High Point Retirement Community staff members recall traveling to Western North Carolina to wash, dry and fold linens and clothing for fellow retirement community members.
North Carolina, USA — High Point Retirement Community has helped other retirement communities in Western North Carolina. The help they provided was what many would call mundane work, but it still made a huge difference.
After Hurricane Helen hit, Pennyburn, a retirement community in High Point, looked for ways to help similar communities in the West. It turns out that due to the lack of water, clean laundry is needed. So Pennyburn took action by sending six staffers to Brooks Howell, a retirement community in Asheville, to wash, dry and fold clothes.
The staff ended up washing eight days’ worth of laundry, about 900 pounds. About linen and clothing. Shane Bunnell was the one who washed, dried and folded.
“It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day stuff, but to actually go and do something like this, volunteer, help another community, help another area affected by a disaster. It really brings to mind what the real meaning of life is and why we do what we do at the end of the day,” Bunnell recalled.
While helping out at an Asheville nursing home, Bunnell and his staff learned about Brooks Howell staff members who had lost cars, homes and loved ones. Wanting to lift their spirits, Pennyburn has taken its mission to the next level. We decided to raise money for gift bags for our staff and were able to raise more than we expected.
“By Saturday morning we had more than met our goals and by Saturday evening I was thinking wow. By Monday morning I was actually just sobbing because of the wonderful support from the residents and staff.” Because it’s an outpouring of love,” Vice President Pennyburn said. Vonda Hollingsworth.
Pennyburn said the original goal was to raise about $4,000, but in the end they raised about $16,000 in two days. The additional funding allows us to offer even more care packages to another retirement community in Fairview.
