CHSP
has provided funds for the meal program at Juniper Hill Village
since 1984. The program started out serving a half-dozen seniors
and now provides 40-60 meals each day. Meals are cooked on the premises
and the value of homemade soup and fresh vegetables is easy enough
to count, but that isn't the whole story.
It
is so easy for a resident to become isolated in an apartment and
live on tea and cookies. If they are on the meal program, they take
a walk each day, visit with their tablemates and get the added benefits
of exercise and social time along with their liver and onions (inexplicably
popular here at JHV).
In
addition to everyday meals, we have special theme dinners: luaus,
Mother's Day brunch, even a special seven-course Titanic dinner.
We're pretty sure the ship would have sunk from the weight of the
food and the diners if it didn't strike the iceberg.
As
the program grew and our residents aged in place, we realized we
needed a real commercial kitchen to continue to serve them. In 2003
we applied for a small-cities grant and expanded and refitted the
kitchen. We also made over the dining room and added carpeting,
better lighting and additional windows and doors to open the room
up and make the dining experience even more pleasurable.
As
we head into the twenty-first century, we have added an assisted-living
program. We continue to look for ways to support our residents'
wish to remain independent as long as possible. The meals were our
first step and continue to be an integral part of life here at Juniper
Hill Village.
Juniper Hill Village
One Silo Circle
Storrs, CT 06268
860-429-9933
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