Presidential Pondering’s

A few months after I started working here (in 2004), I was invited to join a few of our res-idents to play pickleball. In truth, I had never heard of pickleball before that, and I didn’t even know we had a pickleball court! Like most other folks, I knew we had a fenced court and I just assumed it was a tennis court. As I then discovered, it was a dedicated pickleball court!

Our pickleball court was a gift from a resident named Don Wilson. Don was a “snowbird” who spent his winters in Florida, and then ‘summered’ in Palmyra. Don had learned to play pickleball in Florida, and was dismayed that there was no place to play pickleball when he came north. So he donated a court! It was some time before pickleball eventually “caught on” with the American public, but it is now the fastest-growing sport in the USA with nearly 10 million players. And our court gets regular use every week!

Don Wilson has now passed-on, but his legacy to Londonderry Village lives on, and will continue to be a positive influence for decades to come. Our history as an organization is replete with similar examples of legacy moments. Over fifteen years ago, two resident couples (the Hostetter’s and the Fake’s) made significant donations to the construction of our original Green Houses; just shy of two decades later, those original Houses are being renovated so they may continue to serve campus elders for the next fifteen years. More recently, the Stoneback and Sweigart families have made similar investments in our more recent Green House homes. The Shearer Family PlayPark is yet another donor-inspired legacy project that will serve Londonderry Village and the Palmyra community for years to come.

Legacy moments don’t have to be donor-driven. Think about all of the residents who have been leaders and/or volunteers in our annual Estate and Yard Sale. Those sales have cumulatively raised over one million dollars for our Good Samaritan Fund, helping both the Community and the individual residents who needed financial assistance. Those legacy efforts of “today” are helping to safeguard the financial standing of Londonderry Village for the fore-seeable future.

Thanks to all of our residents, staff, volunteers, donors and family members for your
investments of time and treasury in Londonderry Village. You are a blessing to our future.

Thanks for Listening,
Jeff Shireman, President