Grace Village
1515, rue Pleasant View J1M 0C6 Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

Happy National Volunteer Week! Bonne Semaine nationale de l'action bénévole!

We are proud to share this article published by The Record about one of our employees, Russell Sangster, who became a caregiver at Grace Village after a long career with the RCMP. The support that he, & all our staff, have shown for our residents has been invaluable in the past year. The full article is in today's newspaper.

In anticipation of more green outside, residents made Grassy Head people as a craft this week. Their bodies are made of sawdust and they have grass seeds in their heads. They'll be soaking their toes in water and waiting for green grass hair sprouting over the next several days!

Heartfelt thanks to the Bishop’s University Charity Fashion Show for their donation of $3,400 to the Grace Village Care Foundation! We truly appreciate the effort this group of students made to raise this amount, and we also thank all the donors who contributed to their fundraising efforts. Though 2020 & 2021 haven’t been what anyone expected, we are encouraged by the kindness showed by these students in supporting the seniors in their community. Photo: Hannah Hornibrook, Co-Head Coordinator 2021 Bishop's University Charity Fashion Show; Emma Muise, Foundation Coordinator Grace Village Care Foundation; Andrea Eastman, Executive Director Grace Village

A few more photos from St. Patrick’s Day to share! Many of our residents dressed in Green & Shamrocks to celebrate, check out their excellent fashion sense. As well, our friends from the Grace Ladies of St. Barnabas paraded around the building, bringing some Irish Cheer to Grace Village!

Residents are getting ready for Valentine's Day thanks to our wonderful Recreation & Leisure team, today doing residents' nails!

Despite the current lockdown, our Recreation & Leisure team has found creative ways to keep residents active. Our latest feat has been a challenge sheet with objectives for each day, to encourage Grace Village residents to get out of their rooms, connect with others, and have fun all while respecting sanitary measures. Our two gold medal winners, Lenora Conway and Shirley Patton, managed to accomplish 23 of the 25 challenges this week! Our crowd favourite was the snowman competition, where residents had to get crafty and make a snowman from the items in their rooms. Stay tuned for our challenges next week!

The residents at Grace Village had an exciting day of crokinole and cornhole games this weekend. Our undefeated Wing B winner was Arthur Cheal, who scored a bottle of wine, followed by Shirley Patton as a strong second and Lenora Conway as a close third. We love some friendly competition! To find out more about our daily activities at Grace Village, please visit www.gracevillage.ca/calendar.

Today, we say goodbye to 2020. It was a truly challenging year, one which required us to come together to fight a global pandemic while continuing to care for our Grace Village residents, members of the population most vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. We kicked off the year with our regular programming, with multiple celebrations joined with the members of our community. As we swiftly adapted to our new reality in March, we were and are still incredibly thankful to have bee...n protected from COVID-19 at Grace Village up until this day. This has been possible thanks to the unwavering commitment of our employees and the support of our community. We invite you to reminisce with us and take a look at the impressive display of COVID-safe activities that our team has nevertheless been able to organize for our residents. It is together that we can continue to ensure our residents’ safety and happiness at Grace Village. We are forever grateful for your prayers and outpouring of support during this year. We cannot wait to see you in the New Year!

We have been so fortunate here at Grace Village for the outpouring of love we have received from our community during these difficult times! From Christmas Carols and parades to a visit from the Grace Ladies and some furry friends, our residents have been able to feel the spirit of Christmas all throughout the Holiday season. We were able to top it off today with a Christmas Parade organized by our very own Recreation & Leisure team, where dozens of employees donned their jo...lliest apparel and surprised our residents with some tunes and personalized Christmas ornaments. We are so thankful for our incredible staff, our strong community, and our wonderful residents.

Residents & Staff enjoyed a Christmas visit to their windows from some furry animal friends this week! Visitors included Mike from Parkside Ranch, with Ron & Emma, leading Echo the black Newfoundland pony; Francois bringing Rumpus Rocky (or ‘Ti Blanc) the white pony and Sako, a Lab/Bernese cross, and Greg with Wilson, a three-month-old African Pygmy goat/Habs fan. Thanks to our friends for bringing some Christmas Cheer in a covid-friendly way!

