Give Yourself the Gift of the Present

Sponsored Content10:28AM / Monday, September 19, 2016Print Story | Email Story

I cannot count the number of times I have heard the phrase "I'm not ready yet" when talking with retirees about the benefits of a senior living community, whether they are 65 or 95.

"Not ready for what?" is usually my first question, in response. "I want to wait until I need it," is quite often the reply. "Need what?" I ask. "You know, when I need help, when I can't live alone anymore," they respond.

Ah ... the stigma of senior living communities strikes again. For some reason, many people believe that any senior living community is akin to a nursing home. This is not true. Many people also believe that all senior living communities are assisted living facilities. Again, this is not true. Based on these erroneous beliefs, active, energetic and vital seniors are depriving themselves of luxury living, of worry-free living, and of having enriching experiences and forming new relationships.

A person doesn't have to require any assistance to enjoy the freedom, the independence, the social, cultural and intellectual comradery, and stimulation of an Independent Living community. For example, at Sweetwood of Williamstown, there is a health and wellness department and a registered nurse for when or if a resident needs some assistance, whether it be from a 24-hour bug, rehab after a knee replacement or assistance after an operation. This service is part of what contributes to an independent and worry-free lifestyle. However, we encourage you to make the move well before you find yourself in regular need of assistance with your activities of daily living: well before you take a tumble heading down those cellar stairs with the laundry basket, or slip on the ice while cleaning your snow covered driveway.

By embracing a new life journey in an exciting, engaging and enriching senior living community now, when the choice is fully yours, while you are still involved in your church, alumni association, golf league, lodge or bridge club, your transition to a new community will be much smoother. You'll have the opportunity to form new connections while nurturing the ones you have had for years, share your stories, create the perfect apartment home for yourself, and come and go as you please - just as you do now, but knowing that you are surrounded and supported by fellow Sweetwood residents and a remarkable staff who are there when/if you need them, which may be in a week, a month or not for several years.

So, before we enter the colder, snowier, more challenging New England winter months, give yourself the present of the present. Don't wait to come to Sweetwood of Williamstown! You're invited for lunch, dinner, a program, activity, a tour or to stay. We'd love to have you! Eileen D. Moore, MS Executive Director Please call: 413-458-8371 or visit our website.

Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust Hears Objections to Summer Street Proposal

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
02:17PM / Wednesday, April 24, 2024

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Neighbors concerned about a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week raised the specter of a lawsuit against the town and/or Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity.

"If I'm not mistaken, I think this is kind of a new thing for Williamstown, an affordable housing subdivision of this size that's plunked down in the middle, or the midst of houses in a mature neighborhood," Summer Street resident Christopher Bolton told the Affordable Housing Trust board, reading from a prepared statement, last Wednesday. "I think all of us, the Trust, Habitat, the community, have a vested interest in giving this project the best chance of success that it can have. We all remember subdivisions that have been blocked by neighbors who have become frustrated with the developers and resorted to adversarial legal processes.

"But most of us in the neighborhood would welcome this at the right scale if the Trust and Northern Berkshire Habitat would communicate with us and compromise with us and try to address some of our concerns."

Bolton and other residents of the neighborhood were invited to speak to the board of the trust, which in 2015 purchased the Summer Street lot along with a parcel at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street with the intent of developing new affordable housing on the vacant lots.

Currently, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, which built two homes at the Cole/Maple property, is developing plans to build up to five single-family homes on the 1.75-acre Summer Street lot. Earlier this month, many of the same would-be neighbors raised objections to the scale of the proposed subdivision and its impact on the neighborhood in front of the Planning Board.

The Affordable Housing Trust board heard many of the same arguments at its meeting. It also heard from some voices not heard at the Planning Board session.

And the trustees agreed that the developer needs to engage in a three-way conversation with the abutters and the trust, which still owns the land, to develop a plan that is more acceptable to all parties.

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