Ep. 139: How a Retirement Community Raised $5M in 18 Months
EPISODE 139
How a Retirement Community Raised $5M in 18 Months
About the Episode:
What makes a retirement community more than just a place to live? How do you build a culture so strong that residents, their families, and even local businesses want to give back?
This week, we’re live at GiveCon, presented by Bloomerang and QGiv, with the Bridgewater Retirement Community team—and trust me, their fundraising approach is something special. They raised $5 million in just 18 months, but the real magic is in how they connect, the stories they tell, and the generosity they inspire every single day. This story is about fundraising and, more importantly, belonging, community, and impact. Whether you're in nonprofit development or just love hearing about organizations doing things right, this conversation is one you don’t want to miss. Hit play and get inspired!
Topics:
How Bridgewater Retirement Community built a culture where giving is second nature
The Live Well campaign success story – How BRC shifted from funding buildings to funding people—and raised $5M in record time
How BRC captures and shares the real-life impact of their programs
Why the very people they serve are some of their most passionate givers
How frontline staff turned ideas into reality, funding trips, wellness programs, and even a senior prom
The magic of relationship-driven fundraising – Why major gifts often come from deep trust, not just a strong pitch
How every team member at BRC sees themselves as a fundraiser
It’s not your stories—it’s how you’re telling them. If your amazing work isn’t getting the attention (and donations) it deserves, it’s time for a messaging shift. The Brave Fundraiser’s Guide guide gives you 10 done-for-you donor prompts to make your message impossible to ignore. Get it for free here! https://christinaedwards.krtra.com/t/xKuLs6tOiPZa
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“Just because it isn't something that feels right to you doesn't mean that it's the wrong thing to do” - Missy
“We are residents. We interact with them almost every day, and we have the great privilege of building relationships with them and building that community.”- Annie
“Being bold and taking risks is what really allowed us to nurture our innovation process.” - Annie
“Every team member that comes to our community, they receive the message that we want their feedback, fresh eyes, ears, ideas.” - Annie
“Relationship building is key. We could not do what we do if it weren't for the relationships that we have developed with our residents and other donors over the years.”- Missy
“The reason why our donors want to be engaged and want to make an impact themselves is because our team members have made that impact, and they have really made a difference in their lives” - Annie
“The worst part of our job is that we lose our friends way sooner then we're ready.” - Tammy
“The pessimist sees the glass as half empty; the optimist sees it as half full. The servant leader fills the cup up and looks for someone thirsty.”
Connect with the BRC Team:
Missy Stover - Development Officer, Bridgewater Retirement Community
Tammy Jordan - Executive Assistant, Bridgewater Retirement Community
Annie Frazier - Vice President for Development and Community Relations, Bridgewater Retirement Community
Connect with BRC:
Episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
Connect with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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Christina Edwards 0:00
You. So I'm welcoming the Bridgewater retirement community folks on the development side. Let's do a round of intros before we begin. Wonderful. I am Annie Frazier, and I am the Vice President for Development and Community Relations at VRC. I'm Tammy Jordan. I'm the executive assistant,
Unknown Speaker 0:19
and I'm Missy Stover, the development officer, and you're a resident Bloomerang Pro, yes, she's the backbone of the database. Amazing. Well, I think what would be nice to just start with were, are just some general takeaways. I feel like, anytime I'm conferencing, I feel like I've been a little bit at summer camp, and it's been so fun to get everyone together, but also to get your wheels turning. I'd love to hear anything that you're like. I'm excited to do that, or that seems interesting. Anyone want to share? Well, one of the greatest takeaways I came across so far was just because it isn't something that feels right to you doesn't mean that it's the wrong thing to do. Say more.
Unknown Speaker 1:05
Well, yeah, so if it's something that you would think is not a best practice, it may be, even though it doesn't feel like it should be a best practice. Yeah, good one. So I thought that's interesting. That's something to keep in mind. Yeah, totally.
