Duane VIA
Activities Coordinator
As you ride though Patrick County, you can see the signs of fall. Some of the trees have started turning colors. We took some of our residents on a fall foliage bus ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. They talked about when they were younger they would go for rides on the Parkway with their beaus.
They loved looking at the beautiful scenery and being able to see all the mountains from one of the overlooks. Although, many of the trees haven’t changed colors yet, there were some that had started turning a warm golden color, some orange and the dogwoods are a fiery red.
The residents also saw where the farmers were gathering the last of their hay with rolls laying in the fields. They enjoyed seeing the homes in Patrick County decorated for fall with pumpkins, corn and mums. The residents are looking forward in celebrating Halloween with the children on Halloween night at Blue Ridge. We invite all the children in the area to visit the center for a Halloween safe “Trick or Threat” night on October 31 from 6 to 8 p.m. The residents love having the children to come in showing off their costumes and being able to give them candy.
We also have plans for the staff to be able to get in the Halloween sprit and have fun. Christmas is 10 weeks away. We will start putting up trees on Thanksgiving Day. Each year we put up eight trees throughout the center.
The residents love helping us decorate and we enjoy reminiscing about Christmases past. They can tell you funny stories about gathering the trees, decorating and what they got for Christmas.
Each year we ask family members to bring in a gift and leave it at their residents’ nursing station so Santa can give it out on Christmas morning. Many of our residents don’t have family members and we ask for donations for them.
In the past we have been truly blessed with donations, gifts and stocking stuffers. We still need stocking stuffers and if you or your groups are interested in donating items for the stockings, please call Dee Dee Via at (276) 694-7161, extension 1804. It’s amazing how the people of Patrick County come together to help others who are less fortunate.