SHARING OUR STORIES
News of the American
Baptist Homes of the West
VOLUME 12 • ISSUE 7 • JULY 2010
Mature Living Since 1949
Last year, as part of ABHOW’s administrator-in-training pro-
gram, Makamure was paired with Keith Kasin, executive director
of Plymouth Village in Redlands, Calif., to complete the 1,000-
hour internship necessary to earn her administrator’s license. She
plans to take the final licensing exam in August.
“I was learning from someone who was doing the job, and what
he said was how he lived it,” Makamure says. “ABHOW tailors
the program to how we do things within ABHOW. In addition
to meeting state requirements, trainees get an additional layer of
understanding that is unique to ABHOW.”
ABHOW Sharpens Focus on Developing Great LeadersI N S I D E
Page 4 Green living inspires bright
ideas at ABHOW communities.
Page 7 Fresno campus shares
wheelchairs and other assistive
devices with global ministry.
Page 9 Foundation’s Vehicle
Donation Program provides
mutual benefits.
Mildred Makamure knows what makes a great leader because she saw one in action while qualifying for her California nursing home administrator license.
Continued on page 2
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The mentoring relationship paid off. Makamure,
who was previously the administrator of ABHOW’s
two Redlands affordable housing communities, Casa de
la Vista and Fern Lodge, was promoted in February to
property supervisor for eight communities.
Makamure’s experience is just one example of how
ABHOW’s efforts to create great leaders have gained
momentum in the past year through a renewed effort to
cultivate candidates from within the company.
ABHOW’s internal development effort benefits from
its experience on the national level. This year, as in each
of the four years since the program’s inception, an AB-
HOW employee has been chosen as a Leadership Fellow
with the American Association of Homes and Services
for the Aging (AAHSA), which represents 5,000 non-
profit nursing homes, retirement communities, assisted
living residences and senior housing communities.
This year the honor went to Ancel Romero,
senior vice president for affordable housing. He and
ABHOW’s three other fellows are helping develop
Leadership ABHOW, a company-wide course designed
to create a ready reserve of trained and licensed em-
ployees who can move into management-level posi-
tions as they become available.
“The fellows are helping me by developing cur-
riculum and being mentors and leaders-in-residence,”
says Kay Kallander, senior vice president for strategic
planning. “I have this roster of people who have gone
through the experience and are now giving back to
their colleagues at ABHOW.”
Leadership ABHOW, which welcomed its first class
in June, will prepare a select group of employees for
the licensing process while simultaneously imparting
ABHOW history, values and best practices. Ten team
members from across the company will spend a year
visiting ABHOW communities and learning from other
leaders like Makamure, who spoke to the kickoff ses-
sion about her own training experience.
Leadership Development Continued from cover
Rae Holt (left photo), the new executive director of Pilgrim Haven in Los Altos, Calif., participates in the June session of Leadership ABHOW. Alex Candalla (above), a Leadership AHHSA fellow and executive director of The Terraces of Los Gatos in Los Gatos, Calif., shares his experience as Natalie Wilcox McCann, director of residentservices at Judson Park in Des Moines, Wash., listens in.
Continued on page 3
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Portions of Leadership ABHOW draw on a six-month
executive director-in-training program developed by
Tara McGuinness, vice president and regional operations
manager. “This program will help secure our communi-
ties’ futures and our residents’ futures by ensuring that
we have capable and compassionate leaders,” she says.
The program consists of four separate two- and
three-day workshops that combine training in two
tracks: CCRC administrator and affordable housing
administrator. Kallander hopes to eventually add a third
track for directors of nursing.
After just its first session in June, Leadership
ABHOW offers a glimpse of how the program will help
develop a new generation of leaders for the company’s
communities.
“I’m more than pleased,” Kallander says. “At the end
of the day, you would have thought they had worked
together for 15 years.”
The first class of Leadership ABHOW proudly poses for a group photo in June.
Leadership Development Continued from page 2
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Community
Stories Communities Model Green Living
It all started with a vending machine. A few years ago, residents of Mount Rubidoux Manor in Riverside, Calif.,
decided to recycle more of the soda cans sold in their community’s laun-dry room. After all, the profits from the vending machine went to the resident council. Why not recoup the deposits California requires on cans.
That single decision triggered a resident-led environ-
mental movement. The community audited its energy
use. Residents and staff installed compact florescent
bulbs and planted indigenous shade trees. Then they
replaced toilets, refrigerators and showerheads with more
efficient models. Before long, guest speakers began visit-
ing to talk about such topics as water conservation and
waste management.
