The DURHAM STORY
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Abbeyfield House Durham was born from the acute need of a friendly secure facility for those local seniors who no longer wanted or were unable to care for themselves in their own home.
There were many false starts trying various methods of developing a suitable house. Then the committee discovered Abbeyfield and after some investigation decided to embrace the concept.
After 3 years of fundraising the Abbeyfield Society of Durham only had enough resources to purchase a building site, so the prospect of developing a house looked very bleak indeed, however, it is said that necessity is the mother of invention so we did an in-depth study of our options.
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It was reasoned that if a few friends, and myself (two couples plus Marion and I) were willing to sell our homes and buy into the "Abbeyfield resident-funded" concept that we had developed, why not do it before construction began?
Having the 3 couples purchase the right to occupy prior to construction, beginning with deposits and signed purchase agreements would give Abbeyfield Durham the equity needed to obtain a first mortgage from the local Credit Union at a very attractive rate to finance the balance of the construction costs.
Things moved fast once the resident-funded model was accepted by the Board, the time line went like this:
- February 2002 the resident-funded idea was born,
- July 2002, construction began.
- December 2002 first move in
- January 2nd 2003 balance of residents moved in.
The facility was constructed to R2000 standards or better, as green as possible for the period and the funding available.
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The first winter of operation we had 2 nights and a day of a power outage, a very worrisome time as the residents were using candles in their rooms, a serious fire hazard.
That year a friend of Abbeyfield donated $15,000 towards a new stand-by generator, no more blackouts; the following year the same friend donated $5,000 towards paving the parking lot.
The next year he again donated $10,000.00 towards landscaping and the construction of a gazebo so the residents could enjoy the outdoors and have shade from the sun. For his generosity we thank him, we suspect his mother who is a resident in our house influenced his decisions somewhat.
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This year we celebrated 5 years in business, with some of our residents celebrating their 5th anniversary at Abbeyfield. We had a party to celebrate and one of our residents Freda Bothe was interviewed by reporter and had her picture published with a very complimentary article about Abbeyfield in the paper.
Seniors living in our house are free to express themselves to their full potential, and they do this by gardening, planting flowers, helping in the kitchen, doing laundry for the dining room, setting the table in the dining room picking up the mail, planning entertainment, attending morning exercise classes and generally looking out for one another.
After 5 years of operation we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the resident-funded model works extremely well, we have found the Abbeyfield house Durham fills a need that otherwise could not be met in LTC or any other kind of establishment.
The residents who invest make it possible for Abbeyfield Durham to offer rental suites at very attractive prices. An owner resident's investment earns him or her 7% interest from their secure investment, which has a return of investment guarantee from the Abbeyfield Durham Society. Half the building is resident-funded and half the building is reserved for rentals, the rental portion is financed by the Credit union.
I would be amiss if I did not mention our dedicated volunteers, for the first 3 years when we were working so hard to raise funds we had approximately 40 people, Board members and friends of Abbeyfield, who worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the need for a facility such as we were proposing.
We thank the business people of Durham and surrounding area who donated for our dinner auctions, the industries in town who gave financially and of course the media who were always there for us when we needed some exposure.
Last, but not least, our Housemothers; we are blessed with two Housemothers working alternate 4 day shifts who take looking after our seniors. They both come to us with many years of nursing home experience which together with the courses we supply gives them the knowledge they need to operate the house efficiently and economically. Lorraine, who has been with us the longest, has other talents too; she won the Hog calling contest two years running in her home town, she is considering using these talents instead of the dinner bell.
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All in all it has been a very rewarding experience for both the Board of Directors and the Residents.
Most people dream of retiring to a fine house with servants to cook and clean for them. Unfortunately the majority of us cannot afford such luxury...
...However, when a few seniors get together in an Abbeyfield resident-funded house this dream becomes a reality.
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We wonder why more communities are not embracing the concept; we think it is because they think the mountain is too high, with that in mind we have established a division to assist anybody who would like an Abbeyfield house in their community at no cost to the community or the proponents.
Contact us at: Abbeyfield Canada, 427 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1X7
Tel: (416) 920-7483 Fax: (416) 920-6956
Email: Abbeyfield@sympatico.ca |  |
