Creighton Lodge’s residents, staff, volunteers and trust committee have been waiting years for their expanded lounge to be constructed.
They first started talking about it a few years ago, but they wanted to make sure the money was in place and that it would be done right, before making the decision to proceed.
The expansion project is now just about complete. A few small tasks still remain, but that hasn’t prevented them from using the building already.
The expansion will allow the lodge to accommodate more people in a more comfortable setting, when they host social activities.
“Friendship, fellowship and getting together are such a big part of a senior’s life,” said Shelly Veroba, who manages the lodge alongside Judy Pratt.
Local musicians Bob and Betty Lou Olson performed at the lounge on Thursday night. It was the first official event inside the expanded area.
“They brought little treat bags for the residents, and they did a sing-a-long with Christmas carols,” said Veroba. “It was just nice to see approximately 35 people sitting in chairs, spaced apart from each other, and having enough room for the walkers, enough room to get through, and basically enjoying each other.”
The lodge’s choir has already had their first practice inside the expanded area, and Veroba said the choir believes they now sound better.
Veroba says the expansion has exceeded their expectations.
“It is exactly what we needed and exactly what we wanted,” she said.
A Christmas supper on Dec. 14 will be the first time they will make full use of the expanded area. They expect to serve Christmas supper to up to 150 people. Some residents will bring one or two people, and others will have five or six guests. The residents are already excited for the event.
“People have been coming in and handing us white papers, and those white papers are telling us how many guests they are bringing this year,” said Veroba.
It will be the first time all of the residents will be able to bring guests. In the past, only a few additional people could be invited, and they had to offer multiple Christmas suppers.
“We’ve never been able to say ‘Everybody invite your loved ones, invite your friends and invite your family, and let’s all celebrate Christmas together,’” said Veroba. “We’ve always had to say ‘We’re going to do this tonight, and on another night, we’ll include different people.’”
Volunteers, staff members and the management committee members will also attend.
Ledcor was the construction company contracted out for the expansion, and Veroba was impressed with their work. Construction lasted nearly six months, but the residents handled it well, and understood why some activities, such as exercises, had to be rearranged in order to make accommodations for the work.
“The seniors did wonderful, and they far exceeded the expectations of what I thought would, perhaps, be a traumatic experience … and it was no trauma at all,” said Veroba. “It just went wonderful.”
The construction company was also very accommodating.
“Yesterday the residents were eating lunch at noon, and the gentlemen who were installing the sliding door stopped working,” said Veroba. “As soon as they saw the residents were ready to eat, hammers were put down, and they waited a half hour until the residents were done.”
Crews also stopped during church services.
Some finishing touches are still needed, Veroba said. Furnishings need to be brought in. The sliding door has been installed, but a pocket wall for the door is needed. Some trim work is required for the brick wall. Tiling work is needed for the electric fireplace.
New flooring also needs to be added to the dining room. Once it’s in place, the dining room and the lounge will have a consistent floor.
They hope to have the furnishings in late December or sometime in January. A grand opening is slated for February.
A new vestibule for the building’s main entrance and a new office were also constructed as part of the expansion. Veroba and Pratt previously had to share a small office. Pratt will continue to work out of the office, while Veroba has the new office area.
“With the windows that look into the vestibule and also into the new expansion, when I’m sitting at my desk, I can actually look in all areas of the lounge, and keep in touch with the residents,” said Veroba.
The project has remained on budget. The projected final cost is $725,000, which includes the furnishings and other final details.
“We had all the funds in place,” said Veroba.
Plans have already started for their next project, which is the refurbishment of their east and west parking lots.
“We have had, over the years, a few different companies that have come in and given us their opinions, and basically the general opinion has been that the back (east) parking lot is deteriorating to the point where it has to be removed,” said Veroba.
Veroba is hopeful the project can be done next year. They were told four years ago it would cost about $100,000 for the east, west and south parking lots to be upgraded, but the south lot is still in good shape and doesn’t need to be replaced.
The lodge had a travel voucher raffle in each of the last two years, and it raised a significant amount of money for the lounge expansion. Now the raffle proceeds will be used for the parking lots.
Veroba said they want to start selling tickets before Christmas, but they only have 500 tickets available. In previous years, they had 1,000 tickets to sell.
“With the economy, and it being harder to sell 1,000 tickets, we decided to go for 500, to try to sell them and give people better odds,” she said.
The top prize will be a $5,000 trip voucher or cash. Second prize will be $3,500 in cash or a trip voucher, and third prize will be $1,500 in cash or a voucher. Last year, all three winners took the cash prize.
Tickets cost $100 each, and Veroba said they want to make $40,000 from the fundraiser.
