We continued our celebration with providing a special coffee and breakfast buffet for our 1st and 2nd shift staff on Tuesday morning at 6:00a.m. and then provided high energy snack bag's for our 2nd shift team! It was a great time of fellowship and even residents joined in the fun and were giving thanks to their favorite team associates.....Each day we pulled Associates Names and they competed in winning a special gift card each day of the week with a special given at the end of the week! It was a fun and spirited time for everyone to see who's name was pulled each morning!
As we moved on celebrating our April, Alive In All Seasons theme of "Believe In Yourself", we celebrated a wonderful we enjoyed a very inspiring Inter-generational concert with an up and coming young artist, Mr. Rocco Fiorentino. Rocco, blind due to premature birth is an inspiration to all and is an advocate for blind and visually impaired children everywhere. An ambassador for the Little Rock Foundation, named for him, he is credited with $1.2 million being dedicated to Braille education and services in NJ and with saving 50 jobs in 2008 of employees of the NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Plus, Governor Corzine recently signed a bill that each October will be named "Blindness Awareness Month" starting in 2009!
Rocco, inspired the crowd with his amazing skill on the piano and vocals as well as his ability to interact with his audience. Rocco is truly an amazingly gifted and inspiring young talent! He amazed us with some of the songs of his new CD aptly entitled "Believe In Yourself"! As we celebrate this theme of "Believe in Yourself", Rocco is truly an example of that overcoming tremendous challenges and yet living his purpose and pursuing his dreams!!!!! I am convinced nothing will stop him!!!!!
As we moved along, we celebrated the memory of the Birthday of "Oma" and our Juniper Service Awards with a wonderful visit from our very own, Lynne Katzmann on Wednesday, with a fun and spirited Beach Ball Party! We enjoyed all the fun summer sounds of the Lenny B, duo and enjoyed cake, beach ball and delicious Jamaican Run! What a great time was had by all!!!!! Everyone really had a great time and enjoyed seeing their fellow associates receive their honors and pin from Lynne and our wonderful Executive Director, Maria Ciocca! To complete our festivities, we had a special awards ceremony and music program for the Associates, residents and families on Thursday and each team member was given a summer beach bag with a Juniper engraved beach towel, fabulous sunglasses, a beach ball cookie and other surprises!!!!! They are ready to be fabulous on the beach this summer, and Juniper will be with them!!!!!!
It was a great Associates Appreciation week and everyone was truly touched and inspired to remember to appreciate the greatness we have in our midst and the wonderful team spirit we have in our building! As we switched gears and moved forward we had a special Good Friday Service with special Worship Music in the morning and then were delighted by the beautiful harp artistry of Miss Kitty! As if that wasn't enough, we hosted our Annual Community Easter Egg Hunt with the beautiful piano of Mr. Jim Barber, a delicious coffee bar with an array of bagels and traditional Easter Pastries and special guest, The Easter Bunny!!!!! It was great and even though we tripled our Easter Egg count this year, we need to triple it again for next year!!!!! We also provided photo shoots for families with the Easter Bunny!!!!!! Everyone had a blast and lots of our residents wanted their special time with the Easter Bunny as you can see in the photos!!! 
We are excited for our Summer events coming up and invite you to come out and enjoy any of our events!!!! We truly celebrate life and family here in Williamstown and our commitment is to always provide a way to inspire residents, associates, families and friends to always "Believe In Yourself", the possibilities are endless!!!!!!!!! 
