“It’s been a great week. I love it when we do these themed weeks because everybody just participates and comes alive,” said Beth O’Connor, activities director for assisted living at Mill Creek.

The week kicked off Jan. 14 with residents decorating flags that represented their heritages, she said. The flags were displayed throughout the week and gave residents a chance to share their heritage with one another and reflect on their backgrounds, she said.

“We all met together and thought about what we were,” O’Connor said. “I gave them a blank flag; I had a bunch of printed flags of the world and they had to think about what their heritage was, what they were made up of; and sometimes, one resident would have to make four different flags because they were made up of so many different cultures.”

The next day, residents had an opportunity to learn about Upper Peninsula heritage and history during a special presentation by Jack Deo of Superior View Photography, O’Connor said.

A flag is colored to represent a resident’s heritage during Mill Creek’s Heritage Week.

“He shared some photos of some U.P. heritage that we are proud of up here, like our mining industry and our ore docks,” she said.

Residents also made festive Finnish crafts during the week.

“We made Finnish paper stars,” she said. “It’s kind of like origami but it’s something the Finlanders make during Christmas. They put them on their Christmas tree or around their house.”

Furthermore, participants had a chance to delve into the history of Upper Peninsula heritage with staff from the Marquette Regional History Center’s J.M. Longyear Research Library.

“They came in and talked a little bit about the genealogy of the U.P. and who immigrated here and what the U.P.’s made up of,” O’Connor said.

An array of heritage-inspired baked goods are displayed at Mill Creek Assisted Living’s Heritage Bake Sale Friday. The bake sale, which was the culmination of the Heritage Week, gave residents an opportunity to celebrate their heritage while raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Association. (Photo courtesy of Mill Creek Assisted Living)

Those who were interested in learning more about their own family’s heritage in the area were also able to get some help from the history center’s staff.

“If they were interested in doing a little genealogy research, they could give some information and the folks at the research library would do some research for them and then mail them that information,” O’Connor said.

The week culminated Friday with a heritage bake sale that featured desserts from around the world that celebrated the cultural backgrounds of the residents.

Items ranged from Irish soda bread and traditional Finnish and German desserts, to American classics such as chocolate chip cookies, she said.

Family members of residents, along with Mill Creek staff worked hard to prepare and package the wide variety of goods sold Friday, she said.

German almond shortbread cookies sold at Friday’s Heritage Bake Sale are pictured. (Journal photos by Cecilia Brown)

“Our family members stepped right up,” O’Connor said.

In addition to providing tasty treats from around the world for attendees, the bake sale raised money for the Alzheimer’s Association, which Mill Creek works to support throughout the year, with a $10,000 fundraising goal set for 2019.

“It’s really our mission here at Mill Creek. We’re all on the same page, we’re all here to find an end to Alzheimer’s,” O’Connor said. “I mean, it affects all of us here — the employees, the families, the residents; if they don’t have some form of dementia, they know somebody who does.”

Fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association can be a source of joy for residents, as they like to know they’re able to help others through events like the bake sale, O’Connor said. “That’s this generation of folks, she said. “They call it the Greatest Generation and it really is.”

Mill Creek regularly hosts themed activities and fundraisers, O’Connor said, noting they look forward to holding an arts and crafts show in February to showcase resident work, such as paintings and drawings, as well as quilted, knitted and crocheted items.

“We’ve got some wonderful artists,” she said, noting that Mill Creek has “lots of talented, creative people.”

For more information on Mill Creek and a listing of events, visit https://www.www.millcreekassistedliving.com or call 906-225-5512.