Unknown Speaker 1:21
I just had an eye opening realization of doing more deeper segmentation in our database, in order we do a lot of segmentation now, but I'm just getting ideas of more ways we can segment segment and
Unknown Speaker 1:41
just really hone in on some specific that jumps out of, like, a newer segment that you're like, Oh, that would be kind of fun. Um, actually, not really. I mean, it's more my curiosity is more of, what else can we do? Yeah, like, how much, how much deeper Can I dive?
Unknown Speaker 2:01
I think for me, it's just I'm really taking away the perspective of the donor, especially in how we are talking to them and collaborating with them, especially in our appeals, in any communication, any forms of our communication, how we're considering the donor and speaking to the donor, and the opportunity that the donor has to join us. And for me, that's just a little bit of a switch, because I feel like in our industry, we are so used to focusing on what our team is doing, what our residents are doing, what's important to us as a community, but really, how are we shifting our focus to the donor and how they can be involved. I love that. So let's start with this. Tell us about your community. Tell us about the work you do, and kind of set the stage for that before we get into some really fun campaigns. Great, yep,
Unknown Speaker 2:54
oh, go for it.
Unknown Speaker 2:56
So we are
Unknown Speaker 2:57
a life plan community. Some call that also a continuing care retirement community in Bridgewater, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, and we serve residents in all three levels of care. So we have independent living, assisted living and nursing. We are a community. We have done a lot of work over the last decade to really be on the innovative side of our industry and really focus on we have a beautiful community that we have renovated from head to toe over the last decade. But I'd say most of our work has really been focused on our culture and how we can focus on the life that our residents get to live in our community, and the focus heavily on the engagement and relationship side, how we can focus on connections and wellness and really building out all of our wellness initiatives.
Unknown Speaker 3:57
It's really, I'd say those are our top things that we are known for anything else to add.
Unknown Speaker 4:04
They captured it. She did a great job explaining it. Let's dig into So initially, when we met, we talked about your live well campaign, and in it, you raised $5 million in 18 months. Yes, that's fun. It was. So walk us through that, like, Give us an overview of the campaign, and then we'll kind of drill down into some success points. Okay, well, we really started planning for it during COVID. Okay, so that was interesting.
Unknown Speaker 4:34
It was interesting,
Unknown Speaker 4:36
but we found out that our donors were very supportive of us, and they really felt like they could get behind what we wanted to do. This was a different campaign for us. Usually, in the past, we have campaign raised funds for bricks and mortar versus programming and this program, this campaign was for programming and.
Unknown Speaker 5:00
And it was our most successful campaign yet
Unknown Speaker 5:04
say more about the programming part. So we we knew that we had the infrastructure in place for our community. We had all these wonderful buildings, and we really didn't need to add anything to that, but we really did want to improve our programming to improve our the quality of life for our residents, our team members and the greater community, even. And out of our campaign, we did create some new funds for resident programming. We created the workwell Fund, which supports our team members, and there's a couple funds under that. And we also are probably our best known fund is our Forever Family Fund, which helps us keep our residents at BRC if they access their financial resources. Because we don't kick our residents out if they run out of money. I just want to bookmark you should use that in messaging the way you see that in just normal layman's terms, we don't pick our residents out. That's really good.
