July-September 2019 Newsletter Cover Story

June 26, 2019/0 Comments/in Bucyrus Campus, Newsletter, Stories /by St. Ann Center

Because of you, our generous donors, 60 adults are enjoying the new Dementia Care Wing at our Bucyrus Campus. You are changing lives in amazing ways!

In a sunny corner of the Dementia Care Wing, four areas called “life skills stations,” are set up with props to look like settings people might have spent time during their younger days. The environment encourages them to reminisce about life experiences from their past and stay engaged mentally and physically.

The stations–an old-fashioned kitchen, sewing nook, workbench and nursery–are the creation of St. Ann Center supporters Leigh Peterson and Patt Krejci. “I spent days on the Internet, searching websites, eBay and Craigslist for antiques,” said Patt, an interior designer. “We were looking for things from our parents’ era. Leigh and I love a challenge.”

Using Leigh’s truck as a moving van, the friends scoured antique stores, estate sales and resale shops for everything from vintage metal kitchen furniture to a century-old wooden baby crib. The stations were funded by the Peterson Family Foundation. “Putting the stations together was so much fun,” Leigh said. “But the best part was watching how people interact with them.”

One day, when the women were working on the stations, the staff brought a few clients to the area. “A lady named Jane picked up a baby doll in the nursery and cradled it,” Patt remembered. “I asked her if she’d like to take it for a ride in the buggy, and she did. You could tell she was connecting to special memories.” Both Leigh and Patt considered the project a labor of love. Leigh’s aunt had dementia and was a client at St. Ann Center’s Stein Campus, and Patt’s mother died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.

When the life skills stations were finished, Leigh and Patt were just beginning. They went on to decorate all nine bedrooms in the Bucyrus Campus’ new overnight respite. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to help in this way,” Patt said. “This facility and what’s happening here takes my breath away.”

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Ballet Beat Performance Planned in Lindsay Heights Neighborhood

June 19, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by St. Ann Center

The Milwaukee Ballet will grace the stage of the new Indaba Band Shell at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care’s Bucyrus Campus. The free public performance is part of Ballet Beat, a program that brings professional dancers to outdoor stages, libraries and community centers throughout the Greater Milwaukee area for interactive activities and performances.

“This will be the first time we present a show of this scale in the Lindsay Heights/Park West neighborhood,” said Alyson Chavez, Milwaukee Ballet’s director of community engagement. “We’re excited to introduce our passion and our art form to this new audience.”

The 75-minute performance of classical and contemporary ballet will feature nine dancers from the Ballet Beat company and the Milwaukee Ballet II program for young dancers. Special guest performers include dancers from Xalaat Africa Drum and Dance for Life, a performance and competitive ensemble from Milwaukee High School of The Arts; Daniela Orozco, a Milwaukee Ballet School & Academy student; and Kimi McKissic, representing the Restore Arts Festival.

Pre-show music, from 12 noon-1 p.m., will be performed by Yaya Kambaye, master drummer and founder of Xalaat Africa Drum and Dance for Life. The show will be followed by a reception with refreshments where the audience can meet and take photos with the dancers.
The Indaba (Swahili for “gathering place”) Band Shell is a brand-new entertainment venue opened on the Bucyrus Campus’ 7.5-acre grounds in early June. It features a hillside audience area with a capacity of 250 people and a shaded, wheelchair-accessible seating area in front of the stage. The band shell was built by St. Ann Center in partnership with Parklawn Assembly of God Church with the aim of bringing family-friendly entertainment to the north side community.
“It’s always our hope that we’ll see one of the children from these events in our ballet studios one day, or see a family in our theater,” Chavez said about the month-long summer tour throughout the city. “But knowing we’ve created a memorable experience for that family is fulfilling in itself.”

On Friday, July 19, dancers from Milwaukee Ballet II will present a free workshop for the children and adult clients in St. Ann Center’s Bucyrus Campus day care program. Dancers will read ballet-themed stories to the youngsters and involve all ages in interactive dance activities.

