Ashland Optimist Bulletin May 27, 2023
Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all of our veterans.
Breakfast: June 3- Barrett Glascock, Shawn Steelman
Speaker- Charlie Lewis- Oratorical Contest winner
Our next Bingo will be June 2nd.
Dana Cafourek and I served breakfast casserole (thanks Jan Palmer), hash browns, bagels, and fresh fruit before Dana shared a thank you card from scholarship recipient and longtime lifeguard, Mya Zagorac.
The speakers this morning were Andy and Susan Braam from the Baptist Home. Andy is the vice president of operations and Susan was administrative assistant at the Ashland campus until two weeks ago, when she accepted a promotion to a position at the new Jefferson City head office. At this time, she is still acting as administrative assistant in Ashland until that role is filled, which means the easiest way to contact her about touring the Ashland Baptist Home is through her email: sbraams@bhhm.org.
Andy gave an in-depth history of the Baptist Homes, dating back 110 years to when Milford Riggs opened the original location in Ironton, MO. Land was purchased from Marvin Bennett for the Ashland campus in 2014, with fourteen independent living duplexes, six with three bedrooms and eight two bedrooms, ready for rent in July 2019 and the congregant living apartments available in 2021. The Baptist Home is currently working on a home in Smithville, MO that will be exclusively for veterans and staffed by veterans.
Because of a change of architect, there has been a delay in building of the assisted living and skilled nursing building in Ashland, which will include the Duke-Nelson chapel, but that should be straightened up this summer. Hopefully, there will be forty assisted living beds and fifty-four skilled nursing openings by August 2024. Unlike The Baptist Homes original housing, the assisted living and skilled nursing rooms will accept Medicare and Medicaid.
When Susan and Andy were finished speaking, they handed out folders with information, most of which can be accessed at their website: thebaptisthome.org, followed by them drawing for the Attendance drawing. Megan Morris, Sam Gunter, and Nancy Nicholaus had their chance at riches, but because they had other plans on this Memorial weekend, the pot will continue to grow.
Letitia DenHartog
ashlandoptimist.org