Unknown Speaker 6:05
I would love to hear. Because you just named kind of a couple of different buckets of programming that you were raising money for. And how did you disseminate that out, through story, through appeals. Because that's like multiple different like, I think about donor motivation, right? And, well, they might be interested in this one thing, but not that one thing. How did you roll that out in fundraising? Through a lot of conversations, okay, we had a lot of conversations with our residents, and we had an idea through our feasibility study, kind of what the bucket should be, okay? And that helped us clarify what our donors interests were and how we should divide up the funds. And one of the things that we talked about was the culture of giving within your residents, but there are also non resident donors correct tell let's first talk about those, the non residents donors. So our non resident donors are comprised, are comprised of several different groups. One is our residents families. So we're so fortunate that not only do our residents support BRC, but frequently their family members also do. We also receive a lot of support from the local community,
Unknown Speaker 7:24
where our organization is entering its 60th year. Wow, so we have some longevity in the community, and
Unknown Speaker 7:33
we're fortunate that we can build on that, and also just our some local businesses also are supportive
Unknown Speaker 7:42
with the resident families, and let's go there first, are they oftentimes helping support the resident
Unknown Speaker 7:53
financial cost as well? Or is that typically, is there? Does that make sense? I that I don't really know the answer to because we don't really have financial information. We don't have financial information on our residents. Okay,
Unknown Speaker 8:06
I'm wondering how those donor how those donor conversations happen with the resident families, what that sounds like, what they're excited about. I think they are happy that their family members, their loved ones, are happy at BRC, and they're so thankful for the care that they receive. And a few years ago, I ran into a friend whose mother had recently moved to BRC, and he said we were a little hesitant when she first told us that she wanted to move to BRC, he said, because she's very introverted and is not outgoing, and it has been the best thing for her. He said she's sitting in the cafe and chatting as people go by and saying hello, and he said she has blossomed.
Unknown Speaker 8:53
And talk to me about the like business support in the community. How did you cultivate those relationships? Well, those relationships really are ongoing. They have have developed over the years, and even prior to our current team being there, they are just it's just relationships that have continued over the years. Sometimes it may be
Unknown Speaker 9:18
businesses that just feel very strongly about what we do, or maybe they had loved ones who also were at BRC. Yeah. Now let's move to the residents. So not the same, but adjacent. I'm thinking about a couple of clients who sort of lament, right the people we serve are already experiencing this crisis. So for example, an organization that might serve rare disease, right, they're already pouring into figuring out, you know how to cure this or how to deal with their symptoms, and lamenting the stress of like now I'm asking them to be donors, too. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 10:00
Uh, Christina, like, how, like, that's, it's too much. Like, I'm going to the sort of the mentality of, I'm going to the, well, too much. And when I talk to the three of you, you had this like, Oh no, no, no, no.
Unknown Speaker 10:14
We know we are so fortunate. It's so so fortunate. So talk to the burnt out founder or executive director who has this, this belief system. So in our case, our foundation, when it was founded back in the 80s, was established primarily to raise funds to keep our residents at BRC if they run out of money. And just over the years, our residents, if they're able, often want to support that fund. So many of them tell me, I never know when I may need that. So that's that is they just are a very generous, caring group of residents. Yeah, what else do you have? Yeah, I think too, it just speaks to we are. We are a unique community. And I say that because, you know, we are residents. We are interacting with them almost every day, yeah, and we have that great privilege of building relationships with them and building that community. And I think for us, a big part of this too, is we've taken that time to really
Unknown Speaker 11:27
intentionally craft a community in a culture where they are very tangibly, feeling like they are a part of something. And I think for our residents, who feel that they are inspired by that and they want to give back. They see the opportunities that they have to live life and live it well and to be engaged and to hopefully thrive. And I think they also want that for their neighbors. And so, you know what we call our Forever Family Fund. We have a strong history of residents giving to that, but also with the live well campaign, I think for us, that was
Unknown Speaker 12:07
also a result of the years of work that we have put into really making sure that the residents and our community at large can tangibly feel our culture and are touched by it and so Much of that, you know, we talk all the time about really fostering an environment where relationships and connections can thrive. And so it's this mutually benefiting relationship where we have residents who want to give, and even in ways that we hadn't traditionally done in the past. We have, just as part of the live well campaign residents who said, you know, I want to give specifically to team members because we see how hard they are working. Yep, we know how they care so deeply for us. And truly, we have team members who just go above and beyond. I mean, we could sit here all day and share stories of how our team members do such a beautiful job of going beyond just clinical care and really
Unknown Speaker 13:07
just making a deep impact in the lives of our residents and their family members, and that because we have that closeness and we've got so much work into creating that intentional culture, I think that a lot of times speaks for itself, and that inspires our residents to want to give. And so that example, yes, we have a resident who said, during the pandemic, I want to give, but I wanted specifically to go to team members, yeah, and I want to see, we want to be able to see that. And our current, our Vice President, you know, she did such a great job of walking them through the idea of, well, let's think through how we can make this an impactful gift that you can see, you can see the fruits of your of your donation. And so we have a whole we call it culture university that was supported during the pandemic by a donor that wanted to pour into the lives of team members. And now that's going to programming specifically for team members, of doing financial wellness seminars, any personal growth, any stress management seminars, anything that's going to help them as a person while they're on and off the clock, and so I think we're really unique in that sense, that
Unknown Speaker 14:26
they can feel how special it is to be a part of our community. And I think that is inspiring for them to want to give what you're saying is, it's reminding me, or I'm thinking of this word of like, this magic. It sounds like there's a magic that is different in your community than other. We're talking about communities than other communities, like, there's, there's, there's a richness.