Ballet Beat, now in its third year of programming, is made possible through partnerships with Greater Milwaukee Foundation, UPAF Connect and Milwaukee Brewers Community Foundation and is supported in part by a grant from Milwaukee Arts Board and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.

For more information about the Ballet Beat performance at the Indaba Band Shell, contact Gloria Miller at (414) 210-2428 or gmiller@stanncenter.org.

Band Shell, Pool, Dementia Care Wing Added to St. Ann Center’s Bucyrus Campus

June 11, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by Tyler Copes

“This is what our community is all about,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett told a standing-room-only crowd gathered on Milwaukee’s Northside to celebrate the expansion of St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care-Bucyrus Campus, 2450 W. North Ave.

“For all the challenges we face as a city, what we’re all about at the end of the day is coming together to try to do what’s right for the people who live here.”

The ceremony marked the completion of construction on the center’s outdoor band shell, dementia care wing, overnight respite center, beauty salon and indoor warm-water pool.

St. Ann Center provides child and adult day care and health and educational services to the community at two campuses; it opened its second, the Bucyrus, in 2015 with several spaces left unfinished. A successful capital campaign and a $5 million grant from Wisconsin’s capital budget allowed the $28 million two-story, 80,000-square-foot facility to be completed this spring.

Speaking at the new Indaba (Swahili for “gathering place”) Band Shell, Barrett congratulated St. Ann Center for its commitment to serving the Northside and strengthening the community through job creation and civic involvement.

Other speakers included U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore; state Rep. Kaylan Haywood II of the 16th Assembly District; Milwaukee Ald. Russell W. Stamper II; Sr. Diana De Bruin, director of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi congregation, and Sr. Edna Lonergan, OSF, founder and president of St. Ann Center.

After Haywood, the youngest state legislator in the nation, mentioned he’d celebrated turning 20 two days before, Stamper observed that for almost all of Haywood’s life, this site had been a vacant lot.

Between 1951 and 1969, many of its homes and businesses were demolished to prepare for construction of the Park West Freeway. After the freeway project was canceled, the remaining buildings were demolished. The vacant land remained a neighborhood concern for decades until purchased by St. Ann Center in 2014 from the city.

The celebration featured African drumming and the untying of a kente cloth ribbon by Auxiliary Bishop James Schuerman and Fr. Byron Haaland, plus a Native American eagle dance, a multicultural blessing and libation ceremony, and a song performed by one of the Bucyrus Campus after-school care children. Another highlight: a performance by praise dancers from Parklawn Assembly of God, which partnered with St. Ann Center to raise funds for the band shell.

With an audience capacity of 250, the band shell will feature family-friendly entertainment and neighborhood talent.

The new dementia care wing has space for 75 adult clients. Four life skills stations—each designed to spark memories of past hobbies for people with dementia—dot the wing’s common area. They include a nostalgic kitchen, nursery, sewing nook and workbench area.

The overnight respite center provides nine bed-and-breakfast-style rooms for frail elders and adults with special needs. This service allows caregivers a break from the demands of caregiving—time for a vacation, business trip or weekend away.

The indoor aquatic center includes a warm-water swimming pool with wheelchair ramp, two lap lanes, a hot tub with a lift and accessible locker rooms. The pool will offer swimming lessons for children, addressing the high rate of drowning among African-American youngsters.

The two-chair beauty salon is wheelchair accessible. The salon, aquatic center and respite will be open to the community. All new areas are scheduled to begin operation by the end of summer.

April-June 2019 Newsletter Cover Story

April 9, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by St. Ann Center

Heroes with Heart

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No. It’s St. Ann Center’s Righteous League!

An enthusiastic group of Stein Campus clients have found their inner superheroes as participants in TimeSlips, a program that uses creative storytelling to enhance people’s lives. Meeting weekly with facilitator Elaine Maly, “They’ve come up with names for their characters, unique super powers, costumes, archenemies…and the most amazing adventures,” Elaine explained.

