Are you considering a pivot this year? I am. My family and I just returned from a brief holiday in Kansas City. We went to see loved ones and the beautiful Kansas City Plaza lights. We met up at Union Station to see a beautiful Christmas display and then went to Crown Center for food and shopping. Later I made a big pot of spaghetti and welcomed everyone to our Vrbo. We talked and ate and best of all, sang together. This family can sing what has been described as “next level harmonies”. We covered the age span from age...
If you have Christmas traditions, I am sure you are in the midst of them now! My extended family just had an early Christmas celebration. I remember being at these parties as a child, listening to stories about family members that lived and died before I was born and thinking that I could not imagine life without the faces telling the stories. Now, I am the one with tears in my eyes remembering parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents from Christmases gone by. I am a Grandma and my children are the middle generation. The traditions of Christmas still make...
Recently while filling out some paperwork about this first phase of development at Hope & A Future, I was struck by how much we have already accomplished. We are still working to make the next phase a reality, yet we have already helped the generations by bringing them together. Many residents and their loved ones have been helped. Staff and their families and many community members have been part of our journey. And some of them have been helped along the way too. Hope & A Future has been built by the community. We received pro bono help from many wonderful mentors. ...
October 1st the Madison the State Journal published an article titled, “Aging Population Poses Test”. The article pointed out that Wisconsinites who are 75 and older will increase by 75% in the next two decades and we are not prepared to care for them with traditional assisted living or nursing home beds. They mentioned staffing challenges. In fact the long term care workforce shortage is actually a crisis causing the closing of many care settings. Research shows most Americans fear institutionalization more than death–loneliness, lack of purpose and the caregiver workforce crisis are major concerns. Yet, there is hope!...
During my undergraduate studies, I was introduced to the theories that represent the foundation of understanding of human development and human relations. While they were all of interest in some way, I always connect the strongest with the work of Uri Bronfenbrenner and his Ecological Systems theory because it highlights the reciprocal relationships that exist to form and influence our human existence. It is the theory that explains why community is influential, impactful and necessary for healthy development. The theory is presented as a series of concentric circles indicating varying levels of interaction and the reciprocal relationships that we have...
Hope & A Future is special in many ways. To begin with, you drive down Mineral Point Road–bustling with activity and business, take a turn onto South High Point Road and pass the Cinema, Princeton Club and multiple turns toward shopping until suddenly the 4 lane road goes to three lanes and on one side is a field and on the other side is Hope & A Future’s tree lined driveway. As you drive in, you are transported to another time and place. The core of the farmhouse was built in the 1870’s and there is still a barn...
At Hope & A Future we are pioneering a transformative model that sets the standard for healthy communities by redefining aging and family support. Through fostering deep social connections and purposeful roles among children and seniors, we combat the devastation of loneliness and ensure every resident thrives–from childhood to memory care. Our model was developed with the awareness that seniors are the fastest growing segment of the population and that of the (11+ million) children growing up in poverty, forty percent will see homelessness and hunger. According to an article published by Child Poverty – Children’s Defense Fund 1 in...
Welcome to June! It is beautiful! Blooming Peonies, Lupine, climbing roses and Iris along with wild phlox and daisies are in our yard. Such a delight! There has been more severe weather than usual and we have had to take cover in our “safe space”. We are grateful we had only minimal wind damage. Our hearts are with those who have had severe storm damage and been without electricity–all over the country and world. Today, I want to reflect on a new topic for me. In recent months people have been telling me I should learn more about Blue Zones–because...
There are some beautiful things about the brain that is living with dementia. One of them is the sense of now that is developed. It is different from the sense of now experienced by people without dementia. For some people with dementia, now does not come in the middle of before and after. It includes before and after. This concept can be hard for those of us without dementia to grab ahold of. But it is a nice idea to try to imagine. Here is an example. A number of people have lived at Hope & A Future with...
Well, I hope April snow showers bring May flowers! I started writing this while looking out the window at heavy snowfall! And I just came back from making a snowman with 3 year old Leon. Strange start to April! But we are doing our best to enjoy it. We had a lot of fun last month. We had a couple of new events here. One was a Sea Shanty sing with Andreas Transo. He brought song books and started each song by teaching us the chorus. He would sing the verses and we all joined in on the chorus. It...
