Jim's CEO Blog: We Are Family!

We adopted the slogan "We are Family" a few years back at Seniorsfirst when we held our annual summer picnic. It seemed like a logical choice as our picnic included an old-fashion family barbecue, lawn games, ice-cream social, fun and fellowship. Who can forget the water pistol wars and the soaking most of received.

Next week is Spring Fling at Seniorsfirst, another family tradition that we truly enjoy. We celebrate the arrival of Spring with a week of special fun events and games. Each day will be a theme dress-down day: pajama day, crazy hat day, go-green day, Italy day, t-shirt day. There will be free food, treats and plenty of family competition as we compete for various prizes in games of skill, chance and silliness.

Coming up in June will be our annual recognition luncheon where we honor members of our Seniorsfirst family who have reached a milestone level of years of service with our organization. We will hold this event at the prestigious Oak Hill Country Club and will celebrate together our appreciation for service and dedication of both our staff and volunteers.

Family fun and celebration is an important part of life at Seniorsfirst. Our communities are really just large families made up of the residents who live there, the staff who work there, and the volunteers who serve there. We spend a great deal of time together and the relationships we build connect us as one extended family.

We work hard and our family life is not always easy. The challenges can be over-whelming at times. We deal with illness and death on a regular basis within our family. We struggle with economic challenges like most other families. We have internal spats when we don't always agree, but then forget and forgive. But most of all, we celebrate and enjoy family life.

I am reminded of the importance of family in our lives as this past weekend I had the joy of spending much time with my immediate family. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson from Raleigh, North Carolina came for a visit as we also celebrated the 1 year birthday of another of my grandsons who lives here in Rochester. It was only the second time that all 3 of my grandsons were together and as they grow older it was special to see them begin to form a relationship together.

Pictures tell the story better than words, so here are some shots of how I spent my extended weekend enjoying family. Like so many of you, I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, both at home and at work.................