Lowrie Place project benefits seniors, children
A community service project stitched together by a Lowrie Place senior living official is giving residents there a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Carol Warner, director of resident programming at Lowrie Place, is overseeing the donation of new and gently used stuffed animals to the Butler Township senior living center.
The cuddly donations will be given to children at frightening emergency scenes by township firefighters, police, ambulance personnel, and county Children and Youth Services staff.
Warner said stuffed animals will be accepted during business hours Monday through Friday at Lowrie House, 100 Stirling Drive, Butler, until the end of January.
She said hundreds of donations have been placed in two huge boxes in the lobby at Lowrie Place already.
One woman donated a bag of 30 new stuffed animals she ordered for the project, Warner said.
Each day, usually in the afternoon if no other activities are planned, Warner gathers Lowrie Place residents in the dining room to sort the stuffed animals received that day.
The residents put the plush characters in piles according to condition, and the piles are tagged and bagged for storage until they are distributed.
“They are excited to be involved and amazed at the generosity of the donors, plus they love the stuffed animals,” Warner said. “They look at them and hug them, and I’ll say ‘Do you want to keep it?’ and they say ‘No, that’s OK. I’ll give it up.’”
She said the seniors are thrilled to be involved in the community by assisting first responders and CYS in any way they can.
Last January, Warner began carrying out purposeful events at Lowrie Place that benefit the community and the senior residents.
“I’m just always looking for something that is meaningful for the residents to do to feel that they’re needed and that they’re giving back,” she said.
After being sorted, stuffed specimens that need laundering are put through the washing machine and dried, unless the condition is too poor for use.
Warner said a note including a brief, uplifting message is attached to one arm of each stuffed animal before they are placed in individual transparent bags and sealed.
The messages are specific to the agency that will receive them, Warner said.
Charlie Johns, director of county Children and Youth Services; Chief Scott Frederick of the Butler Township Volunteer Fire District; John Hays, Butler Township police chief; and a representative from Butler Ambulance will come to Lowrie Place at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12, to pick up the stuffed animals and thank the seniors for their work in providing them.
Warner said the residents’ families are invited as well to see the stuffed animals presented to the officials.
“The residents will get to see where all their hard work is going and who it’s helping and that helps them feel better about themselves,” she said.
Warner is overjoyed at the number of stuffed animals she has received so far, as are the seniors, she said.
Warner feels the stuffed animals pouring into Lowrie Place speaks volumes about the residents of Butler County.
“I think they want to help others,” she said. “I think when there is a need, they reach out to pitch in.”
Warner sent flyers to the family members of her residents as well as to the home health agencies whose employees care for residents at Lowrie Place.
County Commissioner Kevin Boozel, a longtime advocate for emergency responders in the county, displayed the flyer on his Facebook page.
“It had 400 shares,” Warner said.
Charlie Johns said the stuffed animals will be placed in CYS cars so caseworkers can grab them for children in stressful circumstances, like being removed from their home.
“Sometimes a child needs to leave family members to be safe,” he said. “This is something we can use to comfort them at that time.”
Johns said Warner’s project is the first stuffed animal donation he has seen since taking the helm at CYS several years ago, and he is thrilled to be included.
“I think it’s yet another very good example of people helping other people in situations where it can be a really sad experience for a child,” he said.
Johns also appreciates Warner’s determination to include the seniors at Lowrie House in community service projects.
“Their residents doing a project like this is just so kind,” he said. “There have been kind organizations — including Lowrie House, most recently — that have done some really positive things for the children who we serve.”
Johns will not miss the presentation event at Lowrie House on Feb. 12.
“I do like being able to go to those occasions to express my thanks to the good people of our community who do care so much,” he said.
Frederick also appreciates that the fire district will receive the stuffed animals.
“It’s fantastic community engagement,” he said. “It helps us be able to meet the needs of the community in times of emergency.”
He said the stuffed animals will be carried on all fire district vehicles that respond to emergency scenes.
“If a child is involved in a vehicle accident or their house catches fire or they are involved in another emergency, we are able to give them a little stuffed animal to help make them feel better,” Frederick said. “It also builds rapport with us, so children know we are friends and we are there to help.”
He hopes the fire district can continue to work with Warner and the senior residents.
“We are just so thankful for the strong working relationship we have with Lowrie Place,” Frederick said. “This isn’t the first event they’ve had that we have benefited from.”
