A rush of cooling air or heat greets Kaitlyn as she walks through the Westerwood Community automatic doors to pick up the stacks of magazines that the residents have left with Kristin, the Lifestyle Director. This relationship began just over a year ago with a quick email sent into the community.
When Kaitlyn began volunteering with Mag Literacy, she was told that a good resource for magazine donations was about to end and began thinking about good local resources that could be tapped to supplement the decrease in magazines that was about to shortly occur. Going through organizations and businesses in the area, her mind went to a retirement community that she had been familiar with for over a decade.
Westerwood, formally Friendship Village, is located in the heart of a comfortable residential neighborhood just south of Westerville. The community sits on 23 wooded acres accented by gardens, walking trails, and welcoming courtyards.Kaitlyn has fond memories of visiting her extended family at the community and thought of her current family member still residing at Westerwood. Sending out an email she received a quick reply from Kristin, they would love to help – how can they get involved?
Westerwood provides living options from independent apartments to assisted living apartments and suites, a memory support neighborhood, short-term rehabilitation, skilled nursing, and long-term care. Kaitlyn knew that her relatives had and continue to read magazines and thought what a great opportunity to get a variety of magazines from the community. Kaitlyn asked Kristin if it would be possible for residents to have a spot to drop their gently used magazines for a pick up? Kristin agreed and thus the relationship was made between Mag Literacy and Westerwood.
To date the Westerwood community has donated over 1,000 magazines towards hundreds of thousands of at-risk children and families across the U.S. and around the globe.
To learn more about Westerwood please visit their website at Westerwood | Senior Living in Columbus, OH (liveatwesterwood.org).