The residents of Ardency Aroona retirement village at Yowie Bay received a welcome boost recently with the arrival of letters written by South Australian school students.
A Lendlease retirement village manager in South Australia came up with the idea of asking primary school students to write personalised letters to residents in NSW who were locked down due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Kindergarten to year 6 students from McAuley Community School got to work, writing more than 300 personalised letters which were then sent to four Lendlease-operated villages, including Ardency Aroona in Yowie Bay.
Ardency Aroona manager Joel Lean said they received about 80 cards and letters, which were distributed to residents.
"We wanted to surprise the residents. When they arrived we ensured everyone got a card from the children and everyone loved it," he said.
"The feedback that we got from the residents is that it was really nice of the children to think of them."
While the retirement village was not locked down as such, due to the fact it is not an aged care centre, it had to operate under NSW Health rules, meaning its restaurant closed and activities ceased.
"Our residents felt the lockdown. They certainly felt the impact of not seeing their grandkids, kids and families so to receive these cards and letters had a big impact on them," Mr Lean said.
Residents Kay and Neville Weidemier said the arrival of a sunflower card with a loving message inside brightened their day.
"The lovely yellow colours of the sunflowers and bees were so sunny that they kept reminding us of happier days to come," they said.
"We leave the card on our dining table so we can see it all day.
"We can't thank those children enough for caring."