I am sitting on a beach watching waves today. Their continuous rhythm reminds me of the hearts within our chests. Beating continuously, not always at the same pace but, always beating. Sometimes slow and steady and sometimes with greater force and speed. While I sit watching, I am trying to come to terms with a painful fact. A few days ago, a dear friend’s heart suddenly stopped. In my mind’s eye, I can see his smile. I can hear him telling me a story and laughing with tears in his eyes. My belief is that although his body is...
I understand the groundhog did not see his shadow this year so we can hope for an early spring! That will be nice. Although, it feels like we only had about a week of winter in Wisconsin. In two days we had 21 inches of snow followed by a short blast of below zero weather. Before and after that it felt like spring was already trying to appear. The extremes in weather made the month feel like quite an adventure. January was an adventure in other ways too. On January 1st we invited people interested in having a conversation about...
I am watching a beautiful heavy snowfall as I type. And my heart is full from Holiday parties with family and friends and notes from those far away. The sparkle of Christmas decor still surrounds me and, by golly it will for awhile! At least until the daylight hours last a little longer. I need the help of Christmas lights to get through this dark season! Despite the long dark hours, I am excited about 2024! 2023 was a big year for us at Hope & A Future and we are grateful! We currently have an absolutely wonderful staff. Our...
For those of us in Holiday celebration mode, it is on! This has always been a loved time of year for me. I am deeply steeped in family traditions that bring me great joy when celebrated with loved ones. Over the years, time seems to have shortened and some of these traditions slipped off my calendar. But, with determination to not miss the joys experiencing the wonder of Christmas with my 3 year old grandson, I am determined to find the time to bring some of these traditions back! Chief among them is planning Christmas parties with friends and...
I had the good pleasure of attending Madison NonProfit Day this past October 31st. An event I highly recommend. I am grateful to Alnisa Allgood for her work in getting this day and the Social Good Accelerator program going. Both have given a community to those of us in the trenches of this often lonely work. The culture of the Madison NonProfit Day and the Social Good Accelerator program is one of learning together and encouraging each other. It is nothing short of encouraging and amazing. Both have been immensely helpful to me and many others. So thank you...
With Autumn upon us Hope & A Future is in a season of change. In tune with the eternal clock, we have said good-bye to loved ones. We are getting to know people joining our family of friends. And Fall vegetables are coming in from the garden as leaves turn color and begin to fall. On August 20th, with the help of Edgewood High School volunteers we picked two and a half wheelbarrows full of sauce tomatoes and in the days following we cooked up huge batches of spaghetti sauce for our first garden to table fundraising dinner. On...
This week we said goodbye to Bea Bretl. She was 97 and had seen a lot of life. One of her daughters, Monica Rehberg, had the foresight to talk Bea into writing her life story to share with family. This was done 20 years ago. And what a treasure her family now has. Bea raised a wonderful big family. When she moved in, she had 8 children, 18 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. I understand there are now more on the way! Every family member we met was a delight. I remember telling Bea that I enjoyed meeting every...
One late summer day in 2018 I saw a man walk into our backyard. It looked as if he were looking for someone. I went to the back door and asked if I could help him. He explained that he had heard about Hope & A Future and he wanted to talk with someone about the care we provide. He told me that he had a wife with early onset dementia that he no longer felt comfortable leaving alone at home. He felt it was time to look into finding a care facility for her. Hope & A Future...
I am so excited to share our big news with you! With rockets bursting in air, we are celebrating progress with our expansion project! On June 12th the Madison Planning Commission unanimously recommended our project to the Madison Common Council and on June 20th, the Madison Common Council unanimously approved our zoning and conditional use permits. We are moving forward! The next step keeps Hope & A Future in a genuine position of interdependence with the community. From the beginning everyone working on this project knew it would take a diverse community of talent and resources to make the first...
I hope you have all enjoyed a beautiful memorial day weekend and are now enjoying June. I was able to be off this memorial day and spent some time visiting family graves. So many memories popped up–of times when loved ones were still with us and I was a child. I also enjoyed some relaxed time around a campfire with my family, including our grandson Leon. We had a beautiful clear night for roasting marshmallows and he enjoyed holding his own stick. First to completely burn a marshmallow and then held it so far away that it did not...
Garden work started with an energetic group of 8th graders from Light House School. They ended their time here with a great song and dance of encouragement for us on our deck. We were blessed with perfect weather the day they came. Plans for a rummage sale during our monthly volunteer gardening hours (second Saturday of the month from 9am-11am) are in the works. And planning for musical events has started with generous musicians offering to play for tips. We are always busy in the house, but I thought it might be interesting for you to hear about some of...
