Residents At Moorestown Retirement Community Celebrate Holidays

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Residents at The Evergreens, a continuing care retirement community in Moorestown, recently got into the holiday spirit with Christmas music, traditions and good deeds.

Residents and staff gathered next to the Christmas Tree in The Evergreens’ Great Hall to write personal messages of hope and goodwill on holiday cards for the homeless in Philadelphia. They wrote out a total of 279 holiday cards, which will be sent to Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission, an organization that has reached out to the homeless in Philadelphia since 1878.

Later in the week, it was time for the 18th annual Resident Christmas Program. As part of the program, there was a Resident Choir Concert and a production of the holiday play, “Rollin in Dough in Mistletoe” by Marietta Slater, which had the audience laughing and joining in to hiss and boo at “the most despicable villain of all time” as he tried to steal Christmas spirit from the townspeople of the village of Mistletoe. Stephanie Allen of The Evergreens directed her fellow residents in the production.

“Our Christmas Program is a cherished event for our community, and we are grateful to our Resident Choir, Choir Director and Accompanist David Little, Assistant Director and resident Patti Rogers, and of course to Director and resident Stephanie Allen for making the wonderful evening possible,” Evergreens President and CEO Doug Halvorsen said. “Their hard work brought a little extra Christmas spirit to us all this year.”

It is Allen’s 18th and possibly final year directing the Christmas Program. She started the program in 2000, a year after moving into The Evergreens.

“This was my swan song,” she said with a smile. “I’ll be involved in the Christmas Program next year, but it’s time for someone new to direct.”

The attached images were provided by The Evergreens