“Any little thing [people] can do
can make a difference. It all adds up,”
says resident Janet Gilmore, who was
president of the resident council when
it started the speaker series. “My idea
was that if we bring people in here
and educate ourselves, in a year’s time
we’d be educated enough to make a
difference.”
Mount Rubidoux Manor residents
are in good company. With the envi-
ronmental movement growing expo-
nentially in recent years, older adults
are becoming a significant force in it.
A 2008 Cornell University survey
found that 15 percent of seniors
belonged to an environmental organization and nearly 20
percent had volunteered for one. Four out of five among
the 1,000 seniors surveyed said they would do what is right
for the environment even if it meant spending more time
and money. Almost all said it is important to maintain the
environment for future generations.
Many older adults have been concerned about the
state of the planet for decades, some since well before
José Veyna and Janet Gilmore recycle cans at Mount Rubidoux Manor.
Replacing a lawn area with a succulent garden at Valle Verde allows for almost zero irrigation while creating a visually interesting destination.
Continued on page 5
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Earth Day was established in 1970. Take for instance
the colorfully named group Great Old Broads for Wil-
derness, which since 1989 has tapped the wisdom and
experience of older women to document and counter
wilderness destruction.
But increasing numbers of older adults are taking ac-
tion, for reasons both practical and philosophical. Valle
Verde resident Harry
Jones notes that his
community’s green ini-
tiative saves money and
strengthens its ties with
its home city, Santa
Barbara, Calif., which
undertakes numerous
sustainability efforts
of its own. Jones, who
has been active on
environmental issues
for so long that he can’t
remember starting,
says most Valle Verde
residents share a desire
“to do our best to
improve our environ-
mental impact on the
community and on our
lives in general.”
Like these ABHOW
residents, some seniors
elsewhere begin their
efforts by making
changes where they
live and then spread
their knowledge so
others can do the
same. In 2007, resi-
dents of a continuing
care retirement community in Connecticut worked to
make their campus greener. From that effort grew the
National Senior Conservation Corps, an education and
advocacy group that today provides information to others
in senior living communities.
On many ABHOW campuses, staff and residents grow
organic produce, hold farmers markets and donate us-
able materials removed during renovations. They’re recy-
cling more, installing highly efficient heating and cooling
systems, and making both design and lifestyle changes
that allow them to
tread more lightly on
the earth.
While residents lead
some environmental
efforts, staff members
are also working hard
to make the company’s
campuses more earth-
friendly. At the new
Kelly Ridge affordable
housing community
in South Lake Tahoe,
Calif., staff integrated
many energy-con-
serving features, such
as double-paned
windows, efficient
appliances, extensive
insulation and a heat
pump. They selected
landscape plantings
that require minimal
water and made sure
residents had a bus
shelter for easy access
to public transit.
Retrofitting an
existing community to
a greener standard can
be a complex project,
yet Valle Verde has significantly reduced energy use and
utility costs through a series of actions.
Jack Martin and Janet Gilmore (top photo) use energy-saving bulbs at Mount Rubidoux Manor, while a Valle Verde resident checks out the community’s Toyota Camry Hybrid.
Green Living Continued from page 4
Continued on page 6
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“Our green initiative began in January 2006 at an
advisory board retreat,” recalls Ron Schaefer, the
community’s executive director. “One of our advisors,
Dennis Allen, was chair of the local green building asso-
ciation, and he said we should be able to go green in our
apartment renovation. Out of that impetus, the whole
process began to snowball.”
Valle Verde was already irrigating its landscaping
using reclaimed water and had begun converting to
more efficient light bulbs, Schaefer says. “Every time
we renovated an apartment, we took out the old water
heater — a 40 to 50-gallon drum that keeps water hot
all the time — and converted to flash [or tankless] hot
water heaters. We went to low-flow water fixtures, which
sometimes didn’t combine well with the heaters. We had
to play around with brands and styles and eventually we
found a combination that worked.”
As at Mount Rubidoux Manor, one step led to
another. “We started doing more onsite recycling, not
just boxes, paper and cans, but construction materials,”
Schaefer says. They shredded used lumber for mulch
and discovered that the gypsum in old drywall makes a
beneficial addition to the clay soil in their planting beds.
Two years ago, Valle Verde started buying much of its
produce locally or regionally, and it recently began do-
nating food scraps to a centralized composting program
run by the city of Santa Barbara. Prompted by resident
requests, the community has eliminated Styrofoam from
its kitchen and instead uses compostable containers for
take-out food and returnable ceramic go-cups for coffee.
