Caring Cardinals of Westlake

Everyone’s lives were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but none more than our senior citizens living in nursing homes. Starting in March 2020, family visitations were shutdown, daily recreational activities were canceled, and in some cases, residents were simply isolated in their rooms in an effort to try to stop the spread of the deadly COVID virus.

My father spent 18 months in a Western NY nursing home before passing away in 2019, so I understood the days could be long even with the best nursing home care. My Dad also had many passions throughout his 85-year life, but watching and feeding birds is something I will remember as one of his true loves.

I used to do some running though the Westlake Health Campus, a senior living community in Commerce, MI, so as the pandemic broke and I starting seeing posted “Closed to visitors” signs, I knew it must have been extremely difficult for the residents. Thinking of my father, the idea just came to me… wouldn’t it be great if every resident at Westlake had a birdfeeder outside their bedroom to provide nature’s entertainment during this difficult time. I viewed it as a way I could honor my father, plus help some people that didn’t have many options to help themselves. With that, I went to work.

I received approval from the Westlake Health Campus administration to form the “Caring Cardinals of Westlake” volunteer initiative and started writing A LOT of emails to local and national suppliers of birdfeeders, shepherd hooks and birdseed in hopes of getting donations to kickstart the initiative. My big break came from Woodstream Corp(Perky Pet), who quickly agreed to send a semi-truck to my house with 75 donated birdfeeders. I could not have been more thankful!

In the first four months of the initiative, I was able to setup birdfeeders outside all 110+ bedrooms on the Westlake campus. My volunteer team, consisting of family and friends, started filling feeders every week ensuring a constant flow of hungry and entertaining birds and squirrels. The feedback from the Westlake staff and residents was amazing, as the new feeders were the talk of the campus. That’s all I needed to hear to keep it going.

Today, even though COVID restrictions have loosened, family and friends are visiting their loved ones again, and recreational activities have resumed, my volunteer team continues to maintain and fill all the birdfeeders every other week.

The reality is even with all our efforts I’ve never received any supplier nor corporate commitment to donate birdseed on a consistent basis. There will always be a need for ongoing funding to support the initiative’s sustainability. I still receive some donations from the Westlake administration, Westlake residents, their family members, plus my friends and family, but it falls short to cover the 3,400+lbs of birdseed that is purchased annually.

Making donations to the Caring Cardinal of Westlake initiative won’t help find the cure for any of the terrible disease that may be impacting our loved ones, but if you decide you want to be part of something great, I promise your donation will go to good use and WILL make a difference in someone’s life. You have a few options if you decide to donate:

• Check payable to: Ken McLouth (earmarked for Caring Cardinals of Westlake)

Mail to: 526 Woodstone Ct, White Lake, MI 48386

• Venmo: @Ken-McLouth (earmarked for Caring Cardinals of Westlake)

• GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/78bb9610

• Check payable to: Westlake Health Campus (earmarked for Caring Cardinals of Westlake)

Mail to: Attention: Sue Voydanoff

Westlake Health Campus

10735 Bogie Lake Rd.

Commerce Township, MI 48382

Regardless of your preferred method, all donations get posted on the Caring Cardinals of Westlake GoFundMe page for transparency. Please know, GoFundMe keeps 2.9% of your donated funds if you use their platform. Outside of this, 100% of your donations are used to purchase birdseed and maintain the feeders...no additional fees, expenses, salaries, etc.