Seniors seal packets for Freedom Festival

CEDAR RAPIDS — Work on this year's Freedom Festival is underway.

Residents at Evergreen Estates recently finished stuffing, sealing and boxing thousands of envelopes filled with buttons and Hy-Vee coupon packets. The envelopes are sold for $5 at local Casey's General Stores and Hy-Vees and help fund Cedar Rapids' annual two-week summer event, which attracts hundred of thousands of people to Cedar Rapids with music, activities and fireworks. This year, the Freedom Festival starts on June 20 and ends July 4.

'We love doing community projects,' said Kelly Ross, Evergreen Estates II's activities director.

Evergreen Estates is a comprehensive care facility with locations on the southwest and northwest sides of Cedar Rapids.

'We sometimes have 16 people helping, and we only have 24 residents total,' said Kathy Ely, administrator at Evergreen Estates II. 'So that is a pretty good ratio.'

Residents at their three facilities contributed 10,000 packets out of the Freedom Festival's 40,000 goal.

'The nursing homes love helping with the buttons,' said Liz Neff, events and marketing director for the festival. 'I start getting emails about them getting the buttons earlier and earlier every year — March or February.'

Neff said other nursing homes, businesses, community groups and individuals in town want a piece of the packets that get deals at Hy-Vee and admission into exclusive events.

'The button gets you into all of our produced events — which is about 20,' she said. Button events include the Balloon Glow, Freedom Festival Parade, Lego Extravaganza and fireworks. Children ages eight and under do not need a button to attend the events, she said.

Ross couldn't recall how long Evergreen Estates has been involved in button packet making, but it has been longer than the five and a half years she has worked there, she said.

'For the nursing homes we wanted to incorporate seniors not being able to attend the festivities, but still want them feel involved in the community. It has been a really good partnership,' Neff said.

Evergreen Estate said residents typically put in eight hours of work total on the packets over three weeks.

'It's just something to keep us from being bored,' said Ray DeWitt, 84, of Cedar Rapids.