Author: mfehrmann

We’re so excited that we can start the new year at our communities by kicking off our “Celebrating Your Life,” an annual calendar of monthly lifestyle events which strives to enhance the resident experience at every community. We already know that the exciting and active lifestyle our residents enjoy is great, but we’re making it better with a focus on fun and engaging thematic events. It’s another way that a Westminster community is more than just a place to live — it’s a way of life.

Our goal is to ensure that we bring out every dimension of our exclusive MyWLife program for wellbeing of body, mind and soul, involving every department and all of the residents. This fun and engaging theme helps us capture the true celebration of life.

Last year, we enjoyed embracing the many wonderful memories of our residents and the importance of living life in the moment. This year, for “Celebrating Your Life,” our communities will be celebrating:

• January: New Beginnings
• February: Express Love
• March: Women and Men in History
• April: Going Green
• May: Taking Care of Yourself
• June: Summer School
• July: Patriotism
• August: Technology
• September: Humor
• October: World Showcase
• November: Thanksgiving
• December: Holidays

Each month’s program will cover MyWLife’s Eight Dimensions of Wellbeing — Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, Nutritional, Social, Community, Lifelong Learning and Vocational — and will involve residents and employees in the celebration.

To make things a little more interesting we’re going to be scoring ourselves each month on who did the best job — and an overall winner for 2020. We’ll be announcing 2019’s overall winner soon, and we can’t wait to see how this year’s celebrations turn out.

Join us all year to follow along with “Celebrating Your Life”!

Westminster Towers and Westminster Park Celebrated Hanukkah with the Jewish Pavilion

ORLANDO – This week, residents at Westminster Towers and Westminster Winter Park celebrated the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah with a special program featuring festive Hanukkah foods, games and a telling of the Hanukkah story.

The celebrations were hosted by the Jewish Pavilion, a faith-based organization with the mission of bringing Jewish holidays and celebration to older adults in retirement communities throughout Central Florida.

The Hanukkah celebrations at Westminster Winter Park and Westminster Towers helped Jewish residents in their communities connect with the traditional celebrations. Residents of different faiths at each community enjoyed games and the traditional meal of latkes, fried potato pancakes, as they celebrated and learned about the miracle of Hanukkah. 

Hanukkah, often called the Jewish Festival of Lights, is a holiday that commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Today the holiday is celebrated with gifts, a game played with a spinning top called a dreidel, and festive foods like latkes and jelly-filled doughnuts.

Hope McCormack, Jewish Pavilion Program Director for Downtown Orlando, led the residents at Westminster Towers in singing prayers and songs, and explained how the game of dreidel is played. McCormack also played trivia: “Does anyone know why the dreidel is so important to Hanukkah? When ancient Israel was occupied, studying the Torah was forbidden. The students would use the dreidel to continue studying.”

At Westminster Winter Park, Susan Bernstein, Jewish Pavilion Program Director for North Orlando, told the story of the military victory of the ancient Maccabees over the powerful Greek army, and about the miracle of light when the Temple was being purified.

“We were very pleased to host this Hanukkah celebration and to partner with the Jewish Pavilion,” said Rev. Walk Jones, Director of Church Relations for Westminster Communities of Florida. “I could see that the residents enjoyed it! There are many programs at our that inform and educate residents of different faiths about their neighbors and their traditions and beliefs.”

As a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, Westminster Communities of Florida is proud to serve residents representing the Jewish faith and countless others. Our celebrations of the holiday season are all part of our My W Life program for wellbeing of body, mind and spirit.

Thanks to Hope, Susan and the Jewish Pavilion for hosting this wonderful celebration at Westminster Towers and Westminster Winter Park!