As is true every month, residents are having adventures of many kinds this month. Get Out! Travel took Tom to the Ronald Reagan library, Chris to the races in Santa Anita, and Shane and Liz on a remarkable three-day adventure to Yosemite.                                                     

On October 24, the Assistance League regaled our residents with a

lively evening of Halloween bingo. Lots of  merriment and silly cos-

tumes and, of course, prizes!

On the 26th, many residents returned from their day programs with purple or green hair and white zombie faces.

On October 31, we'll be having our own Halloween party, as this holi-day is one of our residents' favorites. 

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Live and Let Dance!  

Carnivorous Plants

Five Hillside House residents appeared in a wonderful musical play put on by Alpha's Performing Arts Troupe, "Live and Let Dance." Held at Marjorie Luke Theater at Santa Barbara Jr. High on October 1, the play was a humorous send-up of the James Bond film "Live and Let Die". The 800-seat theater was filled to capacity with an enthusiastic crowd that included Hillside House residents Morgan, Ginny, Patty, Chris and Moselle and staff members Gail, Kea, Julio C., Curt, Nikki.

Ingelise played Dr. Greenthumb, Pilar was the Pope, David S., David C. and Nancy were carnivorous plants raised by Dr. Greenthumb. There was a wonderful feeling of shared enjoyment between the actors and the audience, with the actors getting a lot of laughs out of the script. In the end Dr. Greenthumb's plot to blow up the world was thwarted--thank goodness!--but great fun was had by all. 

Thanks to Get Out! Travel for the photo.

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New Residents and Empty Beds  

Since our last E-newsletter in August, we have welcomed three new residents to Hillside House: Elena, Victor and Jimmie, each of whom is bringing a unique and wonderful spirit to our community.

Elena

At 87 years old, Elena is our eldest current resident. In fact, we celebrated her birthday just a few days after her arrival here in mid-August. Although Elena had lived with her family for her entire life until coming to Hillside House, she has adapted remarkably well. She is used to having things a certain way and is a meticulously tidy person, who loves to put away her own laundry each day when it arrives. She also helps us keep other areas tidy and organized. Though she speaks only Spanish, she has made close friendships with Patty, another Spanish-speaking resident, and with Ingelise. Elena loves reading magazines and having coffee "with a little sweet" and participates in our daily Happy Hour and other group activities and classes.

Victor

Victor also arrived in late August and comes from a Spanish-speaking family. Although he cannot speak, he is very good at communicating through facial expressions and understands well. He has a lovely sense of humor and is a warm-hearted person. His parents live in Oxnard, and Victor was living in Glendale. They chose to move him to Hillside House so they could be closer, and they come visit him every week, a highlight for him. We have gotten Victor started at Pathpoint Community Access Program as his day program, and they report he is doing very well there. At Hillside House he has impressed us with his artistic abilities and has made some lovely jewelry as well.

Jimmie arrived in September. He had lived in a 4-person private

Jimmie

group home in Santa Barbara for 40 years and was the last of the original four residents still at that home. He is maintaining close friendships with his caretakers and the other residents from that home, who visit him at Hillside House. Jimmie is very independent. He has a landscaping job three days a week through Pathpoint and rides the bus into town by himself on the other days to enjoy the town. He is very sociable and verbal, likes doing crossword puzzles and other puzzles, participates in the group activities here, and says he is very happy at Hillside House.

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A New Home For Our Endowment        

Hillside House's endowment fund was managed by Smith-Barney for many years. We also had investments with First Republic Investment/Bank of the West. When our investment advisor left Smith Barney, our board saw that as an opportunity to review our options by interviewing several other firms.    

The board considered proposals from many firms, looking for the best possible return and security for our investments. Eventually  we decided to move our endowment to the Santa Barbara Foundation. This means that our comparatively small endowment will be managed by the same professionals that manage the Foundation's endowment of several hundred million dollars. 

The board was impressed by the performance of the Santa Barbara Foundation's endowment, by their management of the accounts they service, and by the fact that our endowment would be invested along with their much larger endowment, giving us an advantage and, presumably, securing us a better return. We also felt that our donors who are interested in investing in our endowment would appreciate the credibility of the Santa Barbara Foundation, which has a track record of sound management combined with devoted community service. The Santa Barbara Foundation has also been a generous supporter of Hillside House for many years.