Our Blog

If you live in Minnesota you understand the importance of the annual Great Minnesota Get Together - The Minnesota State Fair. Since this years fair was cancelled due to COVID-19 we decided to have our own State Fair Themed day here at Heart to Home. Our fun day included the Minnesota State Fair food box complete with Sweet Martha's cookies, corn on the cob, corn dogs / pronto pups, etc. We also setup 1:1 activities (following all COVID-19 precautions) where our residents could win fun fair themed prizes. The smiles were priceless!  

If you see one of our amazing team members out in the community make sure to give them a big "shout out"! We are lucky to have some remarkable hero's working at Heart to Home ensuring our residents are well cared for, safe, and loved. Despite the on-going visitor restrictions and lock-downs due to COVID-19 we have been able to enjoy the outdoors and some fun window visitors (see Secondhand Hounds pics). We are hopeful and look forward to brighter days ahead! 

Happy New Year! To kick off the new year we worked on some fun charity projects with the residents and staff.  The first project we worked on was for Open Arms of Minnesota. We helped decorate bags that will be used for Open Arms to deliver meals around the Twin Cities. Open Arms of Minnesota is a nonprofit that cooks and delivers free, nutritious meals to people living with life-threatening illnesses in the Twin Cities. Learn more @ https://www.openarmsmn.org/

Aside from our volunteer project we also began bringing in Chair Yoga to our homes a few times per month. This should be a fun opportunity for our residents (and staff) to stay active, mobile and flexible. The benefits of Yoga are many so it should be fun to see how it benefits our residents' overall well-being. 

Here are a few photos from activities at our homes this month... Enjoy!

We are so thankful to our Secondhand Hounds Volunteers! We are blessed to have these wonderful fur-friends visit our homes several times per month. The smiles on our residents' faces is second to none. The joy that animals bring to the homes is truly magical. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Learn more about these special friends @ https://secondhandhounds.org/

We love to garden here at Heart to Home, and we love giving back to nature. Our residents love spending time outdoors, and to have beautiful gardens to enjoy is an important part of that experience. We have residents who tend to flower pots and enjoy watching fresh tomato's ripen on the vine. We also enjoy our critter visitors which include turkey, eagles, song-birds, butterflies and so much more. Part of our commitment to being "green" is being good stewards of our properties. The next time you visit one of our homes make sure to "stop and smell the roses"!!

Besides our love of gardening we also love ice cream! It is by far the most popular treat here at Heart to Home. Our residents love plain vanilla, and of course a DQ ice cream cake for those special birthday parties. So in honor of all things ice cream... we decided to make our own ice cream for a resident activity! Fun and Yum!!

We had a wonderful time at our Rogers Lake outing this summer.  This year we really kicked it up a notch and had a hired musical performer, pizza party and ice cream truck all stop by to entertain our residents and their guests. The weather was perfect and the lake backdrop had everyone relaxed, smiling and enjoying life! 

We also had a fun partnership with our local school district 197.  Students came and helped plant flowers in our gardens and worked on arts and crafts. A fun time was had by all. 

We had a nice May here at Heart to Home. The weather has warmed up enough for us to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. We've taken many walks around the neighborhoods, made and delivered May Day baskets, enjoyed lunch outside and even took a few walks to the local ice cream shop. We are excited for a fun summer here at Heart to Home and especially the return of our favorite ice cream truck visitors; Pink Cow Ice Cream! Stay tuned and check back for more photos here and on our Facebook Page!

Besides fun May Day celebrations we've also been enjoying using the House of Memories App. This app has been developed to support caregivers in the sharing of memories with people living with dementia, improving communication and focusing on the person rather than the condition. Learn more about this app @ House of Memories App - Minnesota Historical Society

Roses are red. Violets are blue. We are blessed. Because of You!

We had a fun month of love here at Heart to Home. We enjoyed love songs from our musical guests and enjoyed a number of different activities. One of our favorite activities was making chocolate dipped strawberries... Yum!

Tis' the season! We worked on decorating Christmas cookies, ginger bread houses and made some cute festive jewelry at Heart to Home. The residents really enjoyed all of the fun activities (and so did the staff!). We also enjoyed a special visit from a local church and their volunteer Christmas Carolers! So fun for everyone to really get into the spirit of the season. We feel so very blessed this time of year. Wishing you and your family happy holidays! 

We had a filling Thanksgiving at Heart to Home. For the residents who didn't go out with family we had a hearty meal including all the staples; turkey, mashed potatoes, pie, etc. A fun time was had by all. We also enjoyed our volunteers from Visitation over the last month. Several students from the local high school came to play bingo, complete arts / crafts and lead chair exercises with our residents. We can't thank you enough for volunteering your time and talents! 

"We just wanted to say thank you! What an amazing home you have provided to these residents! I so wish I knew about your organization when my dad was alive! We had a great experience and we are so so so thankful she found you!! Well done on creating an amazing home and environment and we are so impressed by the staff as well! " ~ From the mom of one of the student volunteers