Five people spend their Monday evenings at area nursing homes and senior apartments.
For an hour each week, Fresh Faith Group sings old jazz, musicals, country, gospel and hymns for the residents. The members are Esther Schutt, Bob and Nancy Dumke, and Robert and Vicki Arkens.
“We’re just some folks,” said Robert Arkens, who sings and plays the guitar.
Before they start, song booklets are handed out so the residents can request whatever they would like to hear and sing along with the group.
“It makes it a fun experience,” Bob Dumke said.
The Dumkes and Schutt are from Shawano, and the Arkens are from Clintonville. They rotate Mondays between Paiser’s Oakhaven, Birch Hill, Evergreen, Maple Lane, Elizabeth Manor and Parkside, all in Shawano County, and Pine Manor, Green Tree and Kindred Hearts, which are in or near Clintonville.
The Arkens have been part of the group since 2003.
“It brings joy to the residents,” Vicki Arkens said. “I enjoy singing those songs.”
“We get as much out of it as the residents,” Bob Dumke said.
The group originated in 1998 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Shawano when the Rev. John Feider was pastor there. Bob Dumke was part of the group from the start.
It has been eight years since the core group went on its own.
“We do it just as an outreach to the residents in the facilities,” Bob Dumke said. “We do it because of the obvious entertainment that it presents to the residents at the homes. It stimulates people who may have been withdrawn.”
Esther Schutt said it is touching when she sees the residents’ lips moving to songs such as “How Great Thou Art.”
“That’s so touching,” Schutt said. “It makes our time worthwhile. It’s great when residents request certain songs.”
Schutt and Robert Arkens are retired. Vicki Arkens is a substitute teacher. Bob and Nancy Dumke are co-owners of Cobbler’s Closet in Shawano.
“We imagine some day to be in the audience,” Bob Dumke said. “We’d like there to be someone to make us smile.”
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