There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

As the famous song says, “There’s no place like home for the holidays,” which is why our goal at DHIC is not just to provide affordable housing for residents in the Triangle, but to give them a place they can truly call home. Each year, we encourage each of our properties to celebrate the holidays by hosting small resident gatherings and activities. This year, we had 26 parties at various sites ranging in size, with everything from small refreshments to fully catered meals. This included a special holiday luncheon at Booker Park North at Washington Terrace.

Here’s a closer look at how your donations have helped spread holiday cheer.

Holiday Extravaganza at Capital Towers
As you may remember, we’ve been working with The Presbyterian Homes, Inc. on major renovations to Capital Towers, a two-building, 297-unit senior apartment community in North Raleigh. While the renovations are certainly exciting, the construction meant we weren’t able to decorate for the holidays or hold a large celebration on site.

That got our Community Services Coordinator, LaTonya Mckoy, and Project Manager, Kayla Strampe brainstorming about other ways to bring the holiday spirit to Capital Towers. Many of the residents are close, having lived in the apartments for the last decade, and celebrating the holidays together has become important to them.

Holiday prizes for game winners, arts and crafts, and the infamous hot chocolate bar.

LaTonya and Kayla decided that since there wasn’t space to hold one big event, they’d host a series of smaller events in the weeks leading up to the holidays. LaTonya says, “We talked to the residents and asked them about the different activities they’d like to do, games they might want to play, and types of prizes they’d want to win. We wanted to make the events something they could look forward to in the midst of the chaos of renovations.”

The holiday events included:

• Craft days, where the residents made waterless snow globes and handmade holiday cards for their neighbors.
• A game day where residents picked some of their favorite games to play, including spades, dominoes, and bingo.
• A movie day complete with a coffee and hot chocolate bar with all the toppings.
• A 12 Days of Christmas giveaway, where residents searched for a hidden Elf on the Shelf for the chance to win prizes for their home, like dish towels, cleaning supplies, and fuzzy holiday socks.
• A breakfast biscuit bar set up in the newly renovated common area of Capital Towers.

LaTonya and some of the residents having a blast making waterless snow globes.

“We had so many of the residents come up to us and say that these activities made them feel cared for, especially as many of their families live far away. Looking forward to these events and celebrating the holidays with their neighbors brought them a lot of joy,” continues LaTonya.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to everyone who gave generous donations on Giving Tuesday this year, which helped fund these holiday events. Thank you for helping to make the holiday season a bit brighter at Capital Towers!

A few of the lucky winners collecting their prizes for finding the Elf on the Shelf!

Dedication at Greenfield Commons
This month, we also held a soft dedication holiday drop-in for Greenfield Commons, a 69-unit apartment community for seniors 55 and up. Local Chapel Hill elected officials and city council members stopped by to help us celebrate the opening of this new community.

Carolina Ballet
While we’re thrilled that residents from our different properties were able to celebrate the holidays in their own ways, we also wanted to give them the opportunity to come together for a special event at the Carolina Ballet.

Carolina Ballet, with the generous support of PNC Bank, reserved 1,000 seats for DHIC residents and their families to enjoy the matinee showing of the Nutcracker on December 27. We had an overwhelming response to this opportunity, and look forward to closing out 2019 with families and friends.