People who lived alone were really alone. Betty Brunk, a retired social worker. was going stir-crazy. So, she started the Porch Party.
Every afternoon at around 2:00 they (anyone who chose to go) went down to the front porch for an hour or so - this is every day - unless it's 40 degrees or less.
Yes, they sat out in their ski jackets, scarves, gloves, blankets and their MASKS!
I go down most every weekday. Sometimes 6
show up, sometimes 12, and we watch and chat with the visitors, workers, residents and
deliveries come and go.
By summertime we' requested a fan and more
chairs. (They nixed the heater idea.) If we run out of chairs, people
sit on their walkers.
We laugh, we talk, we learn, we care and
sometimes we "just set a spell". I've become the designee for checking
Mr. Google . The other day they had me look up: "Why are they called
BING cherries?" We liked the answer.*
We
sit with different people most every evening at dinner. Sometimes
these dinner "dates" are set up ahead, sometimes we run into someone in
the hallway, and sometimes we sit down and the hostess brings us a
surprise couple or 2 women or 2 men.
* p.s. The Bing cherry is named after Seth Lewelling's Manchurian orchard foreman and friend, Bing. It was cultivated in 1875 in Oregon.
p.s. Bing was 7 feet tall.
