Haley McNure is the coordinator for The Cottages at Bethany, which is the independent living duplexes surrounding The Lodge at Bethany.
McNure and her colleague, Regina Bell, director of The Lodge at Bethany, decided to team up to remember residents in nursing homes, a topic that is near and dear to their hearts.
“My grandma was in a nursing home for ten years. We spent a bunch of time up there and saw a bunch of needs,” McNure says.
The Cottages and the Lodge at Bethany has a community focus with many residents eager to volunteer, donate, and help. Recently, they held a breakfast for the first responders of Bulloch County, and McNure had the idea to provide Christmas gifts to the area nursing homes.
“We just thought we’d give back to seniors for Christmas,” she says.
The community rallied to collect various gifts, including lotion, socks and blankets, for the older residents of Statesboro. McNure put requests out on social media, as well as residents of The Cottages and their families, board members, and members of the community, and, before long, the Santa operation was in full swing.
“We just dropped off, I think it was, 247 gifts to Brown’s Nursing Home, Eagle Nursing Home, and Heritage,” McNure says.
“It was a joint effort,” says McNure. “The Cottage residents spent the last two days bagging everything and then we went and delivered.”
Due to COVID restrictions and concerns, McNure dropped the gifts off to be distributed on Christmas morning by the staff of each facility. Before she left, each gift was lovingly placed at the foot of the trees, waiting to be opened by the residents. McNure is hopeful in years to come, she will be able to pass out the gifts in person.
Bethany Goodwill Ambassadors continuing
McNure and her fellow goodwill ambassadors have not wrapped up their thoughtful deeds for the year; they are already preparing for their next event.
“Wednesday we are bringing the boys from Morning Star Children and Family Services. There are about ten boys coming. They help boys that are between 12 and 18, and they have IQs from the 40 to 80 range,” McNure explains.
“They’re coming to our community building and Statesboro Fire is bringing their fire truck and Steve Hein with the GS Wildife Center is bringing his birds, and we’re just going to feed them and give them something to do while they’re off of school.”
McNure maintains that service is paramount to the staff and residents of Bethany. The community commons building at The Lodge at Bethany was completed in February, and has created the perfect venue to host community events for Bulloch County including educational events and local artisan pop-ups.
Our big motto is, ‘We are called to serve,’ so anything about serving the community is what we’re trying to do here.”
To be a part of the community events at The Cottages at Bethany and The Lodge at Bethany, please check the events page at Grice Connect: https://www.griceconnect.com/events#/, or visit their Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/lodgeatbethany and https://www.facebook.com/TheCottagesatBethany.