Glenaire Retirement Community and GiGi’s Playhouse: A Partnership Grounded in Love and Joy!

May 2025 marked the one-year celebration of Gigi’s Fantastic Friends coming to Glenaire—a Senior Living community in Cary.  It all started in April 2024 with a concert by GiGi’s handbells performing and grew from that beginning. To highlight our year, we recently hosted a “Gigi’s In Review” event with a visual slide show of our years’ activities for other residents and visitors to see.  Gigi’s Joyful Ringers, the handbell group, performed and the audience was enthralled!  What a great year it has been! Each month we spend a day together doing arts and crafts, cooking, playing chair volleyball, doing seated exercise, and having all-around fun!  Two sets of pottery classes produced beautiful handmade and fired pots by some of the adult participants.  We have celebrated the seasons with activities related to fall, winter, spring and summer. One activity we did together was reading the book, Stone Soup and then making our own version of stone soup. We had a Halloween parade through our campus, where many residents dressed in costumes and passed out treats.  Santa visited in December along with singing Christmas carols and cookie making. The Fantastic Friends have given back to loved ones and the community through making beautiful cards for holidays, cookies to share, and helping with the annual Glenaire Diaper Bank event. The Diaper Bank involved taking 8 adult participants to help stack, wrap, and package diapers to give to under-served communities. The chair volleyball games with residents have been quite competitive with ferocious yelling and cheering!

What has GiGi’s meant to me personally and how did we get this partnership moving forward?  Two years ago, my husband and I moved to Glenaire—a Senior living community within walking distance of GiGi’s Raleigh location.  We knew about GiGi’s and had attended their annual Gala fundraiser event. One of our daughter’s also served on the GiGi’s board.  We just couldn’t let this opportunity to partner go by.  Making this life transition was difficult for us and GiGi’s brings so much life and vibrancy into Glenaire each month. It can be noisy with laughter and sometimes boisterous activity—it makes me feel alive with these younger adults.  Sometimes we call it organized chaos—nonstop fun!  The relationships with the participants are so special and individual.  I love the participants with welcome hugs and more hugs, getting to know their personalities, seeing the smiles, seeing them participate and lead in small ways, and how they have become comfortable with our group; this all brings me so much joy.  I will not single out any one participant because each is a unique person but to see them blossom in their own way is what is so meaningful. I always hope at the end of each GiGi’s activity day that I have made a difference in the life of at least one person that day.  These are my favorite days of each month.  I can’t imagine Glenaire without GiGi’s.

In addition to myself, what does our partnership mean to the residents and staff at Glenaire?  Our group of about 12 dedicated volunteers are challenged and rewarded as we plan and interact with GiGi’s each month. Other residents participate in certain activities.  Our staff is also so supportive and involved in the physical activities. For the Glenaire community it gives a chance to give back. By joining with smiles and hugs, we create food to share, crafts to enjoy, songs to sing, and lots of laughs and fun.  As Seniors we have skills to offer but we learn as much from our GiGi’s friends as they do from us—it is the highlight of the month and a true blessing. Who doesn’t like to have a good time with friends?  We are family together.

            -Written by: Bev Kilpatrick