You won’t find any golden girls dressed up like the Golden Girls but Penny Stiksma makes for a sterling lookalike of Marilyn Monroe in a new calendar produced by the creative people at the Youville Home.
“It’s beautiful!” program manager Sherry Botti exclaimed.
“It’s all right,” Stiksma replied, modestly, adding that there was already a strong similarity in appearance between her and the Hollywood bombshell. Only a little bit of cosmetics was applied. “That’s my own hair! It’s just backcombed a little.”
It doesn’t mean that she gets any more attention than usual when she goes through the hallways at the home. No one has taken to calling her Miss March. According to her, she’s practically incognito with her sultry alter ego.
“Some of them didn’t even know it was me!” she laughed, heartily. “Usually, I’m smiling and (the photographer) didn’t want me to smile. And I’m very made up!”
The long-term care facility is selling the Shining Stars calendar as a fundraiser to help out with a capital project. The Youville is working toward constructing a four-season wheelchair-accessible greenhouse. The full budget for the addition is expected to be at least a few hundred thousand dollars.
The calendars go for $20 apiece and they’ve sold approximately 800 copies so far.
“It’s a big endeavour. One drop in the bucket at a time,” Botti sighed.
The Youville Home recently installed a flower garden for the residents, much to their appreciation. A greenhouse is meant to build on that sentiment by offering a green space that can be enjoyed year-round.
Apart from that, it was an excellent chance to give a bit of a spotlight to some of the stellar characters that grace the facility.
“We just got really excited about the idea of having our residents be our shining stars and it just took off from there. There was so much excitement that we had to gather all kinds of props and different materials for the photo shoots. Staff and residents and family alike just brought in everything except for one $10 wig. It was an amazing effort!” Botti exclaimed.
Stiksma was also thrilled with the end results.
“It was good … exciting actually. The novelty of the idea of making a calendar as a fundraiser for this greenhouse I found it really amazing. It was a well thought-out idea.”
More than 20 of her fellow residents and Youville employees dressed up to recreate their favourite characters from such silver screen hits as Bonnie and Clyde, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Wizard of Oz, the Blues Brothers, The Sound of Music, and The Godfather. The cover itself features six of the nuns from the Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns). The movie? Sister Act, appropriately.
The photos were all taken by professional photographer Stephanie Tostowaryk.
They can be purchased from the reception desk at the Youville Home, 9 St. Vital Ave., or by calling the home at 780-460-6900. The public response has been so positive that they intend to create another calendar – a sequel – for 2017.