If you live in Madison Wisconsin you may need to be told this to know it. There are still snow piles in the shade and the grass is only starting to turn green. It takes some faith to believe that flowers, chartreuse leaf buds and warm weather are on their way. If you have been around for a few decades of spring in Wisconsin, you can look to your past experience to encourage yourself. You may remember previous sinking feelings that this will indeed be the first year that it will be winter for the whole 12 months of...
March is living up to its reputation of being a month of turbulent weather for Wisconsin–as we transition from winter to spring. It seems there is always some degree of turbulence with change. Change can be anticipated with excitement, worked for and planned for, or be sudden and unplanned. In either scenario it can still be met with turbulence. Even human development includes turbulence–the terrible twos and adolescence are famous for it! Moving forward with any change has elements of the unknown to navigate and this is part of life. Life is not stagnant, change is a constant and...
Bill Perkins. For me that name is a complete sentence. Bill was my curmudgeon mentor, my friend and my encourager–all at once. He loved his family first and chose a career that focused on helping everyone have a decent home. He was a man of outstanding intelligence with genuine motives. His take on humanity was often painfully perceptive. Although he was usually my teacher, we did spar on a few points. And I am smiling as I remember some of those conversations. I will share a little toward the end of this blog. I have written two blogs that featured...
Happy January! It has certainly been a white Christmas! My life is blessed with beautiful Christmas memories and it is always hard for me to “put Christmas away!” Often, I keep a Christmas decoration in my room because it makes my heart feel warm and bright all year long! In the theme of not letting go of the season, I would like to share the part of the Christmas Story that I wish I could experience. It is when the angels come to the shepherds who were living in the fields keeping watch over their sheep. If you have ever...
There is so much to be thankful for! On November 5th we celebrated our 10th anniversary at Hope & A Future. Of the guests that braved the cold to celebrate with us, there were the children of parents who spent their last years here and some of the people who have given their time and talents to help make Hope & A Future what it is. Musicians, volunteers and donors celebrated with us! Relationships are the heart of Hope & A Future and we had so much fun celebrating together. Among the people celebrating were two people that received a logo...
There is a great deal of talk about the loneliness epidemic. Since the pandemic more people have experienced loneliness. So, what is it? Loneliness is characterized by the depressing feeling of being lonesome and alone. For some people this feeling is combined with the reality that they do not have a companion that really knows them or that they know well. A person can be surrounded by people, but feel invisible and alone. Worse yet, they may not know anyone well enough to call if they need help. This awareness can lead to a sense of isolation even...
60% of Americans currently report experiencing painful loneliness. Hope & A Future’s intergenerational approach to living offers a solution. We know that loneliness comes at great cost to society. Loneliness negatively affects mental and physical health in young and old. Lonely children do not learn to their capacity and when left unchecked loneliness affects the neurologic development of children in ways that lead to poor impulse control and behavior problems. Loneliness is also often a driver with addiction behaviors. Gangs and human traffickers target lonely young people. Lonely retirees are known to experience accelerated mental and physical decline. In...
Hard work continues as we work to move forward with expansion plans! Imagination and passion keep us going! I find myself nearly homesick for TIIN living in the complete model! Community minded people coming together with the intention of getting to know each other in a real way absolutely thrills me. Enjoying other’s thoughts and talents is always fun and enlightening. Problem solving with mixed age groups is an amazing experience that I already enjoy in our Adult Family Home. I find that the thought of having even more neighbors willing to give time each week to help each other...
This has been a busy month at Hope & A Future. We are so happy to have volunteers joining us again! Flowers are blooming, trees are lush and we are eating out of the garden. Summer is such a wonder–especially when you get to enjoy it with a child! (Volunteer groups pictured below.) I have also been in many meetings as we work on navigating the path forward for our expansion. There is excitement in the air! The many people working on this are aware that our success will pave the way for replication of future intergenerational neighborhoods. This is...
Our gardens are almost completely planted and volunteer groups have transformed our property into a destination of beauty and peace. Thank you!!! Staff, residents and volunteers are already enjoying the blooms, rhubarb, herbs and pool! And in May our Board of Directors had an outdoor in person gathering and meal that felt like a holiday celebration–after our prolonged pandemic precautions! We are so happy to be able to welcome more of our extended Family Of Friends back! Although we are still navigating our new normal in the house, we have had a few more visitors inside too. Covid has...
