Kendal at Oberlin

06/12/2026

Pride Month is a time to celebrate, reflect, and stand in support of the LGBTQ+ community. At Kendal at Oberlin, that commitment lives on year-round through advocacy, education, and community connection.

Pride Month is about more than waving rainbow flags. Here are 3 ways you can get involved this month.

06/12/2026

This month Megan King, Assistant Director of Nursing, is celebrating her 4th anniversary at Kendal at Oberlin, but in reality, she has worked at Kendal for a total of 10 years.

“I originally began working at Kendal in 2015 as a PRN nurse then became full-time. In 2021, my family and I decided to relocate to my home state of Colorado, but we returned to Ohio a year later. I knew then that I wanted to come back to Kendal. Kendal truly feels like my home away from home,” says Megan, who has been a nurse for 15 years.

Megan works under the direction of Kim Lee, Director of Nursing, coordinating and overseeing care partners and nursing personnel to ensure that Kendal meets the needs of its residents and follows all the necessary guidelines of being a regulated licensed facility.

“What I like most about Kendal is the feeling of genuinely being part of a community. I love working and interacting with older adults. I think that is in large part of my upbringing, when I would visit the nursing home with my grandparents as a young child,” Megan says.

While growing up in Colorado Megan was not one to hit the ski slopes. “While many people associate Colorado with snow skiing, I grew up water skiing and look forward to going back each summer to enjoy it,” she says.

Megan, who has a fraternal twin sister, lives in Amherst and enjoys walking and spending time outdoors in warm weather. She has one daughter, Hannah, 12, who attended the Kendal EarIy Learning Center as a preschooler.

06/10/2026

New brand and logo. Same core values.

Discover Kendal, a leading not-for-profit senior living organization composed of Kendal at Oberlin and 11 other affiliates, launched its updated identity this month, stressing its continued commitment to quality care for older adults.

‘As Kendal continues to partner with Affiliates to create opportunities for people to live in ways that are deeply resonant, we continue to expand our reach through innovative programs and services,” said Vassar Byrd, CEO of Kendal. “This brand evolution both builds on our Quaker-based foundation of deep respect for the individual and their voice and reinforces our readiness to move forward with those values to serve the next generation.”

The new logo features three interconnected leaves representing balance and simplicity, looping lines symbolizing community connection, a Kendal green base for stability and a raspberry accent for creativity. Kendal Affiliates each have their own logos that are better aligned and united under a similar Kendal mark yet incorporate their distinct identities with unique names and locations where they are based or serve.

The rebranding, which will take a year or so for full implementation, was a collaborative process that included active participation and feedback from residents, team members and organizational leaders across the entire System through workshops, discussions and polls.

The new brand was specifically designed to reflect and reinforce Kendal’s existing universal values, which are deeply rooted in Quaker principles.

Those values include:
Daily operations rooted in transparency, consensus building and other foundational Quaker principles;
A welcoming environment for all, regardless of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion or any other characteristic;
Autonomy and dignity of every resident and member;
Management and oversight that provide long-term stability and stewardship.

06/04/2026

Kendal resident and artist Tom Roese has turned the Friends Gallery into an exhibit featuring his graphite/acrylic/color pencil drawings entitled “Industrious Cleveland, Buildings and Bridges, Bricks and Steel.”

“These are all works on paper which are visual short stories inspired by the residential and industrial neighborhoods of Cleveland. The drawings were all completed just prior to coming to Kendal.,” says Tom, who lived in Strongsville before moving to Kendal two years ago with his husband Bill Franklin.
Tom’s Artist Talk, open to the public, is Friday, June 12 at 4 p.m. in Heiser Auditorium. The exhibit ends Aug. 17.

The two dozen drawings, ranging in size from 14”x18” to 32”x40,” are for sale, ranging in price from $1800 to $5200. This is Tom’s second show at Kendal, and he is scheduled to have a solo exhibition at the Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA) in March 2027 featuring images inspired by Oberlin and Lorain County.

In their Kendal cottage (photographed), Tom turned the living room into a studio that has “gorgeous natural north light, and a glimpse of Island Pond.”

Explains Tom in his Artist Statement:

“One of the most pleasing sounds in the studio is when a pencil describes the world as the graphite optics make marks across the paper. The use of pencils can be rich and exciting. It is not until the addition of color that there is a fuller development of the image. In fact, these additional details of the pencil, the drawing, and the making of marks on paper that continue to bring me back to telling stories.”

Tom’s artwork is in several professional collections, including the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he taught drawing for many years, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Canton Art Museum and Flint (Michigan) Institute of Arts.

06/03/2026

On Saturday, June 6 “take a hike” and celebrate National Trails Day® with thousands of other outdoor enthusiasts.

According to the American Hiking Society

“Taking place on the first Saturday in June, National Trails Day® is a day of public events aimed at advocacy and trail service. Tens of thousands of hikers, bikers, paddlers, horseback riders, trail clubs, federal and local agencies, land trusts, and businesses come together in partnership to advocate for, maintain, and clean up public lands and trails. “

Here’s some ways to become a trail steward:

Leave trails better than you found them, which means bringing a trash bag to pack out all your waste and pick up trash along the way.

Advocate for trails by using your voice and financial resources to support public lands and trail preservation.

Share your space by being considerate of all trail users – including wildlife .

If you want to head to a trail on June 6 consider joining Ohio’s Biggest Day Hike by registering to hike a specific part of the 1440+-mile Buckeye Trail all around Ohio. Some segments (1 to 5 miles long) are flat, paved trails and even ADA accessible, other segments are hilly, dirt trails and more challenging. There is no cost to register but the The Buckeye Trail Association is raising money to become the nation’s twelfth National Scenic Trail.

