Social Accountability Comes Naturally for Lifespace

When Marci Shusis and her husband joined Lifespace Communities’ Beacon Hill campus in Lombard, Illinois, in 2013, she knew she needed a project.

“There are a lot of things to do here — exercise classes, people get together to play games, art classes,” Shusis says. But she wanted her life at Beacon Hill to be shaped by a greater purpose, as it always had been.

After retiring from Illinois Bell Telephone Company in 1985 as a manager, Shusis got involved in the company’s retirees club, where she committed her time to the Hug-a-Bear Project, a volunteer program that provides hand-made bears to distraught children in difficult situations.

This passion followed Shusis to Beacon Hill. “I’m not that into art or playing games. I just thought, this is a project. If I could get other residents involved, these people would be doing something for someone,” she says.

It didn’t take long for Shusis to have a conversation with Beacon Hill team members and Executive Director Blaire Goldstein, who gave the project an immediate green light and helped her find other interested residents. In two years, the group has stuffed close to 2,000 bears.

Such committed volunteers represent the heart of Beacon Hill and embody the social accountability Lifespace embraces at each of its 12 life care retirement communities. As a not-for-profit organization focused on purposeful senior living, Lifespace’s social accountability comes naturally, says Jodi Hirsch, senior vice president and general counsel.

“It’s a continuation of our mission to help seniors. This is expanded to seniors outside of the community,” Hirsch says. “We share with the wider community, with others who need support for their grief, loss, or medical challenges. We become a resource for seniors, and that’s a great fulfillment of our mission.

Lifespace residents and team members take the mission beyond the campuses — with the kind of innovation and enthusiasm Shusis and her neighbors display.

Hug-a-Bears soon led to Halloween bears given to the children who attend Boo Fest at Beacon Hill. Then there were Christmas bears for those who came for cookies with Santa. Then another resident thought a local hospital could use some bears, nursing pillows, and square blankets to cover the incubators in the neonatal intensive care unit. Yet another resident suggested reaching out to Phil’s Place, a support network for people undergoing chemotherapy.

To cover this much ground, Shusis has gathered quite the sewing army. “We’ve got 35 people involved. Some are closers. Some stuff the bears. I have women on the side that crochet chemo hats for ladies at Phil’s Friends,” she says. “Now we do workshops twice a month and make visits. People from here go the hospitals to make our deliveries. They take goodie boxes and cards too. I make visits to the Ronald McDonald house and take three people with me. They like to see where their work is going.”

Beacon Hill Executive Director Goldstein also likes what she sees in outreach efforts like Hug-a-Bear. “Our residents do amazing things and see everything as a possibility,” she says. “They have lived a lifetime making things better in the world that they lived in, and they have no intention of stopping because they have moved into a Lifespace community.  I welcome their innovative ideas to help others outside our community and within our walls.”

A Multiplying Effect 

This mission of service also creates a sustaining circle for the good, life-giving work Lifespace does in each of its locations. When Lifespace gives back, it protects its tax-exempt status, enabling the organization to provide charitable benefits to others. And the circle continues.

In 2015 Lifespace provided more than $47 million in charitable benefits through subsidized rates for residents who have outlived their resources; allowances for costs not fully covered by Medicaid and Medicare; free health services, transportation, and food; grants to individual communities to enhance residents’ quality of life; and contributions to the neighborhoods and cities that Lifespace serves.

The impact is multiplied by the way Lifespace’s social accountability connects residents, team members and neighbors. “Lifespace is our people,” Hirsch says. “Social accountability improves resident and team member engagement. The outreach activities are another platform for them to get to know each other better. Not only are we doing good for our neighbors, it also makes residents and team members feel better because they’re contributing.”

That perspective encouraged Harbour’s Edge last year to give 1,700 pounds of food and $3,000 to stop hunger in Delray Beach, Florida. Resident Peg Ekberg, who helps organize this work, admired the care her fellow residents demonstrated in serving the hungry. “If you have a passion for something other than yourself,” she says, “it’s powerful and invigorating.”

Deerfield in Urbandale, Iowa, donated many truckloads of goods to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore during renovations at the community. The donations benefitted neighbors with lower incomes and diverted materials from area landfills.

Chef Matt Van Marter and sous chef Chris Varner of The Waterford in Juno Beach, Florida, went to homes to prepare exclusive meals as a part of The Ultimate Dinner Party. Through their six-course culinary efforts, Van Marter and Varner raised their share of $239,000 for The Children’s Home Society, an organization that supports foster care, adoptions, abuse prevention, parent education, emergency shelter, and community schools.

Using their skills and resources to help others is the Lifespace way. Or, as Van Marter put it, “When the opportunity arises to give something back, you’ve got to jump on it.”

[In the cover photo, from left to right. Row 1 (seated): Peggy Sepanski, Fran Rossi, Marcie Shusis, Marlene Schalund, Betty Pearson. Row 2 (standing): Betty Peaslee, Carol Keefe, Gloria Casper, Pat Nosal, Patti Wright, Doris Wilterding. Row 3 (standing): Rena Gay, Doris Swanson, Alice Sommerville]

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