I was impressed that although April felt like a Wisconsin November, May flowers pushed through victoriously! We were still having nights with temperatures below freezing when the first spring flowers blossomed. I was so amazed that when I saw them in our yard, I stopped to tell them that I admired their resilience and beauty in this trying spring. (Pictured below: April vs. May flowers outside our front door at Hope & A Future.) The last couple of years have been especially challenging for most, if not all of us. As a nurse, I have spent a lot of...
Joyce Clapp’s husband had come to live at Hope & A Future toward the end of his life. He had lived in another facility for sometime while on our waiting list. He looked forward to moving here in large part because of his beloved friend Brian. Brian offers spiritual support through Agrace Hospice. Brian had told him that he knew people at Hope & A Future and they were good musicians and nice people. Edward Charles Clapp was a kind and grateful man. After being with us for a short time he asked me if there was a room...
Happy February! I have always enjoyed this month. My family has Valentine traditions we still enjoy–although not always exactly on Valentine’s day. Inspired by the movie, Lady and the Tramp, we make a homemade spaghetti dinner that we all look forward to! And we exchange Valentine gifts. Traditions have a way of building bonds between families and communities. If we were not still dealing with Covid we would welcome you to a Friday night party, sharing spaghetti and music. Guests would bring their favorite desserts and foods to share. Because of Covid, we will be a much smaller group–but eating spaghetti...
I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving. We did! Due to continued Covid restrictions, we were a small group again this year. But we did have all of the live-in staff, residents and a couple of vaccinated family members with us! Together we made a beautiful feast, gave thanks and enjoyed ourselves! We also enjoyed the leftovers! Leftovers are especially fun to me, because they can be enjoyed without all of the work, hustle and bustle of getting a feast on the table! Just fun traditional and festive foods! We have welcomed new staff to our Family of Friends–one is...
So much is going on that I sometimes feel like I am in a sort of tornado swirl! We are grateful for the skills of new staff members. Cheryl and Amy have joined us and are doing great as they get to know all of us and how we work here. Karen’s last day will be November 12th and it is hard to imagine not having her here as part of our everyday. Change is always hard, but it also causes us to grow. With that knowledge, please pray for us! Changing needs with those we care for brought...
As Autumn unfolds so do the plans for change at Hope & A Future! Work on our planned expansion is moving forward. Our goal is to create a replicable model–so we are carefully checking regulations and praying to get this right the first time through! Planning for this is complicated but it is making good progress! At the same time we are planning for Karen’s departure. Karen is such a big part of Hope & A Future that it is hard to think about our Family Of Friends without her! But she will be leaving mid November–so we must...
“If we continue to see the Baby Boomers as a problem, we will miss the potential resource that they are!” -Karin Krause Happy September! Change is certainly in the air! The sound of locusts and crickets fill the cool night air–already! And the Hope & A Future household will once again see changes this fall! Sue and Sam will be moving forward with their goals after spending 2 years with us and Karen will be moving to MI to be near her daughter and grandchildren after working side by side with us for 20 years of this journey! We will...
I pray you are enjoying the richness of summer! Everything is growing–plants, vegetables, fruits, flowers and of course weeds. We are so grateful for the young people that come to help pull weeds! Their quick movement has me in a sense of wonder–when did I stop moving like that? The change snuck up on me! Now, it is fun to have all of that young energy with us! I am writing on the deck of our place “up north”–pondering all that has been going on. Earlier I was out in the sun on our paddle boat with my sister-in-law. Now,...
Hi everyone! Paula Reif here with some exciting news. May 27, 2021, we received notice that out of 112 applicants, we are one of twenty Madison area organizations chosen to receive a Forward Community Investments Nonprofit Capacity Building grant! Many thanks to FCI for their support of our vision.Some of you may have heard my name through the years. I first heard Karin’s vision for an intergenerational neighborhood at our friends’ wedding reception. Hearing her passion for the vision inspired me to explore intergenerational connections more deeply because my passion is to support, serve, and inspire young families to...
Happy May 2021! Trees and flowers are blooming and the world smells and looks like a fairy land! In Greek and Latin, the word May comes from Maia meaning “mother, nurse, midwife.” Perhaps that is why May is the month mothers and nurses are honored! The definition of the word expresses both possibilities and permission; as in “that may happen, if…” and “yes you may.” This May, Hope & A Future is able to announce that our expansion may move forward! Our pioneering intergenerational project is now in compliance with the complicated Federal, State and County ordinances that have stopped...