Many changes were inexpensive. To pay for longer-
term investments, staff members trimmed other re-
modeling costs. “When we collected enough [money] to
put in a series of photovoltaic panels, we would do it,”
Schaefer says. Valle Verde now sells energy from its solar
panels to the power company, and over five years has
seen its electric bills drop by 14 percent, despite regular
rate increases.
“It’s saving us money,” says Jones, who endorsed the
green cause during his service on Valle Verde’s advisory
board. When management asks for his neighbors’ input
on such moves as installing more panels, he says, “resi-
dents always express pleasure.”
This summer, environmental studies graduate stu-
dents from the University of California at Santa Barbara
will calculate Valle Verde’s carbon footprint, evaluate the
community’s practices and identify opportunities for
further improvement. Because CCRCs integrate aspects
of several fields — among them construction, transpor-
tation, health care, housing, food, entertainment and
employee transit — such communities make excellent
test sites for studying green practices that are widely ap-
plicable, Schaefer says.
For that reason, he has been asked to speak about
Valle Verde’s experience not just at other CCRCs but
also outside the senior living profession. The commu-
nity, which has won a number of awards for its green
initiative, is also educating Santa Barbara neighbors by
Photovoltaic solar panels provide energy for Valle Verde.
Continued on back page
Green Living Continued from page 5
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Community
Stories Donations Assist World’s Disabled
Ernie Barnes of The Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens in Fresno, Calif., used to ride his bicycle with an attached
wagon around the campus to collect donations for the community thrift store he ran with his wife, Betty.
Among the donated clothes and household goods, he
would sometimes find such items as canes and walk-
ers and set them aside. On weekends, he would go to
nearby flea markets and look for more assistive devices
— wheelchairs, crutches and the like — that could be
restored to top condition. Riding around on his bicycle,
Barnes was a driving force behind his community’s
wheelchair donation drive.
The effort began when Chaplain Nancy Wilson-Jen
brought David Hooker to the campus in the fall of
2008. Hooker is regional coor-
dinator of Joni and Friends, a
nonprofit organization started
by Joni Eareckson Tada, who be-
came a paraplegic after a diving
accident in her teens. Hooker
talked with residents about
Wheels for the World, a min-
istry through which Joni and
Friends collects and refurbishes
wheelchairs, walkers, canes and
crutches and delivers them to individuals with disabili-
ties in the developing world.
Aid organizations consider this population — which
totals about 400 million worldwide — to be the very
poorest of the poor. In developing countries, people
with disabilities often can’t afford the equipment that
would allow them to work, attend school and join
others for recreation and worship. Consequently, they
are often isolated, impoverished and discriminated against.
The response from The Terraces at San Joaquin Gar-
dens was enthusiastic and receptive, Hooker says.
“Both residents and staff contributed material goods
or money,” says Wilson-Jen of that initial drive. Ernie
and Betty Barnes encouraged their neighbors to give,
and Ernie Barnes personally rounded up all the devices
he could find. Team members in the community’s as-
sisted living and memory support programs and the
health center donated used items they had in storage. At
a service on the evening before Thanksgiving 2008, says
Wilson-Jen, “the donations were dedicated to the Lord
and taken by Joni and Friends.”
Wheels for the World delivers the donations to Taft
Correctional Institution in Taft, Calif., where a work
force refurbishes and packs the equipment for shipment
to one of 17 countries overseas. In-country volunteers
custom fit each wheelchair to its recipient and provide
training in its use and upkeep. Volunteers also give each
recipient a Bible, give talks about the needs of disabled
people and in some cases improve access to churches,
homes and other local buildings.
Continued on back page
Wheelchair donations help the disabled in the developing world. (Photo used by permission of Joni and Friends.)
Barnes
8 J u l y 2 0 1 0ABHOW Words
The Terraces
at San Joaquin
Gardens is com-
mitted to enriching
the lives of older
adults through
progressive pro-
gramming, services
and activities. For
more than 40 years,
the community has
delivered one of
the most engaging lifestyles in the area — one that helps
residents attain personal growth through learning and
staying connected.
Even though the community’s name has changed, the
mission remains the same, Lopez says.
“We aren’t leaving our heritage behind; we’re building
on it each day,” she says. “We just felt it was time to give
people a fresh introduction to the community.”
For more information about The Terraces at San
Joaquin Gardens or to schedule a personal tour, call
559-435-1999 or visit www.TheTerracesAtSanJoaquin.com.
Community Stories Fresno Community Embraces New Name
While ABHOW’s long-established Fresno continuing care retirement commu-
nity is busy adding new amenities and stylish renovations to its campus, it is also embracing a brand-new name. San Joaquin Gardens is now known as The Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens.
