Whatever It Takes

Hendricks County Flyer ^ | July 7, 2003 | Adam Coates

[onehipdad]

Activity Director Does 'Whatever It Takes'

By Adam Coates

Flyer Staff Writer

The staff at Westside Retirement Village on West 10th Street call Brenda Branson their hero and the residents there say she always wears a smile. But for Branson, the accolades serve only to make her more humble.

Branson has served as the facility's activity director for the past 13 years. It's her job to see that the residents at the facility have a wide range of activities in which to participate, including sing-alongs, card games, outings, parties, movies and craft classes. But the aspect of her job she says she enjoys most is interacting with and caring for the residents on a daily basis.

"I just love older people," Branson said. "When I was 6 years old, my best friend was an 82-year-old woman who lived in my neighborhood. She taught me so many things."

Branson's love and passion for her job has driven her to literally go the extra mile over the years. Recently, she drove one of the residents from the facility to an out-of-town family reunion. She has also worked on many weekends when she wasn't scheduled to and has taken several residents for visits to their home churches on Sunday mornings.

But perhaps one of the most significant contributions Branson has made to Westside Retirement Village is the creation of a food pantry that residents, staff and members of the general public are able to draw from during the cold winter months of the year. She said that when she started the pantry several years ago, she used her own finances to purchase food to stock the shelves.

"It has continued to expand and now people just bring in items to donate," Branson explained. "I haven't had to buy anything to put in it for probably four years."

Branson said she got the idea to start the pantry after her father-in-law passed away and workers at the retirement facility pulled together to help her feed out-of-town relatives that had come to town for the funeral.

"After that, I just decided I wanted to do something to give back," Branson said. "I had the thought that if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. I wanted to help."

Branson's efforts haven't gone unnoticed by her supervisors. In fact, for her continual efforts to go above and beyond her job requirements, she was recently awarded the "Whatever It Takes" award from Life Care Centers of America, the company that manages Westside Retirement Village and other similar facilities across the Midwest.

Branson was chosen from a pool of thousands of health care workers from facilities in Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska. She said she was recently recognized during a special ceremony at Westside Retirement Village where she received a $1,000 check for her efforts.

"I feel honored and privileged," Branson said. "I'm just so thankful."

While Branson says all of the recent attention is nice, it's not what keeps her going from day to day. She attributes her inner desire to help others in life to the childhood lessons that were taught to her by her father.

"He always used to tell me, 'If you're not helping someone else, then you're probably not worth much,'" Branson recalled. "This is what I'm supposed to do. It's one of my purposes -- serving others."

adam.coates@flyergroup.com

[onehipdad]

Remember 41's 1000 Points Of Light speech? Here's one of them. I know there are many in every community across the country but just felt like posting this departure from the same old same old we see every day...

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[Col Freeper]

Yes, she is clearly one of them.

Thanks for posting this. It is indeed nice to read about someone who "makes a difference" through their positive actions, without expecting anything in return.