Unknown Speaker 14:51
But I'm thinking of a school that I've worked with in the past, and it's that there's a magic there when you're on campus, or some magic the challenge is.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
So if I'm not on campus, how do I share that magic with a donor or a donor prospect, if they are not seeing it? So how do you is it through stories? Is it through videos? Is it through appeals? Like, what does that look like? Sharing that that culture to donors? I
Unknown Speaker 15:18
think stories is a great one. You know, we we have a whole program that we implemented years ago to really capture these stories. Because when we, when we talk about stories, and what we do in our industry, you know, we call these stories, they're, they're the soul of our organization, because so much of culture and that feeling we get that all the time, that, hey, I come on to your community and it feels different. I hear that from residents, and I hear that from every new team member that comes to our community, that there is a palpable feeling, and that can feel very intangible at times, like you can sense it. But what is it when we can have that story and we can share that. That's when it becomes real, and I think that's when we can share it and celebrate it, yeah, and I think that's what captures a lot of a lot of parts of our donors and our supporters, with the live well campaign, did you gather stories ahead of time to like, bank them, for videos, for appeals, for donor conversations. What did that look like?
Unknown Speaker 16:24
I don't really recall actually leading up to the campaign we were actually we spearheaded a community study, a senior community needs assessment, okay, that was, that was a little bit more global. I mean, it was for our town and the surrounding city and counties, and so it was spearheaded by us, but we pulled in
Unknown Speaker 16:52
James Madison University students, Bridgewater College students, and we it was during the pandemic, or right at the beginning of the pandemic, and we were really canvassing all types of other organizations getting out into the community. We set up booths
Unknown Speaker 17:10
at the fair and all these different places to collect data, and we got out of that
Unknown Speaker 17:18
several key findings of what the needs of the seniors in the greater community were, what were some of the surprising things, or the things you learned where you had a hunch, right and that you proved true? So either, well, housing was definitely a big one, transportation,
Unknown Speaker 17:38
and the third one
Unknown Speaker 17:41
escapes me right now,
Unknown Speaker 17:44
but in doing that, we also did conversations with our residents, and from those conversations gleaned some of the things that they were looking for. Like we've got this great place to live, but you know, be really nice to have some educational opportunities, whether that was partnering with the local community college or whether that was presenting something for ourselves. So we were, we were just gleaning all of these different things, so it was more of what they wanted that we were looking for. I love the idea of a study almost pre, launch, right? And I like that you went into the community and beyond to go, what is the pulse of this, right? And then that helped inform your stories and your campaign, yeah, yeah. Let's dig into you've mentioned
Unknown Speaker 18:37
some of the funds that came through, so let's talk about some of the funds, because there's some really cool outputs of this. Yeah. Outputs of this. Yes, so of course, the first one is our Forever Family Fund, which supports our residents who run out of money. But we also established the work the work well Fund, which is for team members. And Annie touched on that earlier when she talked
Unknown Speaker 19:00
about that, but so the workwell fund is like an umbrella fund that is for team member education and well being. And also under that, we have our team member Relief Fund, which supports our team members if there is a catastrophic event in their lives and they need some financial help to get through it, and that is a grant based program, so they do not need to replace repay that those funds. We also have a professional development program for our team members. So say, if a for an example, if a CNA wishes to go back to school to become an LPN, we can help them pay for that. We will cover up to 75% of their tuition, and for our team members who want to do other trainings or something related to their fields. We also have funds that what that can assist them.
