Dear Friends, Monday morning, Sr. Maria rings my home number to let me know the news. An enormous branch from Cranaleith’s 400-year-old American elm tree has fallen—its heavy weight crashing across the driveway, leaving a fatal gash down its trunk, blocking the path to the house. Maria and I pause in silence for a minute,...
For what is the mystical life but God coming to do what we cannot do? – Ruth Barrows, OCD Dear Friends, I hunch over my phone, obsessively tracking the progress of the Lyft drivers scheduled to arrive any minute at Cranaleith. The teenage girls and staff –now enroute to Cranaleith from IDAAY (Institute for the...
“The retreat really allowed us to see a side of our coworkers that we had not experienced before. It allowed a vulnerability that we typically do not see in healthcare leadership. It was refreshing to see that humanistic side of our peers.” – program participant from Jefferson North nurse managers Cranaleith is proud to share that...
Dear Friends, For our staff retreat on Monday, I hurry to the boardroom, gripping two heavy boxes of mirrors that nearly slip from my hands. In the room, I ask everyone to lift the mirrors in front of them and invite them to gaze into their own eyes for 5 minutes. It’s a contemplative practice,...
Dear Friends, Elizabeth (Director of Hosted Groups) and I kneel on the rough planks of the front porch of the Knowlton Mansion trying to fix the frame of a canvas backdrop. Inside, Carolyn dangles delicate earrings on an acrylic stand for the auction table, propping Sr. Helen David’s original painting on a golden easel. Maryanne...
May 5, 2024 Dear Friends, Photographs lie in neat piles on my desk, but I am stressed because of a tight deadline. Over two hundred people are gathering for dinner to honor Joyce Hadley, Sr. Mary Scullion and our own Sr. Maria DiBello at Cranaleith’s 25th anniversary gala scheduled for May 16, and we have...
Dear Friends, My husband, youngest daughter and I will be racing to upstate New York this Monday, chasing the solar eclipse. In the Path of Totality, we hope to stand in the moon’s shadow, marvel at the stars revealed in the daytime sky, stand breathless in the darkness and watch in wonder at the radiant...
Dear Friends, The tour guide, ten college students and I walk as quickly as we can from the parked bus, down the Spanish Steps, breathing heavily as we hurry under the black night sky along the glittering lights of the streets in Rome, Italy. We race toward the Pantheon, desperate to get into the building...
“May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 Dear Friends, At the staff/volunteer luncheon, Mark (our much-loved volunteer) shows me the video on his phone of a large storm drain...
Dear Beloved Cranaleith Community, As we stand on the threshold of a new year, all of us at Cranaleith are filled with profound gratitude and anticipation. The journey we’ve collectively traversed in the past year has been one of both challenges and triumphs, growth, and reflection. We find ourselves humbled by the resilience and love...
