Chestnut Knoll Personal Care and Memory Care is thrilled to announce the newest addition to their community: Knolla, their very own Chestnut Knoll Boyertown Bear! Knolla is the most recent Boyertown Bear created, making its debut on September 8.
“The Boyertown Bear ‘Bear Fever’ program is a great community project,” said Shawn Barndt, executive director of Chestnut Knoll. “It has done great things for the community as a whole and we really enjoyed seeing the bears around town and wanted to be a part of it.”
The Boyertown Bears have been part of the community since 2004, when Jane E. Stahl, a teacher from Boyertown Area High School, and her husband Paul Stahl, a marketing consultant, began the Bear Fever program. The program officially started with the presentation of the first two “undecorated” bears, which were purchased with money from a grant that Dr. John Bakken from the Boyertown Area School District secured, at the annual Boyertown Progress Dinner, sponsored by TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce under the direction of former president Dale Mahle.
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With the help of the Boyertown Area School District, the community, professional artists, volunteers and students, in 2005 the complete collection of bears was on parade for the community, representing over 30 different businesses, organizations, and sponsors. Stahl, now retired, continues to promote the bears throughout the community, with over 60 bears at various locations in Boyertown and in outlying communities.
The artist for Chestnut Knoll’s bear, Knolla, is Joe Hoover, a retired teacher, who was also involved in the design of other Boyertown Bears. The bear is a seated bear, decorated in butterflies. The butterflies are part of the Chestnut Knoll logo and symbolize the beauty and grace that is shown by individuals as they experience transitions in their lives.
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Knolla was dedicated and named at Chestnut Knoll’s 13th birthday party, on Sunday, September 8 at 1:30 p.m.
“We are honored to be a part of the Boyertown Community and Boyertown is known as ‘Bear Country’ for our local mascot,” said Barndt. “We join the other pieces of the community that put together a small town that has built in all the pieces needed for its citizens to thrive. Local people caring for local people.”
The Bear Fever program was started by Jane E. Stahl and her husband, Paul Stahl. The purpose of the program was to involve students to get sponsors for the life-sized fiberglass bear sculptures to develop students’ interests and skills in careers in the arts, communication and business. In addition to helping the students, the bears also helped bring people together in Boyertown by promoting community spirit and cohesiveness across generations, professions and interests. For more information about Bear Fever and how you can sponsor a bear, please visit www.bearfever.org or contact Jane Stahl at janeEstahl@comcast.net.
Chestnut Knoll offers Personal Care and Memory Care residences at an affordable month-to-month basis with no buy-in fees. Services include 24-hour personal care assistance with medical support, meals, housekeeping, social events and transportation. Chestnut Knoll also offers At Home care services available to seniors where they live. For more information on Chestnut Knoll Personal Care, Memory Care, or At Home Services, please call Jodie Daniels, assistant executive director, at 610-473-8066 or visit www.chestnutknoll.com.
