Thanksgiving Thanks!

It is sometimes the small things that people do that are truly appreciated! And when strangers go out of their way to provide support without being asked - it is appreciated even more.

There are efforts all around to help and support those impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Thankfully, The Marvin experienced only minimal direct impact - losing power for 12 hours. Some of the families of The Marvin's senior residents were impacted by varying degrees - and many of them came to The Marvin for support (and often for a hot shower.)

While most of the families involved in The Marvin Children's Center were minimally impacted - there were several families who lost homes and/or possessions. We have reached out to all the families - asking them to confidentially let us know if there is any assistance we can provide.

It was therefore a wonderful surprise when The Marvin Children's Center, which is managed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions, was contacted by another Bright Horizons Center from Minnesota - offering their support.

As they said in their initial contact: "We...have been moved to action after seeing the devastation that Hurricane Sandy has caused. We wanted a way to support our larger Bright Horizons family as you deal with life after a natural disaster. ... we developed the “Division 12 Adopt-A-Center” program."

The Bright Horizons Medtronic South Child Care Center, located in Fridley Minnesota has adopted The Marvin Children's Center. They held a gift card drive with their famlies and faculty to give to employees impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Their "Better Together" teams worked to create a care package to lift the spirits of The Marvin Children's Center staff.

The "care packages" arrived on Monday, November 20th. The photos attached show the appreciative staff at The Marvin Children's Center.

In addition to all the little gifts and goodies - there were cards and letters from the children in the Minnesota center for the children in Norwalk. This was a perfect way to implement the "Towards a Better World: Helping Children Make a Difference" curriculum into a real life lesson. "Towards a Better World" is one part of Bright Horizon's "The World at Their Fingertips" curriculum, that supports and guides children's development of empathy, compassion and social justice.

At The Marvin, we are proud to connect generations "Under One Roof". It is also so nice to see that there are opportunities to connect people around the country.

While it sometimes takes a disaster to make these connections, it would be nice to be able to "Make a Better World" by having these connections be ongoing within all communities - without a disaster to be the impetus.

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Under One Roof!

Mary R. Windt
Executive Director
The Marvin
Connecting Generations
Under One Roof, Inc.
60 Gregory Boulevard
Norwalk, CT 06855
P:203-854-4660
F:203-854-4650
mrwindt@underoneroofinc.org