Hello,
friends of fellow neighbors and welcome back to another edition of Live like Fred.
I'm Colton Navias.
And today I am here with Susan
Sru who is in charge of the nursing home pen pal program here at Mother of so
Mother of Sorrows Church. Excuse me in Marysville, Mrs
Seru. Thank you so much for your time. Pleasure
to have you. Thank you.
Now, um Mrs
Seru, I just, I want to get into it right away. So
what do
you,
what do you do for a living?
And is there anything about you that you would want us to know?
I have been a member of Mothers
Church for 25 years. Volunteering is in my blood.
I enjoy it very much.
Whether it was with our music ministry, whether it was with our food bank. Um
I am, I love to help out people and I
to do something.
How long have you been
volunteering
with the pen pal ministry? I've been doing it for the last five years.
There was a woman that started it originally
and she needed to leave for some reasons.
So I took it over and it's been a really satisfying
ministry in which to participate.
That's really great to hear. Thank you.
Done.
Would you want to explain to us what the Pen and Pro program is a little more?
I'd love to. We currently write
residence at the nursing home.
It's at ST Anne's nursing home in Greensburg and
at Murrayville rehab and Wellness center in Murrayville.
I currently have
about 50 to 60 volunteers
that write about 70 residents.
Um,
what I do is I receive a list from ST Ann's home and
from Marysville rehab and Wellness Center of people that are looking for pen
pals.
I then have volunteers that generally generally step forward, generously,
step forward
and
two times a month to three times a month, send them a card, a letter, a postcard,
um just talking about happy things that are happening in their life.
Um trying to give some
happiness to them,
trying to give them some hope, letting them know that someone is thinking of it.
Um A lot of people in these nursing homes do have families
but they're not able to visit as much as they'd like.
So these people really do look forward to receiving this correspondents.
Are they all anonymous or, or, or, or, or,
or do they know the person whos at the letter?
They do not, it
is anonymous and it's a one way correspondence.
So what we do and what I stress to our volunteers is that
when we write these letters, it is a one way, correspondence.
We expect nothing in return. We just want to brighten up someone's day.
So for example, and because of Hipaa laws,
I'm not sure if you're familiar with those, we are not allowed to,
we are not allowed to know anything about the person that we're writing to.
We're not allowed to know their birthday, their health if they were married,
if they had Children.
So it does make it a little tricky
sometimes trying to write people. I find it very easy.
I find it very easy to, for example, when I write my pen pal,
um I tell them about my family, I tell them about in the summertime,
I have a garden and I grow vegetables and I share my recipes.
When I go on vacation,
I send postcards of different places. I have been.
Um
I find it very, very easy. I talk about Steelers football with them.
I talk about pirates with them. I talk about
penguins with them.
So there are, it's very easy to pick up a pen,
write a little card with the holidays coming around the corner, Halloween card,
Thanksgiving card, Christmas cards, things like that.
And the people are very, very, very thankful whether that is truly amazing. It is.
I do actually have some examples.
My first pen pal that I wrote and I wrote to her for about three years and her
son was, her son sent me a thank you note when she passed
and a little card. And it was thank you for all the postcards and letters to mom.
They always brought a big smile and brightened her day. Keep up the great work.
And I find that so satisfying
that
you
were with the obituary and the cart.
And I had never met her, but I had written her for three years.
Um
I also had something from one of my volunteers that they talked about,
that she was writing to somebody
at
Marys
Wellness and rehab center.
And
I will get notices from the directors every now and again that someone has,
they can't even say they've passed,
they just say they're no longer here because sometimes
they have to move to a hospital facility or sometimes they go home,
you just don't know.
So then I have to pass that on to the person that they're writing to.
So I had let one of my volunteers know that someone was no longer listed there.
Would they like to continue on with the ministry? And they said, absolutely,
two months later, she gets a card from the person
that she had been moved to another facility
and wanted to keep up the correspondence.
So she was now writing to pen pals because she had received a new name for me.
And this woman reached out to her and said, hey, I'm still here.
I just had to be put in another facility,
but I'd love your correspondence that we did before.
Can we keep this
all
well?
Oh, well, that, that, that, that, that's really saying something right there.
It is. I did also have one other quick story that the last, um, woman that I wrote,
um,
and this was a complete surprise, she had passed away
and her family came to my house and didn't even know who they
were and they knocked on my door at seven o'clock at night.
