Evelyn Dugan has loved baseball her whole life. As a child, she’d sit by the radio listening to Phillies games from her family’s dairy in the Poconos. When she left home, she joined her company’s softball team and spent five years playing third base. A tough position, but Evelyn loved every minute of it.
Even after she hung up her glove to start a family, she knew she’d always be a fan. What she didn’t know was that many years later, she would be back on third base — at Citizens Bank Park, no less, celebrating a very important achievement.
To honor her 45 years of dedicated service at the Warminster Food Bank, Evelyn was invited on the field for a celebratory walk from third base to home plate at the June 23rd Phillies game. She couldn’t believe it when she found out.
“I called my daughter to say the Phillies were honoring me, and she said, ‘Oh Mom, that’s so cool!’” says Evelyn, grinning.
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Giving back to her community is very important to Evelyn. In more than four decades of volunteer service, she has helped countless individuals and families. For the past dozen years, she has done so as a resident at Southampton Estates, an Acts Retirement-Life Community in Southampton, PA, where maintenance-free living gives her the peace of mind she needs to serve her community without impediment.
“I first thought about moving after my husband passed away,” she says. “I knew about this place. I’d visited people here.”
Members of the Acts team worked with Evelyn to help find a beautiful apartment, opening onto a lovely patio and the rich green campus just outside her door. She made fast friends with her new neighbors and discovered Southampton Estates’ extensive activities and amenities. Twelve years in, she still loves where she lives. And she has the comfort of knowing that Acts Life Care® offers higher levels of care, if needed, in today’s dollars. That means she can focus on baseball season instead of worrying about the future.
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“It’s just so easy to live here,” she says with a smile.
Now 91, Evelyn shows off her Phillies jersey and cap in her apartment. Family, friends, and neighbors from Southampton Estates watched Evelyn receive her honor on the field with great enthusiasm. She looks forward to spending time with all of them and seeing what comes next on the field or off.