There’s Super Jake (Jacob Lukowski), a brilliant billionaire with lightning speed who can predict the future, Energy Man (Marcus Semenske), who uses his supercharged personality to help others get work done and Party Animal (Christine Biersack), who instantly turns a boring day into a fun one. Super Jesus (John Krall) uses his power of prayer to lead people to make good choices, Super Reader (Diane Gundlach) reads from large-print books to keep people calm and G-Man (Gabriel Rodriguez) protects the city from evil using his powers of invisibility and healing.

“From the start, they decided they needed to be a team,” Elaine said. “They figured they would be stronger as the Righteous League.” In the past few months, they’ve saved the world from Lazy Man (Energy Man’s nemesis), who saps people’s strength and opened a training school that teaches children how to become superheroes.

Milwaukee artist Emma Daisy Gertel has joined Elaine and the League in several TimeSlips sessions and hopes to create an art installation or comic book based on St. Ann Center’s superhero stories. According to Elaine, “We’re thinking about all the possible ways we can share this awesome project with the public.” Now, that’s super exciting!

Donors make this creative fun possible!

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St. Ann Center Inducts Three into Honorary Hall of Friends

April 9, 2019/0 Comments/in Stories /by St. Ann Center

St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care will add three new members to its Hall of Friends on Friday, May 17. John McCarthy, Stephanie Sue Stein and Milwaukee Alderman Russell W. Stamper II will be recognized at a special reception at 10 a.m. at the center’s Stein Campus, 2801 E. Morgan Ave.

Established in 2014, the Hall of Friends Award recognizes people who have dedicated their time, talent and passion to furthering St. Ann Center’s mission of providing health and educational services for children, the elderly and adults with disabilities. “These talented people have made valuable contributions to St. Ann Center and the Milwaukee community,” said Sr. Edna Lonergan, president and founder of the unique day services center for both children and adults. “They have made service to others, including our most vulnerable, their priority.”

John McCarthy, founder of McCarthy Grittinger Financial Group, lent his expertise to St. Ann Center as a member of the Capital Campaign Committee that spearheaded fundraising for construction of St. Ann Center’s Bucyrus Campus. He also helped develop a successful planned giving program. His daughter is an occasional guest at the center’s overnight respite and the subject of “Maggie’s Angels,” a book McCarthy authored about life with a child with special needs. “John has done great work building St. Ann Center’s endowment,” Lonergan said. “And his love, caring and respect for people living with disabilities is an inspiration.”

Stephanie Sue Stein, retired director of the Milwaukee County Department on Aging, has served on St. Ann Center’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee. She and Lonergan also worked together to create an Intergenerational Council as part of the county’s Commission on Aging. “Stephanie is a faithful friend and a very smart and strong advocate for older adults,” Lonergan said. “She’s never afraid to speak out for justice.”

Russell W. Stamper II, is Alderman of Milwaukee’s 15^th District, where St. Ann Center’s Bucyrus Campus was built in 2015. “Ald. Stamper works hard, he cares about his constituents, and he’s an enthusiastic supporter of our mission,” Lonergan said. Stamper played an important part in developing the North Side Business Incubator in collaboration with the Bucyrus Campus—designed to help jumpstart locally owned businesses that can generate income for the 15th District. He’s also active with Lonergan in the Marketplace Business Improvement District #32 and the North Avenue Streetscape Committee.

Lonergan will join St. Ann Center staff, day care children and adult clients in presenting the awardees with special gifts made by the youngsters and adults. Plaques with the names of the new Hall of Friends members will be added to a wall above the center’s grand staircase.

Ballet Beat Performance Planned in Lindsay Heights Neighborhood

Band Shell, Pool, Dementia Care Wing Added to St. Ann Center’s Bucyrus Campus

April-June 2019 Newsletter Cover Story

Heroes with Heart

Donors make this creative fun possible!

St. Ann Center Inducts Three into Honorary Hall of Friends

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