Unknown Speaker 19:55
We have our energized life Fund, which is resident program.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
And we've had some really neat things come out of that.
Unknown Speaker 20:04
One of those is our innovation grants. And Tammy has really worked closely with innovation grants, so you may want to talk a little bit about that. Yeah, I would love to, actually, I looked up a few statistics for this.
Unknown Speaker 20:19
We are almost at the end of our second full year of grants and our first year so our innovation grants are opened up to all team members, regardless of their role, if they have an idea of something that they believe would enrich the lives of other team members or of residents or a community outreach project, they can apply for a grant, and it goes through committee and it's determined whether or not those will go through. So our first year of grants, we gave out $85,000
Unknown Speaker 20:56
our second year of grants, we gave out $295,000
Unknown Speaker 21:01
and that.
Unknown Speaker 21:04
So those those grants have funded some really awesome programs, which was kind of the whole goal of the live well campaign. So we have bought tobertofl systems, which is an interactive system that is targeted for people with cognitive issues, but it's also used for different types of therapy, and we we started out with one our first year of grants, we have now funded seven additional ones. So we've funded a total of eight. We also partnered with a community another community agency, and we matched funds for them to be able to purchase one because they didn't have the same capabilities that we had. We have done an on site speaker series. We are getting ready to host our third senior prom.
Unknown Speaker 22:01
We did,
Unknown Speaker 22:03
oh, it's so fun.
Unknown Speaker 22:05
We this year we had
Unknown Speaker 22:08
a frontline team member apply for a grant for an overnight trip to take assisted living residents off campus and to travel. And they did an overnight trip. It was fabulous, such amazing feedback we've done. Created a team break space. We have opening minds through art, which is an art therapy program. We have funded two positions. So the first year, one of the concepts was to have a first year salary funded by a grant to determine if that would be a permanent position. So we funded two positions. We have partnered with Valley program for aging services, with which is our local local agency to help them buy a an accessible vehicle because their vehicle was failing, all kinds of other community outreach. So amazing things that the this particular campaign was made possible for us. I'm thinking of like the families of the residents hearing about the field trip, the families of the
Unknown Speaker 23:20
residents from the prom. And I'm getting you actually went right, what? No, oh, okay, end up going and to be honest, we do a lot of that already. That's all ingrained into what we do. But you know, you said this well this morning in your session, yeah, Christina, about being bold and taking risks and this whole innovation grant
Unknown Speaker 23:42
process that we have. It really allows us to do that. It allows us to one of our core values is innovation. We teach we teach it, we say it all the time. It's not something that's just on our walls. But it's not just a buzzword. It is not just a buzzword. I mean, every team member that comes to our community, they are they receive the message that, hey, we want your feedback. We want your your fresh eyes, your ears, your ideas. And we're not just saying we want to listen to your ideas, but we actually have raised the resources to be able to support those ideas, and it allows us to take some risks and try some things that, hey, this would be great. Maybe we're going to operationalize it, if it's a new position, if we're testing it out and seeing what kind of impact it makes in our community, or, yeah, we're taking nursing and assisted living residents on vacation, because who doesn't love a great vacation, and how impactful is that? You know, one of my favorite stories from that trip is
Unknown Speaker 24:44
this was a frontline team member who coordinated this amazing trip to go to the lake.
Unknown Speaker 24:51
And we've never done an overnight trip like this before. We've gone to the beach and theme parks and things, but this was our first time doing an overnight.