“When a lot of people hear the name San Joaquin Gar-
dens, they have a certain impression of the community, even
though they might not have visited our campus in the last
two to five years to see all the investments and enhancements
we’ve completed,” says Jessica Lopez, executive director. “We
want to change these old impressions and give everybody
a fresh perspective about what The Terraces at San Joaquin
Gardens’ lifestyle and campus is today.”
The community has completed construc-
tion on 47 brand-new apartment homes, a pool,
bistro, fitness center and spa; transformed five
existing garden homes with renovations inside
and out; and has plans to add new commons
spaces and renovate an additional 20 garden
homes by the end of this year. The community
is also taking reservations on an additional 142
new apartments, Lopez says.
In addition to residential living, The Ter-
races at San Joaquin Gardens offers residents
access to a full continuum of on-site assisted
living, memory support and nursing care, one
of the primary benefits of living at a CCRC.
The community will soon break ground on
The Grove, a dedicated memory support area, and be-
gin construction on all-new assisted living and nursing
care accommodations.
Residents Sylvia Yorke (left) and Mary Campbell catch up on the news as Yorke walks her dog, Corky.
9 J u l y 2 0 1 0ABHOW Words
Foundation
StoriesFoundation Has Solution for Cars No Longer Needed
If you’re stuck with a car that won’t run, getting rid of it quickly can’t be much easier than making one phone call.
That’s what one ABHOW employee discovered
after making use of the Foundation’s Vehicle Donation
Program. When her husband’s 11-year-old car suddenly
needed an $8,500 engine replacement, she knew she
had a problem on her hands.
But donating the car was as easy as calling the toll-
free number and setting up a time for the National
Vehicle Donation Program (NVDP), which handles
donations to the Foundation, to pick the car up at the
repair shop.
“We knew there was nothing we could do to fix it,
and it just dawned on me that we could donate the car
to the ABHOW Foundation even though it wasn’t run-
ning,” says the employee, who wishes to remain anony-
mous. “It really works out best for both the Foundation
and me personally.”
NVDP takes responsibility for selling the vehicle, with
an average of 70 percent of the proceeds for each sale go-
ing to any ABHOW community the donor designates.
The value of the donation is determined based on
the vehicle’s final sale price. If it sells for less than $500,
donors can claim the fair market value up to $499.
Nearly any vehicle qualifies, and the Foundation wel-
comes donations from everyone, including residents
who no longer need their cars.
Since the program started in April 2009, residents
and staff have donated 18 vehicles for a total of $15,949
in proceeds for the Foundation, says Suzette Luer, the
Foundation’s development coordinator.
“This is a creative, easy way for people to donate to
the Foundation and save the hassle of trying to sell a
vehicle themselves,” she says.
This year the Foundation has combined the Vehicle
Donation Program with the 14th Annual ABHOW
Foundation Golf Classic to be held Oct. 11 at the Round
Hill Country Club in Alamo, Calif. Each vehicle donation,
no matter the value, will earn one free registration to the
tournament. The golf package includes lunch, green and
cart fee, range use, tee prizes, contest holes, two mulligans,
snacks and beverages on the course, plus evening events,
including the cocktail reception, silent and live auction,
dinner and awards ceremony.
Arrange to donate your vehicle by calling the Foun-
dation at 1-800-222-2469 ext. 7151 or by going to www.
abhow.com/foundation and clicking on the “Donate
Your Vehicle” link.
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2010
edition of Legacy, the Foundation’s newsletter.
10 J u l y 2 0 1 0ABHOW Words
(HUD) and a federal tax credit
program that lets companies shelter
some profits from taxes by investing
in affordable housing. Because these
two funding streams spurred pub-
lic/private partnerships that cre-
ated high-quality housing services
for vulnerable populations, both
proved to be excellent investments
of federal funds.
But the tax credit program has declined as compa-
nies have had fewer profits to shelter. And when the
administration made its budget recommendations for
2011, it stripped all funding for new construction under
Section 202 and HUD’s Section 811 program, which
supports housing for people with disabilities.
Ancel and other ABHOW colleagues have visited
congressional offices in Washington, D.C., in recent
months to advocate for the restoration of these vital
funds. They spoke by phone with HUD Assistant Secre-
tary Carol Galante to underscore the essential role resi-
dent service coordinators play at each of our affordable
communities. And they have been closely involved with
local, state and national nonprofit
organizations that work tirelessly to
promote affordable housing.
We salute the dedication of our
affordable housing team. Ancel
describes their motivation this way:
“In a time of great uncertainty, it is
all the more imperative to ensure that the housing and
supportive service needs of our nation’s low-income
elderly, frail and disabled are addressed.”
