News

By Leslie Parker, Director of Environmental Services 

Wake Robin’s new meeting room!

Another milestone in Wake Robin’s Phase III construction is complete! The new Community Center meeting room opened in late November. During the first CUP of Conversation held within the space, Leslie Parker, Director of Environmental Services, and Meagan Buckley, Director of Resident and Health Services, highlighted the room’s new features to both residents and staff alike.

The multi-purpose meeting room offers a telecoil hearing loop, acoustical panels, a large projection screen for presentations and Blu-ray movies, plus custom lighting controls. Musical performances are enhanced by the Steinway grand piano that graces the stage and dances are expected to take full advantage of the 36’ by 24’ dance floor.

The Holiday Market recently used the new multi-purpose room to great success. Many Wake Robin committees look forward to utilizing the new space including the Wake Robin Singers choral group, the Hand Bell Ensemble, and English Country Dance. Popular annual events, such as the New Year’s Eve and Kentucky Derby parties, will also take advantage of this wonderful new room.

Holiday Market

Peter Wilder, from Audio Visual Environments (AVE), worked extensively on the meeting room and offered the following insight: “Wake Robin’s multi-purpose meeting room and community space has been designed to facilitate education events with live presenters, dramatic presentations and video content. The loudspeakers have been engineered with considerable ‘headroom’ to offer crystal clear audio reproduction and vocal sound reinforcement, and the easy-to-use touch panel interface for room control simplifies the room’s operation. Finally, because the system is completely programmable and expandable, the room’s AV capabilities can adapt with minimal fuss and hassle.”

Wake Robin is a vibrant, engaged community with a rich history of supporting educational opportunities, social activities, and the performing arts. With the opening of the community center meeting room, we are extremely excited to have a new home to further enhance the resident experience.

Wake Robin HR Director Anne Levesque accepts the Workforce Innovation Award from the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce

We are extremely excited to announce that Wake Robin was honored as The 2019 Workforce Innovation Award recipient during the 109^th Annual Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce Dinner. This was the first year The Workforce Innovation Award had been presented and Wake Robin was honored to be one of many organizations to be nominated.  Human Resources Director Anne Levesque accepted the award and shared with the audience some thoughts on the many creative efforts the Wake Robin community consistently realize.

Anne Levesque poses with Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, LCRCC Chair of the Board of Directors Kurt Gruendling, Vermont Lt. Governor David Zuckerman, U.S. Congressman Peter Welch, Kim Anderson, and Vermont Governor Phil Scott and others at the Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce annual awards dinner.

The Chamber’s press release on VT Digger described the Workforce Innovation Award as celebrating a “business that is ahead of the curve in retaining and building their future workforce, recognizing achievements in diversity and inclusion, employee retention and training, collaboration with other institutions and businesses, and innovative practices that benefit their employees, and in turn our community.” Wake Robin’s unique performance reviews, described as  “Job Talk”, and its on-campus opportunities to advance skills, were just a few of the reasons The Chamber delivered the 2019 Workforce Innovation Award to Vermont’s only nonprofit Life Plan Community.

We’re grateful for the recognition and will continue to develop innovative ways to attract employees and residents to our caring community. Congratulations to a fantastic, hard-working team!

HR Director Anne Levesque delivers Wake Robin’s acceptance speech

Wake Robin was the recipient of the 2016 ICAA Innovators Green Award recognizing environmental stewardship. As a part of this award, Wake Robin was featured in the September/October issue of The Journal of Active Aging. Click here to read.

Wake Robin was recently featured in a story by Seven Days about Farm to Plate dining. Dining Director, Kate Hays and Chef Andrew Ryan talk about eating local and being creative with food in a retirement community!

Click on the picture of Chef Andrew Ryan to read!

The Wake Robin Sugarers are in the news! Burlington Free Press published on article all about the sugarers. It’s an exciting season in an updated sugarhouse in a new location. Click here to read the article and watch the video.

Wake Robin residents and staff have been anxiously awaiting the new sugarhouse’s arrival. On Monday, October 24^th – it was finally delivered. Wake Robin’s current sugarhouse will be moved to its new location next to the new sugarhouse later this week. The current sugarhouse will be used as storage.

Shelburne News recently published an article about satellite voting at Wake Robin. For sixteen years, Wake Robin has offered satellite voting for the residents that live in this community. Wake Robin was the first location in Shelburne to participate in the satellite voting program. This voting program was also first of its kind in the state. Presently, other communities (such as the Residence at Shelburne Bay, The Wright House and The Terraces) offer this program, giving people the opportunity to get to the polls.

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