Unknown Speaker 25:00
Night trip, and they ended up renting a pontoon boat, and it was a resident's first time ever riding a boat. And you think about the impact of that, and without, without that innovation, without having such an innovative campaign and being intentional about setting aside funds for that purpose, and then really making sure that our community is using it and using it well. It's right privilege. It really is. I think it speaks to the culture you've created. Because it would be very easy to say, we can't do that. It's going to be too hard. How are we going to plan this logistics, right? We don't do field we've never done a field trip before. How are we gonna read? Yeah, and it's like, and that's what sets you apart, is that you're like, all right, yes, we can. Here's how we're gonna do it. That's so cool. That's so cool. Any lessons, kind of big lessons learned or takeaways, whether it's through this, this campaign, or just through the recent years that stand out to you. Relationship Building is key. Okay, say more.
Unknown Speaker 26:07
We could not do what we do if it weren't for the relationships that we have developed with our residents and other donors over the years,
Unknown Speaker 26:18
just getting this, telling the story, sharing the stories and how they have helped make a difference in the lives of the people we serve. If I can, I'll just add on to that, one of the other gifts that we a very large gift that we received, kind of adjacent to the live well campaign, because it was not one that we went looking for
Unknown Speaker 26:44
due to the great relationships that Missy and our outgoing VP have created.
Unknown Speaker 26:51
One couple came to them and said, we have X amount of money that we would like to give, and we'd really like to create a walking trail
Unknown Speaker 27:05
so through a whole series of other things that then happened and another donor couple that came alongside this amazing walking trail A mile long, wow, all completely accessible with multiple terrains
Unknown Speaker 27:25
was created, and that was only made available because of that relationship building that had taken place, that CO creating, that right that you know, Missy and again, Annie is our incoming VP, but our outgoing VP have just been so strategic about knowing what it is that is important to our donors, like this couple is really passionate about this thing, and we have this opportunity in pairing those together that that's just been magic. That's magic? Yeah, absolutely, I wasn't a part of the live well campaign. But I also think, just from my perspective, one thing that's been instrumental is our focus on teamwork too. Because this foundation team, we have almost 500 team members in our community, and Foundation team has traditionally been three people.
Unknown Speaker 28:22
We're small. People
Unknown Speaker 28:25
mighty and wow, I think about how our community has really leaned into teamwork over the last again, last couple of years, been very intentional about that. And these ladies who have worked
Unknown Speaker 28:40
with the Foundation team longer than myself, have really done a great job of helping everybody who's involved in our community know that they are fundraisers too, that so many of the reasons why our donors want to be engaged and want to do want to make an impact themselves, is because our team members have made that impact, and they have really made a difference in their lives, and so making sure, I feel like these ladies have just done such a great job, making sure that our team members know, yes, you are showing up to work and you're doing a really important job, but you need to realize that the impact that You make is multiplied,
Unknown Speaker 29:21
and that's just been really fun to see. That's awesome.
Unknown Speaker 29:25
I'm curious. Given the audience you serve, the work you do, our seniors are, I just feel like they're so fun. They are,
Unknown Speaker 29:37
if I may, I do think there's a correlation that I'm sure we can find it, the older you get, the more you're just like, I'm just
Unknown Speaker 29:45
gonna say
Unknown Speaker 29:46
it
Unknown Speaker 29:49
a lot of honesty, yeah. I
Unknown Speaker 29:53
also feel like there's a correlation to age and stubbornness. But.
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 30:01
I lovingly say that, because I'm gonna be how I am, like, this is how it is, right? I'm not gonna write so any stories from our seniors, senior favorite, favorite stories or, like, stand out residents that you would like to share, in some ways, I feel like we have a couple 100 grandparents.
