By Gretchen Keiser

The kitchen, dining and living room areas at Marian Manor will be refurbished in the near future with $45,000 in grants given by two foundations in April.

A new refrigerator, freezer and kitchen improvements, new lighting in the living room and dining room, exterior painting, new or reupholstered furniture are among the improvements that have been made possible at the 15-person residence for frail elderly on Briarcliff Road in Atlanta.

Joyce Jordan, director of Catholic Personal Care Homes, accepted grants of $20,000 and $25,000 respectively from the Warren P. Powers Charitable Foundation of Jacksonville, FL, and the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation of Atlanta.

Marian Manor was the first personal care home opened by the Catholic Church in the archdiocese and is located in a former convent on the grounds of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, Atlanta. It opened in 1984. Since then two other Catholic homes have opened, St. Thomas Manor in East Point and St. Teresa Manor in Riverdale. Both are newly constructed.

All three are open to elderly who need some support in living arrangements and environment, but are still active and not in need of nursing care. Fifteen people live in each of the three homes, which contain a chapel where Mass and Communion services are held. Residents do not have to be Catholic to live at the manors.

The two grants are the first for capital improvements.

"The planning of making Marian Manor look more modern was a dream," Ms. Jordan said. Receiving the grants was "numbing. I was so overwhelmed."

All of the residents pay rent, with some grant money available from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation of Atlanta to assist those who cannot pay the fee.

The effort has been made to keep fees as low as possible, so improvements were not undertaken that would have simply forced up the rent.

Original lighting in the main areas of Arian Manor has not been suitable for the elderly, and can be modernized to make reading, television watching and other activities easier. The much-used kitchen, where residents like to stop to visit and eat a late-night snack, has been served buy a number of donated refrigerators and freezers that will be replaced by a commercial-size refrigerator and freezer, new counters and cabinets and other improvements.

The Power foundation, which supports endeavors of the Catholic Church, approached Catholic Personal Care Homes, a branch of Catholic Social Services, encouraging an application for funds. Trustee Jane Powers, a Kennesaw resident, made the presentation. The Whitehead Foundation is particularly concerned with the needs of the elderly.

The work is expected to be done in 1991 and the following year, Ms. Jordan said, since it will be staggered to disrupt as little as possible the lives of the residents.

Ms. Jordan said both Marian and St. Thomas Manor are full at the moment, while there are a few vacancies at St. Teresa Manor.

Since the non-profit manors don't have the capacity to toot their won horns through advertising, Ms. Jordan was invited to remind people of their needs at this time, as they celebrate the grants that will make needed improvements.

"I think we're providing excellent care for elderly people and their families. We're taking care of a wide variety of people with real dignity in their aging," she said.

Volunteers, particularly the outgoing who like to visit, are welcome to join the core of archdiocesan people who are already serving as volunteers at one or more of the three manors. St. Thomas and St. Teresa manors are particularly in need of volunteers, she said. Ms. Jordan may be contacted 669-0199.