Um,
I had written to her for about three years, 3.5 years,
I guess she had a pocketbook in her room and it was
filled with all of the letters and postcards that I had,
um, sent her and they got to know me and my family actually
through reading these, I always put my return address on them and they
wanted to come by and personally thank me.
Did you know they were coming or was it
or was it or was it a surprise
the
door? I
know they just knocked at the door and it took me a minute
and, um, they just wanted to come by personally and say, thank you so much
for doing that. So
I find, I find it very rewarding.
All right. Now, now, Mrs
II, I understand that, uh, uh, that you are a huge Mr Rogers fan as well from the bef,
um, besides the volunteer work you do and,
and I understand that you are a favorite quote
that you would like to share with them do.
It's not a very well
known quote,
but the quote that I really enjoy is the connections we make in the course of life.
Maybe that's what heaven is. And I truly feel that with your family,
your friends,
even the stranger that you meet on the street that can make a difference in your life.
One day, those connections are just so important in your life.
And the fact that he said that maybe that's what heaven is.
I do believe that's part of it.
So do I, I think there's no doubt in my mind that it's what heaven is.
Well, that is an amazing quote from him.
And my, my favorite quote from Mr Rogers is there are three ways to ultimate success.
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind and a third way is to be kind.
If you can ever add 1/4 1 in there,
what would it be
to also approach everything with an open mind
and an open heart? That is a, that is a beautiful one.
Thank
now,
I am under the impression that Mrs
Sru that, that,
that you do um other uh volunteer work as a as they'll besides with the pen
pal program. Uh uh Would you mind telling us a little more about that? Not at all.
I um work at the I volunteer, I should say at the William Penn Care Center.
Um I teach there a chair, yoga class.
And what I do is I get it's in a room very similar to this. And, um,
the residents come in
and I put on some music and we do some movement to some music, breathing exercises.
It's so important for people that are mostly in
wheelchairs or using walkers to build up some muscle.
So I have learned through many of trial and error, the right kind of music to play.
So, um the one thing I have learned is that we do chair yoga to Mr Dean Martin,
Mr Frank Sinatra.
Um
Mr Nat King Cole because as they're moving with this exercise and movement,
they're singing along.
So it's a really wonderful,
I can honestly say that it's only half an hour that I spend with them
doing the physical exercise of there much longer
listening to their stories and talking with them,
but they definitely have a big smile
and our time together. Oh, wow. Wow. Wow.
That is amazing.
It just, it just makes me laugh how other other,
other dance in the Sonora and indeed more.
And that, that, that's where it really amuses me. Yes, it does.
Ok. Now, uh Mrs
group, one of the things that we do here at, at live
Life
Fred is we always ask one of our, our
inspiring neighbors, what makes a snappy New Day for them,
just meaning what makes a, a
happy day for them. So, so, so what makes a snappy new day for you.
Gosh, waking up in the morning knowing I'm surrounded by
a wonderful family.
Um the blessings that I receive and I really try and pay that forward.
Um
You know, Colton, I'm wondering what makes a snappy new day for you,
I guess what would make a snappy new day
for me is just seeing everybody communicating with,
with one another just um being kind to one
another and, and, and helping out so, so we can make this
world a better place and, and hopefully, and,
and hopefully a place where we can have more,
Mr more and more Mr Rogers is in this world.
You
couldn't agree more.
And now uh Mrs
um this is uh something uh uh that uh
Mr Rogers did one time when he was accepting an award,
he asked the audience to close his eyes for, for, for 10 seconds and think of somebody
and that somebody that has helped him throughout their life.
So if you don't mind, I would like you to close your eyes for just for, for,
for just five seconds and, and, and just,
and just visualize who was important in their life.
I watch the time.
OK. Uh Could you think a little bit?
I could um I strongly believe my grandparents
and my parents gave me such a firm foundation
um of learning from others, respecting others, um loving others.
Um
But they gave me such a great, wonderful basis in which I live my life. I
feel the same way about my parents and my grandparents as well. So I can.
So that is beautiful because I can completely relate to that.
We're both so fortunate
we
are. Yes, we are.
Oh,
well, Mrs
Sru, thank you so much for your time here. It was such a pleasure.
It was such a pleasure to have you.
Now, if you would like to hear more about Mrs
Sarrus
story of uh make sure to subscribe to our
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at Live
Life
Bread.
I'm going to bias, see you next time.