Nursing home parade brings cheer to residents

The ‘Winter Wonderland Parade’ made its debut Saturday at Mary Gran and Southwood nursing centers. It was a chilly morning but the weather didn’t stop the crowds from gathering with excitement, as senior citizens anxiously awaited the inaugural parade.

Clinton Police and Fire departments rode through, classic cars that cruise in each parade made an appearance as well, alongside Wild Boar Motorcycles, and even Santa made a return trip.

Members of the Silver and Gold Steppers not only marched in the parade, but they put on a live line dance performance afterwards.

The nursing homes’ dietary departments provided a hot chocolate station that kept everyone warm, and it was served with chocolate chip cookies to offer a sweet treat to residents and visitors, alike. To cap it off, the many volunteers presented gift bags full of Christmas goodies each of residents, bringing delighted smiles from all.

The parade was made possible thanks to a massive group effort, one that included Liberty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services, Mary Gran and Southwood activities departments, The Uplift Project, 10th District Masonic Lodge and District 10 Order of the Eastern Star.

Being able to bring the Christmas magic, complete with a parade, to the elderly brought each of them unending joy.

The contributors felt much the same.

“Just wow; we’re excited about the collaboration of the community to come and bring our residents a Christmas parade this year,” an excited Taylor Baxley, Southwood administrator, said.

“I agree, and our thought in planning this was ‘why not both bring communities together, because we’re sister communities?,’” added Alexis Mourey, Mary Gran Nursing Home activities coordinator. “I’m so glad we were able to bring this all together so our residents could experience their very own Christmas parade.”

Masons and Eastern Star members stressed that creating moments like this is at the center of all they do.

“Alexis, who I call Miss Mary Gran herself, she called me and ask for this,” Nick Maynor, 10th District Masons, explained. “When she did, myself, Stephanie (Graham) and Miss Mary Gran actually put this together in a very short time. So here we are bringing a Christmas parade to the residents.”

“I think it’s awesome, our organization, the Mason’s and the Eastern Stars, it’s our goal to give back to the community because we are a service organization,” said Seneca Williams, OES member. “So to be asked to be a part of this is just awesome, and hopefully going forward, with Stephanie Graham, we can do a lot more things with our communities.

“Plus the weather was awesome today, so I’ll say, thank you, Lord,” she added with a laugh.

Graham’s name was one heard throughout the event, and she was all over the place participating in a little bit of everything. When she finally slowed down to share her view on how the inaugural parade, which she helped make possible, went, it was God to whom she gave the credit.

“God was on our side today,” Graham said, excitement rising in her voice. We were so afraid that it was going to be too cold and it was going to rain because it was raining last night. But today, God really shined his light down on the success of this parade.”

Helping communities, Graham said, was key.

“When we say bring unity in the community, we have to think about all communities and that includes our elderly, too. We need to bring them back outside so that they can enjoy life, too.”

Graham said she plans to do Winter Wonderland Parade for many years to come, and thoughts on how to make it even bigger were already forming.

”For next year, I can really see my snow machine working; we’ll see snow coming down next year,” she smiled. “I see more participants, because I think the community is gonna be a little bit more involved and maybe even a band, yeah, I can see that. This was great and it’s definitely something that we should continue on with — and this was only the beginning.”