Encore members question departures

Board says employees made the decision to leave outreach center

Three recent resignations at Encore Experiences in Harleysville have members asking for more answers.

Beth Knize, the meal coordinator; Michele Ross, program coordinator; and Stephanie Williams, administrative assistant, all left in March.

“They left basically simultaneously, which always raises questions,” said Encore member Eddie Algard.

“They’re all good people,” he said. “They got along good with seniors. They were very helpful.”

Officials at the center say they’re limited by privacy laws in what they can say about the employees but are sad the three left and are trying

to be as transparent as possible in giving answers.

“We were saddened by this. It was not our choice,” Mary Metz, president of the Greater Harleysville and North Penn Senior Services board, said during a March 29 town hall meeting at Encore. GHNPSS operates both Encore and the PEAK Center in Lansdale.

“They had disagreements and they felt they had to move on,” Metz said.

Board member Joe Roberto said he’s met with each of the three since their resignation to talk about why they had done so.

“We were saddened by their departure. They were not forced out and please don’t misrepresent the fact — they were not let go,” Roberto said after a member at the meeting had said the employees were “let go.”

“There was a disagreement in management,” Roberto said. “New management came in and it’s as

simple as that.”

In answer to a question from a member about a performance improvement plan for the employees, Roberto said that had been given to the employees but not at the same time as performance evaluations.

“Basically, it was just a starting point of what was expected,” Roberto said.

Sarah Whetstone, GHNPSS executive director, said both she and Patty Roxberry, Encore’s site director and social services coordinator, were sorry to see the three leave.

“We love their time with our organization and we are saddened that they made the personal choice to move on,” Whetstone had said previously.

Knize, Ross and Williams were three of the four staff members working only at Encore, Encore member Rhona Farrence said. Some other staff, including Whetstone, work at both Encore and PEAK, she said.

Some of the people at the March 29 meeting questioned why Knize, Ross and Williams would have left without having other jobs, but others said some or all have now received job offers.

Knize, Ross and Williams did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this article.

Following a March 21 town hall meeting, at which she gave the board a petition signed by 70 to 75 members, she followed up with an email to board members and received a response from one of them who reached out to discuss things with her, Farrence said.

She said she thinks the board knows where the members are coming from, but it remains to be seen where that will lead.

“We don’t want to lose what we have,” Farrence said.

“Basically the members of Encore are all family as well as the three staff members who resigned,” Farrence wrote in an email. “The senior members love what Encore Experience has stood for and what it has given to its members.”

“It’s an excellent organization and it needs to continue,” Algard said.

Encore was incorporated in 1975 and moved to its current location on Alumni Avenue in Harleysville in 1981, according to information on its website.

It merged with the PEAK Center in 2013.

“The mission of Greater Harleysville and North Penn Senior Services is to provide access to programs and resources that help older adults live independently and remain active. Both centers offer a place of comfort, fellowship and care to the seniors in our community,” the ghnpss. org website says.

Services listed include lunch, wellness programs and classes, lifelong learning opportunities and counseling and referral services.

Although part of the same organization, PEAK and Encore operate separately, Whetstone said.

There have been no changes to Encore programs and no downsizing from the merger, Roberto said.

While some members at the March 29 meeting said they continue to have questions and concerns, including one who said he had contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Aging to ask for an investigation of what led to the three employees leaving, others said it’s time to move on.

“Nobody likes change,” member Carole Gibson said, drawing agreeing laughs when she added, “especially people at a certain age.”

Disputes over what has happened, though, will hurt Encore, she said.

“We need to stick together. We need to keep this place open,” she said.

“We need to go forward,” Gibson said. “Otherwise, the whole place is going to fall apart.”

“When new teams come together, there’s always conflicts,” Whetstone said.

That doesn’t mean those differences can’t be worked out, though, she said.

“We have it every day in our families, and we love those people dearly,” Whetstone said. “The true test of a family is do we stay at the table and work things out.”