Nursing facility uses rummage sale to educate on Alzheimer’s
By: Madelein Johnson
MONROE Don’t let the eclectic mix of donated doo-dads and gently used gadgets fool you.
The Cranbury Center’s rummage sale, a biannual large-scale yard sale held on July 16, is much more than a simple fundraiser: It promotes Alzheimer’s education and brings together the community while selling a variety of treasures.
Located on Applegarth Road, the nursing home and rehabilitation center always has its door open to the community. The rummage sale is another way to let everyone know to "come on in," said Marilyn Magan, program director of the Alzheimer’s unit.
Ms. Magan, along with Tara Coppola, the Cranbury Center’s customer relations director, and Cheryl Basse, director of social services, played an instrumental role in bringing the rummage sale to life.
"Tara Coppola, Cheryl Basse and I put this together to put an emphasis on Alzheimer’s awareness," Ms. Magan said. "We do this twice a year to reach out to the community. This is the third year we’ve done the sale on a big scale. We also have a jewelry sale, a bake sale and hot dogs, and there’ll be entertainment and ice cream later."
Ms. Basse remembers the rummage sale’s humble beginning as a small flea market and is thrilled that the sale "just keeps getting bigger" every year.
"Now we’ve added entertainment. This year we have two vendors selling jewelry and CDs we’ve never had two vendors before. This is the first year we’ve had the bake sale too."
The Cranbury Center serves two major purposes: It offers rehabilitation services to those who have either been injured or underwent an operation but can still return to lifestyles of varying degrees of independence, and also acts as a nursing home to those who require assisted living. The rummage sale’s proceeds are used to benefit the residents.
"All the money we get goes to the Resident Council Fund," Ms. Basse said. "We use the money for the residents, either buying the residents something they need or buying something for the nursing home. In the past we’ve purchased a table and chairs for the outside and installed a pond with some fish in it. We’ve also bought newspaper subscriptions for residents. We always have the funds available to purchase something if the residents need it."
The center’s employees do everything they can to ensure that the residents feel as happy and as at home as possible, which often means making sure a resident’s friends and family stay involved in their loved one’s life. These friends and family members are invited to participate in events like the rummage sale, either by donating items to sell or volunteering to help during the sale.
Linda Hagan, the daughter of a Cranbury Center resident, says helping out at the rummage sale is a to way give back to her mother’s caregivers.
"I kept saying ‘I want to help out,’ and now I finally have the chance because I just retired from teaching," Ms. Hagan said. "My mom has been here for five years this July 27, and I just sleep easier knowing that she’s here. The nurses are the same, the aides are the same I just feel like they’re family. Mom feels the same way, too. The residents think of it as home."
Since the rummage sale isn’t part of the daily routine, the employees are a little busier than usual. Tara Coppola is one of the day’s master multi-taskers, adeptly splitting her time between the rummage sale and the dining room. She greets each resident by name as she expertly weaves her way between the two points, as she’s been doing this since she first started working at the center five years ago.
"Different scales of the rummage sale have been going on since I’ve been here," Ms. Coppola said. "A lot of the residents’ family members come back to volunteer and the money we raise is used to add to the comfort of the residents. Everything that is done here is geared toward the residents."