‘Blessings’

Park Place residents, employees step up to help community seniors in need

Reacting to an increased need to assist senior adults from Farragut and Knox County churches whose mobility has been deeply curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic, Park Place West Senior Living in Farragut joined Park Place North Senior Living in creating Blessing Boxes.

Roughly 1-foot in all dimensions (height, width and depth), the boxes were filled with essential cleaning products/hygiene items by donors — with Park Place West residents “excited about this project; they contributed significantly” — during a roughly four-week period in July and August, said Lorri Ryan, Park Place West Business Development director.

“Some donated items, and others donated money to purchase items,” she added.

Boxes were then delivered to a pair of Farragut churches, St. John Neumann Catholic Church and Concord United Methodist Church, which “gave those items to some of their seniors in need,” Ryan said. “We wanted to do something to make it a little bit easier for some of those who have a little bit more difficulty.”

Other churches also part of this seniors-in-need distribution were All Saints Catholic Church, Temple Baptist, Central Baptist Fountain City and Fountain City UMC.

“They really loved the concept,” Ryan said about the participating churches.