The Selwyn Foundation celebrates 61 years of service

The Selwyn Foundation celebrates 61 years of service

Aged care services provider and retirement village operator, The Selwyn Foundation, celebrated 61 years of operating in the aged care sector at its annual Founders’ Day event on 22 May.

The Foundation, which is an independent charitable Trust, commemorated the opening of its original village (Selwyn Village in Auckland) and paid tribute to its early pioneers and all those who have since contributed to the achievements of the Foundation and its mission to provide quality services for ageing people.

When it opened in 1954, Selwyn Village was one of the first retirement villages in the world. It was a brilliant new concept devised by Anglican Auckland City Missioner, Canon Douglas Caswell, who had witnessed first-hand the plight of elderly Aucklanders living in squalid housing in inner city slums.

The Foundation has since become an outstanding success, expanding beyond its original village site to other villages within New Zealand’s upper North Island. Today, it provides residential care (rest homes, hospitals and dementia care), community services for older people, and owns or manages a total of nine retirement villages.

As a not-for-profit organisation, the Foundation reinvests any financial surpluses into the provision of additional facilities and charitable activities aimed at helping the aged. Its charitable mission is focussed on three key areas - the problem of social isolation and loneliness of older people, the effects of financial hardship on healthy living and the lack of social housing for elders.

To mark the 61st anniversary, a new Life Member and three new Companions of the Foundation were honoured for their contribution to Selwyn’s work over the years at a service of thanksgiving held in Selwyn Village’s Chapel of Christ the King.

Founders’ Day forms part of a broader programme to establish long-lasting traditions that will preserve The Selwyn Foundation’s history and commemorate those who have shaped and enriched it through the ages, so they may be remembered long into the future.

ENDS

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