The Turn-A-Frown Around (TAFA) Foundation, Inc. is motivated by the statistics that up to 50% of nursing home residents die without a friend. The solution: creating Smile Stations in every city across the nation. Smile Stations serve as volunteer “fire departments” to extinguish the flames of “institutionalized isolation.”
Ed “Angel Ed” Johns, a multiple sclerosis survivor of Alpha, NJ and vice president of TAFA motivated some of his friends from the United Presbyterian Church and other locals in gathering together to become the first Smile Station in Warren County by being Forever Friends for the lonely and forgotten in nursing homes. Johns performed his own “search and rescue” mission and discovered that twelve of the residents at Brakely Park Center had neither family nor friends.
TAFA likes to refer to itself as a benevolent Match-Dot-Com and “this nursing home is the first that we know of where every resident now has a Forever Friend,” Angel Ed rejoiced. Drew Horn, co-founder and president exclaimed, “Although it is so awesome to be honored for ending loneliness at Brakely Park Center, I await the day we are celebrating the Turn-A-Frown Around Foundation having a Smile Station in every city across the nation, ending loneliness, one friendship at a time.”
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Because of the amazing efforts of Johns and TAFA, the organization is being honored at the Brakely Park Center Awards for their feat in ending loneliness. Also being honored are the magnificent volunteers from Brakely Park, Lopatcong, and Phillipsburg.
If you’d like to become a Forever Friend or need more information, contact Angel Ed at (908)454-8818.
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About TAFA
The Turn-A-Frown-Around Foundation, Inc. (TAFA) is a 501-c3 non-profit organization dedicated to assisting those who have lost hope--especially those who suffer from psychiatric and physical disorders, lovelessness, isolation, and abuse. The foundation is a mission of joy, compassion, and unconditional love. It offers an abundance of attention and creates Forever Friendships for those who are hurting in nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, group residences, children's homes, or individual shut-ins. It does this by providing an army of caregivers, Forever Friends, who bring love, laughter, and a listening ear, as well as motivational, inspirational, and therapeutic entertainment. The foundation is dedicated to developing hope in those who lack it. Finally, the foundation is a mental health advocacy group. It brings encouragement and draws widespread public awareness to many human conditions on the part of both those who suffer and those who are surrounded by this suffering.