By Gabriella Payne
Residents at the Evergreen Retirement Village in Pakenham enjoyed a lovely morning filled with hot cross buns, chocolates, cups of tea and plenty of great conversation when local Member for Bass, Jordan Curgnale MP, hopped by for an Easter morning tea on Tuesday 30 March.
After a difficult year last year, the senior residents and staff at Evergreen were thrilled to welcome Ms Crugnale on Tuesday as things slowly get back to a sense of normality, and everyone had a great time getting into the Easter spirit.
Sharyn Allsop, the assistant manager at Evergreen Retirement Village, said that it was a “beautiful” day and the residents had loved chatting with Ms Crugnale over a cuppa and an Easter treat.
“It was such a privilege for Jordan to come down and spend some time and acknowledge us, it was just so beautiful,” Ms Allsop said.
“And to bring hot cross buns and Easter eggs was such a beautiful gesture on their behalf, we all had a great time.”
Ms Allsop said that about 30 residents came along to the morning tea, and it was wonderful to see them socialising and having a great time with one another – especially after last year’s lockdowns.
“The residents have just suffered so badly with their mental health over the past year, so this was just a great chance to have a bit of fun, a good laugh, and to get together again,” she said.
Ms Allsop said that whilst residents were slowly getting their Covid vaccinations, it was hard to organise big group activities as restrictions had still been changing frequently.
“One minute we’re open, and the next we’re locked down,” Ms Allsop said.
“We try to book little things when we can, but it’s just baby steps at the moment.
We’re pretty much taking it one day at a time,” she said.
But after the success of Tuesday’s get together and the fantastic reaction from residents, Ms Allsop hoped that the retirement village could host more events like it in the near future, and welcomed Ms Crugnale back anytime she liked.
“Honestly everyone was so happy to come out and Jordan was just so beautiful and chatting with everyone,” she said.
“It was just nice to know that we mattered and someone cares about us – that’s what meant the most.”