Only 80 Pumpkin Pies Left!!! Order yours today for pickup this Thursday & Friday, your last chance to buy pies for Christmas. Pay online at http://weblink.donorperfect.com/2020pumpkinpies or email [email protected] to preorder and pay cash when you arrive. Pickup is anytime between 10am-5pm this Thurs/Friday at 26 rue John-Wilson here in Lennoxville. Thank you for supporting our residents through this delicious fundraiser!

We are proud to announce that our Grace Village Pie Fundraiser is back!!! With some careful planning and following covid-19 procedures, we will have at least 300 Pumpkin Pies for sale this year! Pickup dates will be December 10th & 11th, and the 17th & 18th, from 10am-5pm, at Leslie Buchanan’s house, 26 John-Wilson Street, here in Lennoxville. The pies are made with fresh, organic pumpkins grown at the local Foundations for Farming farm. The frozen pies will be packaged 2 per... bag, and will come with the pie crust and pie filling separate, ready to be thawed and baked, or thrown into the freezer for another day. You get 2 pies for $30! We encourage you to preorder so we can have enough pies ready for you. You can email Leslie at [email protected] to preorder and pay in cash when you arrive, (please also indicate your preferred pickup date and approximate time, and phone #) OR prepay online at http://weblink.donorperfect.com/2020pumpkinpies Thank you so much for your continued support of the senior residents of Grace Village!

Trick or treat! Grace Village celebrated Halloween in style this year, with costume contests for our residents and staff and a special candy bag delivery prepared by one of our very own residents, Vivian Harrison. We hope that everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! For more information about daily activities at Grace Village, please check out www.gracevillage.ca/calendar.

Grace Village Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

We are so proud to see many of our Volunteers, Supporters, and even one special resident, honoured in the The Record's 70 over 70 magazine! Take a look, and join us in congratulating the wonderful folks who have contributed so much to our community. https://www.sherbrookerecord.com/70-over-70-celebrating-ou/

Red Zone restrictions can’t stop bingo! We have had to be creative over the last few months at Grace Village to find activities that comply with the latest COVID-19 guidelines all while being enjoyable for our residents. Hallway Bingo has been our Recreation & Leisure team’s latest innovation. To find out more about our daily activity programming, please visit www.gracevillage.ca/calendar.

Thank you to the student volunteers running the Bishop's University Fashion Show fundraiser in support of the Grace Village Care Foundation this year, for remembering the Veteran Residents of Grace Village. Remembrance Day looked a little quieter this year at Grace. A few residents participated in a craft remembering those who fought for us. No matter what is happening outside our walls, We Will Remember Them.

The Bishop's University Fashion Show is already starting its pre-fashion-show Fundraising events! BU alumni are invited to participate in their Alumni VS Students virtual trivia night TONIGHT! Take a look below for more details. We are so proud that they are supporting us this year as their chosen charity.

What we learn with pleasure we never forget. - Alfred Mercier This year's return to school has certainly been a difficult change for the students and teachers of the Eastern Townships community. The residents at Grace Village participated in a Back to School arts & crafts activity to send their love and encouragement to all those who are adapting to a new way of learning. This activity was made possible thanks to our Recreation & Leisure team. To find out more about the daily activities we offer our residents, please visit gracevillage.ca/calendar.

You might have caught us on the front page of The Record last week, but here is a closer look! The Grace Village Board of Directors has been looking for ways to thank our amazing staff for their hard work, selflessness, and compassion during this difficult period. Thanks to a generous donation by the Le Balcon d’Art gallery in Montreal, the members of the Grace Village team were able to leave with a beautiful piece of art, ranging from paintings to sculptures. Our residents were also given the opportunity to visit this temporary art exhibition throughout the week. We want to take a moment to thank our incredible team for their resilience, their strength, and their dedication. We could not do it without them! To find out more about donation opportunities to help support our team and our residents, please visit gracevillage.ca/donations.

We are proud to share that the Bishop's University Fashion Show has announced they will be supporting us as their chosen charity this year! They are the largest student-run event on campus, focused on giving back to the communities around Bishop's. Check out their website, which includes profiles on some of our residents who are proud Bishop's Alumni: https://bufashionshow.square.site/