If you look at a community’s activity calendar, you will immediately be struck by the impressive variety of programming and the thoughtful way countless holidays are celebrated, from important ones like religious holidays to whimsical ones like National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (which I would also call important).
Having studied these calendars and learned from the best, we carefully curate our programming to celebrate special occasions and complement the amazing work of activity staff. One holiday that we know is extra special is Veterans Day in the US (Remembrance Day in Canada) on November 11th. Each year, our team brainstorms how we can make the day extra special to thank veterans for their service and honor the residents and loved ones who served. This year, we had our biggest campaign yet with special experiences weaved throughout multiple Rendever products! It was a special week, and I want to share some of the highlights.
In RendeverLive™, we dedicated most of the week’s programming to celebrating this occasion. We kicked off the week with a Monday Mindfulness session about “Remembrance” – encouraging our audience to take a moment to remember and honor loved ones through a purposeful guided meditation. On Tuesday, we took our audience on a live virtual reality tour of Military Museums around the world. On Wednesday, in our weekly Trivia session, we tested our audience’s knowledge of the history of Veteran’s Day, famous veterans, and historic battles – unsurprisingly, they really know their stuff!
To cap off the week, we had an extra special treat. For our weekly “Travel and Culture” VR tour, we were joined by Doug Lantry, the Curator & Historian of the National Museum of the US Air Force, who took everyone on a live tour of this historic museum.
As Doug led the tour, he shared anecdotes about key wars ranging from WWII to the decades-long Cold War. He spoke about the incredible contributions of women in the Air Force, took us on the plane that brought JFK’s body back pointing out where LBJ was sworn in, and shared insights about the future of Air Force technology. Residents got the chance to chime in, and they both asked Doug pointed questions and shared stories from their service – a few having served in the Air Force for over 20 years! The next day, we heard from one of our all-star communities in Canada that one resident spent an hour after the session talking about her service with other residents in her community. To open up about something so personal and meaningful - how incredible! Those anecdotes are why we do what we do. We design experiences specifically so that they lead to magical moments of connection within communities - and that’s what we saw all throughout the week. See some of the magic below:
In addition to the special RendeverLive™ programming, we created a programming template to help celebrate the holiday and we released new Veteran-themed experiences on our platform. One of these releases - our new Honor Flight experience in VR - is extra special to us because of the story behind it, a story that shows when we work with people who understand the mission, we can make anything happen. A few months ago, one of our hospice communities reached out and shared the story of a resident who had never been able to go on his Honor Flight, and probably wouldn’t have the chance. They asked if we could help him fulfill his wish. Of course, these are the opportunities that motivate us the most, so we immediately researched how we could make this happen. After a number of conversations, we met St. Francis Reflections Lifestage Care. They had produced their own 360° video with an Honor Flight chapter and graciously allowed us to share it with our hospice communities. We’re so grateful for their generosity. The Honor Flight experience is incredibly moving and has already been so meaningful to the Veterans in our audience.
While Veterans Day/Remembrance Day is on November 11th, we plan special Veteran oriented programming and releases all year long to celebrate and thank our veterans for their service. Join us on Wednesday December 7th, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, for a RendeverLive™ Can’t Miss Session with a WWII veteran. Eddy Goldfarb, a 101-year old veteran and inventor of numerous iconic toys, will join us for a live Q&A after we screen the documentary his daughter made about his incredible life and inventions. You really don’t want to miss it. And we're doing a big holiday bonus to build our biggest discount ever. Get more information:
Learn How RendeverLive™ is Making Your Holiday Season Better
To learn more, email us at hello@rendever.com or call us at (857) 800-8032