Dear Friends, I hope you have had time to enjoy our recent warm sunny days! We have made a point of it! My husband (Rick) and I were hiking in a local park last weekend and enjoying the sun on our faces, and knees, on a bench along the path. From our perch on the side of the hill we could see little children running circles around their parents and grandparents. Some ran up and down the path as their adults plodded along slow and steady. We laughed at the intergenerational scene. I reflected that the older I get, the...
Each month I feel like we are closer, but we are not quite to the point that we can jump off the starting block with our expansion. But it does feel like we are almost ready to approach the starting block!! In February we had a meeting with some people from Dane County that work with regulations pertinent to Hope & A Future’s ability to move our Therapeutic Interactive Intergenerational Neighborhood (TIIN) forward. We are waiting to hear what they find. Our proposed expansion will add: additional intergenerational common spaces, a stage, day care for children and adults, an after...
Immunizations are coming to Hope & A Future this month! We feel the light at the end of the Pandemic tunnel is near. We are still on the journey, but we are making progress! Likewise, Hope & A Future passed another hurdle in January. We continue work to move the expansion forward. We have made real progress, but we still have a couple of hurdles to go. Yet, we hope the next leg of the journey will not be a long one and we dream of building by the end of 2021 or early 2022. We are getting closer, but...
Happy New Year!!! I love this photo! My first thought on seeing it was, “That poor tree! I can relate. That is what it feels like trying to build the first Therapeutic, Interactive, Intergenerational, Neighborhood (TIIN)!” The passion to do it never let up, but the roadblocks just kept coming! Yet, suddenly we see the light! I am in my office typing this blog with only one hand as my grandson sleeps cradled in my other arm. Until now, I had no idea I could type with one hand! Many of us have had to stretch into new realms on...
On November 13th the Wall Street Journal published; How Covid-19 will change aging and retirement By Anne Tergesen. It is well worth reading. The article quotes Marc Freedman, president of Encore.org, a nonprofit working to bridge generational divides. Marc states; Age segregation “has not prepared us well for living longer lives” . . . With relatively little day-to-day contact between younger generations and elders, “each life stage we move into we are utterly unprepared for.” Age segregation, he says, encourages a view that an aging population is “a problem to be solved” rather than a “repository of social, intellectual...
When I was in college digital clocks were still pretty new. We thought 11:11 was a cool time. So, we used it as an excuse to leave our desks and take a quick loud study break. It was a fun stress reliever with sudden loud music and dancing in the hall–accented with a lot of laughter. It went on for only 5 minutes and then we went back to our desks. Over the years of working on Hope & A Future’s business plan and studying the many roadblocks we needed to overcome, I often noticed I was pushing save...
It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood today! The sun is shining, Dahlia’s are blooming and the leaves are beautiful! As if that were not enough, we have a baby on our team! Those of you that follow us on Facebook, already know that Ruthie, our Art & Activity Therapist, Social Media Woman, chief lunch cook is also Mom to Leon! And I am thrilled to be Leon’s Grandma! Our intergenerational family of friends work model now includes baby Leon! And what joy he brings to all of us! There is nothing like locking eyes with a baby...
September 2020 in brief. The COVID pandemic continues. Schools and Universities are struggling to figure out how to educate students. Parents and communities are working to figure out how to care for children. The deep wounds of racial inequities have come to the surface across the country. Individuals miss social interaction. The political climate is polarized. One night last week, as we prepared the evening meal for the staff and residents, a few of us shared that we had been upset by racial and political issues we were faced with over the course of the day. The culture of our...
Hello Everyone, Rick and I are back from our grandbaby vacation! And it was pure heaven! Mom and baby are doing great! If all continues to go well, Ruthie (the Mom) will start back part time mid August with Leon(the Grandson) in tow! They have made a couple of visits here and those of you on facebook may have seen the pictures already. The need for social distancing has affected all of our lives in a big way. At Hope & A Future, we have many blessings, yet we cannot go on summer outings nor can we...
Karin Krause reflects on current issues of racism and ageism and how they tie into her vision for a new model in healthcare. Systemic Racism is real. If you are white and grew up in the United States like I did, learning about the policies that were designed to keep people of color poor was not part of our education. But the policies were real and they affected generations of people of color and their effects are still with us today. If you are not an American Indian by heritage, at some point your ancestors came to this country as immigrants. ...