the fruits, and the Hedins enjoy watching the birds.

Common residents

The great blue heron is a frequent campus visitor. The club saw three great blue herons during their weekly bird walk March 13.

The northern mockingbird is found throughout the year and can be seen perched on many of Riderwood’s outdoor light posts. Its varied songs are a delight to many.

The song sparrow and wood thrush share their wonderful songs when the club ventures outdoors.

The colorful northern cardinal and the American robin also make their rounds throughout the year.

Rare finds

Bald eagle
Great egret
Green heron
Hooded merganser
American coot
Sharp-shinned hawk
Cooper’s hawk
Red-shouldered hawk
Spotted sandpiper
Caspian tern
Yellow-billed cuckoo
Hairy woodpecker
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
Alder flycatcher
Eastern phoebe
Hermit thrush
Yellow-rumped warbler
Orchard oriole
Eastern towhee

A vision for publication

As a nurse for the Red Cross during World War II, Jeannette saw a lot and had a story to share.

Jeannette had a clear vision for her book: she wanted to make it accessible to family, friends, and historians but didn’t want to invest a lot of time and money into copyediting, marketing, and promotion. She also wasn’t interested in making money from it. All she wanted to do was tell her story.

Though Jeannette began writing her book before she moved to Wind Crest, she didn’t get serious about finishing until after the move. She joined Wisdom Writers, a writers’ group at Wind Crest that shares work on a weekly basis. There, she was able to focus and gain feedback from her peers. Additionally, Jeannette can literally write anywhere at Wind Crest—in her spacious, two-bedroom apartment home or around campus like the cafe or the fireside lounge.

When she was finished, Jeannette considered self-publishing. Around that time, she saw an advertisement for a service from Douglas County Libraries that piqued her interest: “So You Want to Be an Author.” She contacted the library to see what it was all about.

“You talk to libraries, publishers, authors…and everyone is freaked out about not only the current state of publishing but the future as well,” says Jaime LaRue, director of Douglas County Libraries, who offers the service.

Are books, in fact, dead? Not according to LaRue. “There has been an explosion of writing,” he says, and the challenge now is to sift through what’s good and what’s not. In fact, LaRue coins this time as the “most exciting period in publishing history.

“A blog is the cheapest and most effective way to get your message out into the world these days,” he adds.

That was news to Jeannette. “It never even occurred to me to put my story up as a blog,” she says.

LaRue assisted Jeannette in creating her blog and uploading her material: 40 chapters, including photographs. All in all, the library offered Jeannette 30 hours of support to post her blog, which launched in December 2011.

“Jeannette’s story is a fascinating glimpse of history,” LaRue says. Since its launch, redcrossatwar.blogspot.com has received more than 900 visits.

Jeannette continues to write even more material for her blog. “The only thing truly accessible is the written word,” she says.

Excerpt from“Red Cross at War”

by Jeannette Albersheim (redcrossatwar.blogspot.com)

Chapter 1:

Off to War

Lady Be Good! suddenly streamed down from a band from up above our gangplank’s single line of olive drab female drudges—the 110 nurses and 5 Red Cross workers assigned to the 95th General Hospital embarking on the Aquitania in early January 1944. To reach the port from Camp Kilmer, N.J., on an old railroad track we had to march several blocks loaded with every item we possessed (excluding the footlocker that would be shipped). We toted unbelievable weight: we had to wear our warmest wool clothes, plus the GI wool-lined full-length raincoat, heavy wool scarf and gloves, 4-buckle rubber galoshes over field boots, our heads topped off with steel helmets and liners, carrying the ditty bags loaded with our travel clothes and personal items on one shoulder and on the other our gas masks in their bags.

“Is this trip necessary?” I wondered for the first time on the adventure (but not the last). Never, though, did I question my decision to join the war effort except for times of fatigue or extreme physical discomfort. My Red Cross experience was the most fulfilling work experience of my life.

The new neighborhood will offer four levels of care: short-term rehabilitation, assisted living, skilled nursing care, and memory care.

“The new extended care neighborhood will be an important component of the robust and integrated health care offerings on campus,” says Ben Cornthwaite, executive director of Eagle’s Trace. “It will enable us to offer the full continuum of care to residents when and where they need it.”

Sam and Jo Ann Power attended the luncheon. Their Sugarland-area house sold two days prior to the luncheon, and they were in the midst of making preparations to move to their new apartment at Eagle’s Trace (they have since moved in).

“Sam and I have been waiting for the right time to move,” says Jo Ann. “When we found out that the new extended care neighborhood was under construction, that was absolutely the turning point for us.”

“Being outdoors has a calming and healing effect,” says Eldora Chambers, a member of the Erickson Living community’s garden club. “Everything just seems better when you’re outside.”

The new continuing care neighborhood will feature multiple courtyards so those who live there can spend time outdoors in a beautiful setting. Additionally, several apartments in assisted living will have patios. The neighborhood will offer four levels of care—short-term rehabilitation, assisted living, skilled nursing care, and memory care.

“We recognize the importance of outdoor spaces to our residents,” says Steve Montgomery, regional director of development for Erickson Living. “We’ve been working closely with the landscape architects at TBG Partners to choose plants and trees in keeping with the region and climate. Our goal is to create outdoor spaces that harmonize with the buildings and existing landscape.”