For many, being a good neighbor can be as simple as saying a friendly “hello” or shoveling snow from an older adult’s driveway. But for CC Young Senior Living in Dallas, this good neighborliness takes the form of sharing its own activities center, The Point, with the community at large.
Most notably, the continuing care retirement / life plan community hosts the CC Young Spirit is Ageless Art & Writing Contest. The contest is open to residents but also to everyone in the community aged 55 or more years. The oldest participant this year was 98.
“For us, it’s been a great way to connect to the community,” said Brian Parman, director of The Point & Pavilion at CC Young. “Part of our being a good neighbor [is], we’ve worked with local schools and local organizations, everything from the Young Men Service League to the Trinity Valley Beekeepers or The Harmonica Organization of Texas. Those groups actually utilize some of our meeting and event space here at The Point to host their monthly meetings, and they open their membership to our residents and Point members.”
The 2024 edition of the awards marked the contest’s 24th anniversary. Entrants were invited to submit all kinds of works, ranging from creative writing to photography. This year, there were 178 submissions in 15 categories. Entries are now on display in a gallery at The Point through Oct. 25.
Sometimes, inspiration for an entry can strike when it is least expected. Sometimes, that inspiration comes in the form of a family of baby ducks on campus.
“Our residents made sure that those eggs were secure and safe and watched them through the whole process,” Parman said. “When the eggs hatched, [it] actually helped to shepherd those ducks from our campus, which is about 20 acres, down across a busy street to the lake where they could go thrive. A resident wrote a story about that experience and did it for her grandson, entered it into Spirit is Ageless this year, and that is one of the stories that will be read at the awards program on Friday, October 25. But it’s turned into even more than that, because it brought the whole community together.”
A creative outlet also can be a source of joy for residents. Not only can the creative process yield a tangible final product; it also can help people grapple with the complex and visceral emotions they often feel. With the encouragement and guidance of Parman and his team, one resident was able to improve her mood thanks to her skills as a photographer and the campus ducks. Now that photo is on display for everyone to admire at The Point.
“One of our assisted living residents happened to be in her wheelchair at the right time and, with her cell phone, snapped a photo of all of the babies and the Mom and Dad,” Parman said. “It was just an incredible photo, and she was super proud of it. While we were doing art intake for the contest, [we told her], ‘You need to enter this into the contest! We can help you print it out.’ We found a frame, we put it together [and] we helped her fill out her application. I tell you, it sent her to the moon and back. We heard from her daughter that her mom had really been depressed for a while, [and now] she’s been happier than she’s been in a while. It was a really fun simple thing for us to do, but it made her day.”
Parman says it is never too late to pick up a new skill, and the contest offers proof. He sees retirement as a chance for reinvention and reinvigoration.
“[Retirement] is really just the beginning of a new chapter and a discovery of new things,” Parman said. “For many people, it’s about discovering how you want to spend your time, maybe opening your eyes to something that you wanted to try or maybe you had no idea [about].”
See the In Focus archive, and find out how to submit your photos and information for consideration, here.
