January 2025 Newsletter

January 1, 2025    News   
 

Alice’s Getaway

Could this be the oldest organization in the park?

By Dale Dauten
Sometimes you get to hear a story that makes you grateful for all you have in life; and, in this case, also grateful for the good work of the people of Silveridge…

 

The story came up when speaking with Sandy Vittori about the group called Alice’s Getaway, learning about all their crafts projects. More about that in a minute; but, along the way, Sandy mentioned that much of their work is devoted to charitable undertakings, including making items of clothing for three groups they support, which led to this:

 

One of the Alice group’s members, Jean Hoxie, has a daughter who teaches school in an impoverished, immigrant area of Minneapolis. Given the winters in Minnesota, Jean’s daughter gave each of the children in her classes a hat, knitted by the ladies of Alice’s Getaway at Silveridge. The next day, when the students arrived she noticed that many were still hatless. She asked one of the kids, “Where’s your hat?” The student replied, “It’s my cousin’s turn to wear it.”

 

As we said, it makes you grateful in more ways than one. And that’s just one of the three groups Alice’s Getaway supports. There’s also a connection made by Silveridge resident Carol Richardson with a Kansas City, MO group called Be the Blessing. Last year Alice’s Getaway sent that organization over 500 items of clothing – mittens, hair scrunchies, fidgets and more – to give to residents of mental health facilities. And, the third group they support is local, the Genesis Project in Apache Junction, which receives hats and stockings filled with personal items.
Clearly, there’s lot of good stuff happening at Alice’s Getaway, so let’s back up and talk about the group. How did it start? That’s not so clear. However, we do know that there was indeed an Alice involved: the group was started by Alice Petrovich. And apparently she wanted to “get away.” From what? Her husband, maybe? Her home? Her routine? We don’t know. But we know that the group has been meeting for decades now. Group member Norma Jean Moorfield said that even though she’s been in the park for 30+ years, she can’t remember a time before the group existed. Could it be the oldest continuing residents’ group in the park? (If you know of one earlier, please let us know.)

 

And, what does the group do? As for what happens when they meet, Sandy said, “We have classes, and we have group projects. Sometimes everyone just brings what they’re working on and we hang out. Sometimes we break for lunch and sometimes we have lunch there.” So it sounds flexible. But zeroing in on the type of projects involved, Sandy narrowed things down: “We love yarn and anything to do with yarn.” That includes knitting and crocheting, along with some others we’d never heard of, like Swedish weave and diamond dot.

 

Photos: Alice’s Getaway in action, Sandy with one of her projects, and some samples of the work
Other examples: for this past Halloween members made ghosts out of cheesecloth, for a recent session they reviewed options of wearable crochet items to work on, and one of the members crochets using plastic grocery bags to make sleeping mats for the homeless, as seen in the photo below.
One breakthrough for the group endeavors came last season when the Renters’ Association provided funds to buy knitting machines. These are especially helpful with items like stocking caps.

 

But, for all the good works, they group doesn’t stray from its original purpose, that of being a getaway. Sandy summed up the time together this way: “We are a group of women who want to have fun and who love to support each other.”

 

If you want to join in, Alice’s Getaway is Tuesdays from 10AM to 3PM in Rooms 4&5.

 

And here are some of the completed projects from last season:
Click to View Completed Projects

FROM THE ACTIVITY OFFICE

“Happy New Year” everyone! We hope your holidays were filled with love and laughter. 2025 brings excitement in Activities. Let’s kick off this fresh start with a calendar full of exciting activities, from creative crafts to lively games. We’re looking forward to connecting and having fun together . Don’t forget to check the activity bulletin boards for our latest schedule!”

We’ll kick off the year with a community Welcome Back lunch on January 6th. The GoldenGrannies will be here to cheer us on to the new year. Everyone is welcome to attend. Lunch tickets are $10 each.

Our dinner dances will be in full swing. Shaky Ground band will get you up booging on January 7th. We also have DJ & the Midnight Sun returning to Silveridge on January 14th. They are followed by two fan favorites: Hillbilly Deluxe and Rocksmith. Tickets for Hillbilly Deluxe and Rocksmith are selling quickly. Don’t wait too long to see Silvia for your tickets.

We are hosting our first blood drive of the year January 14th- Book your appointment with Vitalant online and help us meet our goal. You can help save someone‘s life. Stop for the QR code to register.

We will be starting our awesome concert series in January. The Reba tribute concert will be on Thursday, January 9th. Reba is followed by Neil Diamond tribute, and CCR tribute.

Because of the rising cost of entertainment, we can only offer one dinner show each month. On January 30th Fushicho Daiko group will be here with their Japanese Taiko drums. They were here in 2022 and everyone enjoyed their performance. Jerry and Tracy have a delicious meal planned for that night too.

Be sure to stop by Activities and say HELLO to us. Remember, we are here to assist you with more than just your tickets needs. We sell stamps, US and International, and can make copies for you too.

-LU & Sylvia