We heartily agree.
David B. Ferguson is president and CEO of ABHOW.
This article originally appeared in the June 2010 edition
of ABHOW E-News.
Our Hillcrest Gardens affordable housing community in Daly City, Calif., has 39
apartments. The waiting list has 575 names. The gap between the demand for affordable housing and its availability should be a concern for every American. It is for ABHOW.
In recent years we have stepped up our efforts to
provide high-quality senior communities that meet the
federal standard for affordability — under which rent
costs 30 percent or less of monthly income — and pro-
vide residents with safe, appealing and well-maintained
homes. Led by Senior Vice President Ancel Romero,
our highly committed affordable housing team man-
ages 22 communities where more than 1,800 seniors live
in security and dignity. Two additional communities
comprising 160 apartments are under construction, and
seven other projects are in various
stages of development.
Ancel’s team has been successful in
finding ways to finance and build new
affordable communities, even in these
difficult economic times. By joining
forces with other nonprofit organiza-
tions whose missions are similar to
ABHOW’s, his group has leveraged its knowledge, tal-
ent, and capacity to provide these vital services.
Yet the need for affordable senior housing continues to
grow dramatically. As the senior population increases, a
significant proportion will have limited financial resources.
For many years, the linchpins for construction
financing were the Section 202 grant program of the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Corporate
StoriesEnsuring That Seniors Have Homes They Can Afford By David B. Ferguson
Ferguson
Read more columns by
David B. Ferguson here:
www.abhow.com/about
11 J u l y 2 0 1 0ABHOW Words
showcasing its efforts at an annual eco-fair.
Mount Rubidoux Manor’s residents too have
become a community resource even as they work to
implement further changes in their building. Resident
Wally Longshore spurred his neighbors to share their
learning through a citywide conference, held last fall,
called Seniors Giving the Gift of Green. Their green
committee, which Gilmore chairs, is developing an
informational website, www.seniorsgogreen.org, and
planning their next community conference. Scheduled
for October, the intergenerational event will be called
Seniors and Children Go Green Day.
It is a joy to share the lessons Valle Verde has
learned through its green initiative, says Schaefer.
“It’s really satisfying to see a retirement community
being a model for the rest of the community,” he says.
“There are few times I feel we’re at the forefront of an
issue that’s relevant to everyone. This has been a great
opportunity to be that demonstration, that cutting-
edge organization. Everybody from kids in kinder-
garten to business people to stay-at-home mothers to
college students gets it.”
ABHOW, National and State Websites: ABHOW: www.abhow.com
American Association of Homes and Services for
the Aging: www.aahsa.org
Aging Services of Arizona: www.azaha.orgAging Services of California: www.aging.orgAging Services of Washington: www.agingwa.org
“American Baptist Homes of the West, as an expression of Christian mission, seeks to enhance the independence, well-being and security of older people through the pro-vision of housing, health care and supportive services.”
Published by the Strategic Planning and Communications Department Kay Kallander, Senior Vice President e-mail [email protected] ABHOW Communications Box: http://www.abhow.com/about/communications_box (username: communications; password: box2010)
American Baptist Homes of the West 6120 Stoneridge Mall Rd. 3rd Floor Pleasanton, CA 94588 phone: 1-925-924-7150 or toll-free: 1-800-222-2469 fax: 1-925-924-7232
Sign Up for ABHOW E-News at www.abhow.com
Green Living Continued from page 6
“It’s really satisfying to see a retirement community being a model for the rest of the community.”
— Ron Schaefer, Valle Verde executive director
Ernie and Betty Barnes have since passed away,
but their community’s dedication to the Wheels for
the World project continues. In 2009, The Terraces
at San Joaquin Gardens donated $10,000 in cash
and goods to the ministry. Lynda Gray, assisted
living activity coordinator, gathers items no longer
needed by residents of The Grove, the community’s
memory support program, and The Lodge assisted
living program. “Last year, we gave 15 wheelchairs
and six nice walkers,” she says, adding that they have
also donated shower seats. “The guy from Joni and
Friends had to come back twice with his pickup.”
Wheels for the World receives calls from The
Terraces at San Joaquin Gardens every three to four
months saying items are ready for pickup, Hooker
says. “It’s because of people like the residents of San
Joaquin Gardens that we’re able to help folks in
other countries who otherwise couldn’t afford this
equipment.”
Residents themselves also reap benefits from
charitable projects like this one, says Wilson-Jen.
“Having special guests each year who represent vari-
ous groups that serve the needy keeps them aware
and generous. Both of those attributes are critical to
their spiritual, moral and emotional health.”
Wheels for the World Continued from page 7