Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Technology company co-founder visits Wesley Village in Shelton


Technology company co-founder Jack York visits with staff at Wesley Village in Shelton. /Contributed photo 

SHELTON - Wesley Village recently had a visit from Jack York, IN2L’s President and co-founder, on his 60/20 Tour, as he celebrates two important milestones - his 60th birthday and 20 years of the technology he created.  

It’s Never Too Late (IN2L) Technology has transformed the relationship seniors have with technology, allowing residents at senior living communities access to hundreds of applications at the touch of their fingertips. 
York has been on the road making stops at the communities who use the technology and celebrating with sing-a-longs, car ride karaoke sessions, and birthday cake. 
“I’ve been through 35 states and have seen about 200 different communities and have been getting people to do cool, fun things,” York said.

He retired from the corporate world after he had a spiritual moment of realization that changed his life. York created this technology in memory of his mother.
“There’s a moon in the logo of our company, and what that moon represents is my mother,” he said. 
“I was 40 years old and my mom was turning 80. My mom took all of the kids and grandkids on a real short cruise in Southern California, and on the last night of the cruise, I was on the top deck with my mom and we were looking at a moon just like that and she said, “Everything in her life that she had wanted to come true, had come true,” said York. 
York said his mother passed away two days after her 80th birthday. He was deeply moved by what his mother said and had a spiritual experience that told him he needed to change his direction with his work. 
“About six months before her death, we had been donating computers to a local nursing home never thinking of it as a business, and it hit me spiritually, that this is what I’m supposed to do,” York said. 
That’s when It’s Never Too Late Technology was born.
Residents who live at Wesley Heights, thanks to the generous donation from the Valley Community Foundation, have an opportunity to use this interactive program every day to listen to music, play trivia games, learn history, watch videos on YouTube, and build their own home page within the technology. 
This allows residents individualized access to their favorite games, websites, family photos and videos, and more. It’s a great way to keep residents engaged and having fun. 
“We’ve had the technology for about a year now. Our residents love it, we use it daily. We use it for exercise, we have singalongs, and we do creative storytelling, word games, hangman and the bubble burst. Definitely something that our residents look forward to and we’re so glad to have it,” said Monika Westerdal, Director of Lifestyle Transitions at Wesley Heights.

The Wesley Village Campus is located at 580 Long Hill Ave. 
It includes: Crosby Commons Independent/Assisted Living Community, Wesley Heights Independent/Assisted Living Community, Lifestyle Transitions Assisted Living/Memory Support Community, and Bishop Wicke Health and Rehabilitation Center. 
The campus is owned and operated by UMH, a local, mission-based, not-for-profit organization. 


This is a press release from United Methodist Homes.

Learn bird feeder watching at Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby

DERBY - Do you know the difference between a field sparrow and chipping sparrow?  
Are you a beginner or seasoned birdwatcher?  
Become a FeederWatcher!   
Kellogg Environmental Center, 500 Hawthorne Ave., is seeking volunteers for its Project FeederWatch program.  
Volunteers will monitor birds and maintain the bird feeding stations at Kellogg Environmental Center from November 2019 to April 2020 on Fridays and Saturdays.  
Come to the center Oct. 26 from 9-10:30 a.m. to attend a Project FeederWatch training.  

Project FeederWatch is a citizen science project that studies the distribution and populations of winter bird species across the country.  Volunteers monitor and count the number of birds at the center’s bird feeders during pre-selected days between November and April.  
The data is carefully recorded and sent to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for compilation, analysis, and publication.  
Project FeederWatch is well suited for students, teachers, families, retirees, and any who have an interest in birds and who enjoy watching wildlife. 

All ages are welcome, but children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by adults. 
Handouts and refreshments will be available. The training is free and open to the public.  Registration is required.  

For more information and to register, contact the Kellogg Environmental Center, 203-734-2513 or donna.kingston@ct.gov.  
The Kellogg Environmental Center is a facility of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.