This retirement community's 1st-day photos will make you smile from ear to ear
September is a fresh start for the young and old alike.
The folks who live at Village on the Park, a retirement community in Oklahoma City, proved that when they took their own "first-day" photos outlining, among other things, what they hope the new (school) year brings.
"The idea came to me in a dream," Jennifer Atchley, the life enrichment director of Village on the Park, told "Good Morning America." "I must have been looking at all those first-day photos on Facebook. I woke up at 4 a.m. and thought, 'hey, that's a cool idea.'"
The residents of Village on the Park thought so too.
"We come from all walks of life," said Karen Proctor, the executive director. "Teachers, nurses, insurance salespeople. We're the coolest blended family," she said.
The community, she told "GMA," is "very much like college." Residents show up nervous on the first day but quickly find their niche.
Atchley said the residents "lined up to have their photos taken."
Among the goals for the coming year: stay healthy, remember people's names, ride a horse and go on a picnic.
The photos were posted to the community's Facebook page and people who've seen them have been reaching out to Village on the Park to make some of these wishes come true. One person has started a separate Facebook page to match residents with pen pals. Letters have been arriving from as far away as Europe and Australia, Atchley said. There are still some residents waiting to be matched.
Proctor said that while some of the responses were predictable -- "Margaret said she wanted to be a blessing to everyone and she already is, she's like our welcome wagon" -- some were a surprise.
"For one of the residents, her age and her year of high school graduation didn't quite jibe," she said. "We found out she had left high school to contribute to the war effort and ended up graduating many years later, the same year as her son."
It was just one of several fascinating things the staff learned about the residents during the activity.
"Many of them, they lived through the Depression." Proctor said. "They had nothing. But they have no bitterness, they have so much grace."
Atchley hopes the photos being seen by so many will inspire people to take the time to listen and encourage them to do good.
Proctor agreed and said the staff of Village on the Park is "blessed" to work there. "We have so much to learn."