For a solo outing check out one of the The Nature Conservancy in Ohio protected preserves, such as:

Great Egret Marsh Preserve, across the road from East Harbor State Park on Catawba Island. It consists of more than 150 acres of marsh and surrounding upland that is home to egrets, herons and other shorebirds.

Kitty Todd Nature Preserve, a 1,300-square-mile complex of oak savanna and wet prairie near Toledo. Year-round activities include hiking, birding, wildlife-watching, nature photography and observing native plants.

05/22/2026

The main entrance at Kendal at Oberlin is now graced with a Peace Pole, thanks to the Peace Pole Interest Group headed by Ellie Stock.

“One of the Quaker values upon which Kendal at Oberlin is based is peace,” Ellie said at last month’s dedication ceremony, held at the beginning of Earth Week. “Kendal’s Peace Pole is part of a global movement begun in Japan, following World War II, to promote peace and wellbeing among nations and people at every level. About 250,000 Peace Poles in various languages have been planted across the globe, indoors and outdoors in front of many private and public places. Some thought it was appropriate and timely for Kendal at Oberlin to have a Peace Pole.”

The 8-foot, four-sided Peace Pole Makers USA has the words “May Peace Prevail on Earth” printed on four sides, two languages on each side (six United Nations official languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese plus Mohawk and Hindi) and a braille plaque. At the dedication, eight residents read the inscription in a different language.

The ceremony also included recognition of residents who served in the Peace Corps and residents who were conscientious objectors, a brief community conversation about peace, words for dedicating the Peace Pole that included the story from the Haudenosaunee Tradition (Iroquois) of the Great Peacemaker and the Great Tree of Peace, and words for dedicating residents’ lives to being Peacemakers.

The 80 or so residents who attended the ceremony walked from Heiser auditorium to the entrance outside singing “Walk in Peace, Walk in Light,” accompanied by guitarist Randy Matthews.

Resident Judi Bachrach wrote a poem entitled “Embodied Peace” for the occasion, which in part reads:

Peace radiates the glow of love and justice
weighing exactly as much as that which is needed
to rebalance the scale.
Embodying peace is the work we do
to listen and to take right action.

Future events centered around the Peace Pole might include vigils, World Peace Day (Sept. 21) and other gatherings.

“It was an interesting journey to get here and is the result of great teamwork,” says Ellie, a retired minister. Perhaps, that was the easy part. The real work of doing peacemaking with justice continues with urgency at every level: heart, community, nation, and Earth and ALL that is in it.”

05/21/2026

In our country’s current bipartisan political climate, here’s a glimmer of good news: This month a unanimous U.S. House of Representatives vote approved its annual resolution making May “Jewish American Heritage Month.”

“When you have three-fourths of Jews, who report that they’ve experienced some kind of antisemitism directly in the last year, making sure that the House of Representatives is united in expressing its opposition and concerns about antisemitism and supporting and celebrating the contribution to the Jewish people to the success of America, especially in the 250th anniversary, is really important,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chief sponsor of the bill, told the JNS.org.

To learn more about Jewish American Heritage check out “Read, Watch, Listen, Cook,” a list of resources selected by National Museum of American Jewish History organizers.

Here are 3 recommendations from each list.

Read
“Antisemitism: Here and Now,” written by Deborah E. Lipstadt (2019)
“The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar's and Everything in Between,” by multiple authors (2019)
“Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories,” by Mike Rothschild (2023)


Watch
“Funny Girl,” directed by William Wyler (1968)
“Schindler’s List,” directed by Steven Spielberg (1993)
“The Fabelmans,” directed by Steven Spielberg (2022)

Listen
“Being Jewish” podcast with Jonah Platt
“Wondering Jews” podcast with Mijal Bitton and Noam Weissman
“Can We Talk?” podcast with Jewish Women’s Archives

Cook
“Zahav Home,” by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook (2024)
“Sweet Farm!” by Molly Yeh (2025)
“Matzah and Flour” by Hélène Jawhara Piñer (2024)

Also, consider visiting the Maltz Museum, Respect for All Humanity in Beechwood., whose mission is to “build bridges of tolerance and understanding by sharing Jewish heritage through the lens of the American experience.” Currently on exhibit (through Aug. 23) is “Icons in Ink: The Jewish Comics Experience.” Public and private tours are available.

05/20/2026

Kendal at Oberlin’s 100+ acre campus is a green landscape of trees, plants and ponds that delight residents and guests, along with birds, butterflies and other wildlife. Maintaining the grounds is a year-round job that keeps Rachel Duncan’s five full-time staffers busy and this month we turn a spotlight on Pebbles Bush, who celebrates her third anniversary as a Kendal horticulturist.

“My job involves the design, installation and maintenance of public garden beds, and natural areas management at Kendal,” Pebbles says, adding, “One of my favorite things is speaking with residents about new plant installations.”

Like many who live and work at Kendal, Pebbles has a favorite outdoor spot. Hers is Wildflower Hill (photographed), a 4 ½-acre area home to dozens of different wildflowers along with native grasses and shrubs. The area, which has a walking path through the center and on top of the hill (the highest point on campus), is accessible from New Russia Township Park and is open to the public.

When not at work, Pebbles enjoys – no surprise – maintaining her home gardens and raised planters. She also likes to birdwatch, watch British films and television shows and dine out for Sunday brunches.

And what else Pebbles Bush? “It seems as though my vocation was predestined given my name,” she says.