Unknown Speaker 30:18
Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love that. The worst part of our job is that we lose our friends way, way sooner, yeah, then we're ready. How do you deal with that? That's inevitable. It's it's interesting. Our other guests for this series, we were talking about the same thing, and it's like, how that's, that's part of the gig, right? How do you support your staff? How do you support your residents in in dealing with death, if we may go there, yeah, yeah. I actually like that question in a way, because truly, I think we're doing, we're fortunate to do really important work, yeah. And
Unknown Speaker 31:00
I know this can sound a little odd, but we often attend our residents, funerals, memorials, Celebration of Life services, and something that I that is so impactful to me is when you are there Celebrating their lives, and so often, so much of the focus is about the amazing years they had, these last years of their lives. And, you know, I went to a service, and they were one of the main stories that they told was of how their dad was taken from BRC on these bus trips to go visit his farm and drive around his home place, and how he would intentionally get the bus lost so we could stay
Unknown Speaker 31:52
out longer. Of truly,
Unknown Speaker 31:55
it's an honor. Yeah, it is such an honor. And we know that's a part of it, of having to say goodbye. You build these, these, you know, these incredible relationships, and you get to know these people with amazing life stories, and it's so impactful, and you do have to say goodbye. But I think for so many of us, we can count as such an honor to be a part of their lives in a really delicate time of their lives, it can be very vulnerable time, but we get to create really special memories with them. And something we say to our community all the time is we live life together. So we are all more admin jobs, but all of us have the opportunity to I play pickleball with the residents. And yeah, Tammy is doing art, and Missy is doing Fit and Fab every Friday,
Unknown Speaker 32:42
no matter where you are, in our in our community, you you are expected to be a part of it. And so we all build those relationships. And I think for all of us, it is an honor. It's so special honor as as sad as it can be to say goodbye, I think we can see how special it is that we get to be a part of their lives in such an intimate way. I hear a lot of reciprocity in our conversation today, versus how do I get a donation? How do I get right? I hear a lot of it's as much for you as it is for me. It's as much for us as it is for them. I'm hearing a lot of that, and I think that's a lot of the magic. Yes, that clearly exists in your residents, in your staff, in your donors and all of it. So thank you. Thank you for sharing. We ask every guest to share a favorite affirmation thought mantra go to and I would love it if y'all would share yours.
Unknown Speaker 33:47
I actually have it. We have a community mantra.
Unknown Speaker 33:50
We could just do that as the group, we all know, let's hear it. So as a community, we have a mantra. Again, we have this intentional culture, but we really needed a mantra that was simple and something that really captures the spirit and that essence of you. Keep using that word magic, but we wanted to capture something that really points towards that impact and that connection. And so for us, that mantra is fill the cup. And we want that as a mindset of, Hey, how can we fill the cup? Yeah, of somebody else. And it's actually inspired by a quote that we encountered years ago that says, the pessimist sees the glass as half empty, the optimist sees it as half full. The servant leader fills the cup up and looks for someone who's thirsty. So for us in our community, and that's that really, is truly the mindset when we think about, you know, coming to work each and every day. So much of us, as you know, we are juggling so many things in our lives. But if we can walk through the doors each and every day and think, How can I make an impact on just one person, yeah, how can I make a small difference? You.
Unknown Speaker 35:00
Might just be a smile, calling a resident by name, sitting and having coffee with somebody, or maybe it is taking them out to lunch that day, or doing something out of the box and doing something special. The flip side for that is also you can't pour from an empty cup, and so we really emphasize and prioritize us taking not only taking care of ourselves, but also peer to peer. How are we taking care of each other as teammates? And those are actually some of our favorite stories as a community, too, of how we are taking care of each other. Yeah, because we know if, if I feel supported and like I have healthy relationships and the support that I need to hopefully Thrive that's going to impact my attitude and how I show up and how I interact with our residents, with my fellow teammates, and anybody that I'm going to encounter throughout the day. So good. Thank you for sharing that that was good. Well, we would love to connect with you. So where is the best place our audience, our listeners, can find you.
Unknown Speaker 36:03
Our website is www, dot BRC living.org,
Unknown Speaker 36:09
you can also find us on Instagram. It's BRC living. BRC living, yeah. Facebook, Bridgewater,
Unknown Speaker 36:20
Bridgewater retirement community, yeah, yeah, amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you.