Happy Holidays!
It’s almost cliché to be here, starting the last month of the year, and lament where the time has gone but time certainly does fly and 2017 is almost a memory. We have been blessed here at Sunrise to welcome many new faces into our community, and saddened as we have said good-bye to some very dear friends. The Sunrise team has been busied with the care and service of those who are trusted to us, many projects for our departments to implement and education for our staff. We are pleased to share with you that Sunrise recently achieved a 4 star rating from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services – and we are working toward making that a 5 star rating! This happened through the hard work and dedication of each member of the organization and is a testament to our mission statement – Caring Deeply. Connecting Daily. Leading Boldly. Serving Faithfully.
Along this line, Sunrise was also recently designated as a Better Business Bureau (BBB) Charity. There are 20 points that an organization must meet to receive this accreditation and these were developed by the BBB to assist donors in making sound giving decisions and to foster public confidence in charities. We are pleased to have met this standard and thank our business office and Board of Directors for their role in helping us achieve this standard.
I have taken a few questions lately about our plans for renovating the Bernstein Memory Care neighborhood. We have been working with a local architect firm and contractor to get price quotes for the needed renovations, but at this time we still have not raised the needed capital to proceed with the project. Our current fundraising goal is $2.5 million dollars. We have raised almost $1.3 million – which is a great testament to the people that support this community – but we still have a ways to go before we can put the plans into action. If you would like to commit financially to this project, please contact Lorrie Stedman, Director of Fund Development, at (712) 276-3821 x 3144 or Hallie Salmen, CEO, at x 3106. You may also donate through our donations page on our website. We need help from our whole community to bridge this fundraising gap and proceed to make the up-grades and improvements that are needed.
And again on the subject of time, we know that time flies but we are each the director of our own time. I hope that each of you makes your time “count” this holiday season. Spend it in worthwhile ways, knowing that once it is gone you can’t get it back. I hope that you each have a blessed and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hallie Salmen, CEO / EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR