Meaningful Pairings

The smiles on the seniors’ faces are genuine, as is the laughter of the children at Benevilla’s campus in Surprise. It’s called a campus because it houses an adult daycare facility and Birt’s Bistro and Catering as well as the Benevilla administrative offices. It’s also the only place in Arizona that offers a day program, at the Mary’s Place facility, for people suffering from mid-to-late stage Alzheimer’s so that their caregivers might have a respite.

Once known as Interfaith Community Care, the evolution of the community precipitated the name change and the growth of the people-friendly center.

“Thirty years ago, when folks first started moving to the West Valley, there were few services,” says Courtney Sullivan, Benevilla’s senior director of marketing. “A group of community members got together to make a difference. It’s about neighbor helping neighbor and seniors staying independent and in their homes as long as possible.”

The nearness of Wirtzie’s Child Development Center and Lucy Ann’s Place is no accident. It means that multigenerational communication happens on a daily basis. Each day, a different class of children from Wirtzie’s walks over to the adult facility to do age-appropriate activities with seniors. Together they find the right spot for puzzle pieces—good for young minds and motor skills and good for older minds suffering from early-to-mid stage Alzheimer’s. They might do art projects together or help each other remember the words in a sing-along accompanied by a pianist. They learn about composting and planting seeds, and they grow sometimes yummy and sometimes beautiful plants.

“The little ones are so cute,” Wirtzie volunteer Judy Meyer says. “I think what happens is that so many little ones don’t have grandparents nearby to interact with and so many seniors don’t have grandchildren who live near enough to visit. So, the seniors get a real kick out of it.”

Benevilla’s community garden is tended by loving hands. Some of its bounty is sold at the monthly farmer’s markets alongside veggies, jams, and fresh eggs from local producers. The cities of Surprise and Rio Salado are also partners in the farmer’s market that takes place the fourth Friday of each month from 4 to 7 p.m.

Birt’s Bistro and Catering, 16752 N. Greasewood St., completes the campus. Open Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., it’s the placewhere folks can grab a bite and listen to live music after the farmer’s market. On the catering side, Birt’s delivers meals not only to the people in their care but also to seniors living in their own homes who are in need of that service. There is a used bookstore and a community classroom in Birt’s for clubs to host meetings, but perhaps the most unusual aspect is the social worker offices in the facility, where people in search of community resources and information only have a few steps to travel from food for the body to food for the brain.

“Birt’s is a new social-enterprise venture,” Sullivan says. “The profits it generates help support our nonprofit services.”

Meyer has lived in the area for two decades and says that Benevilla has “a wonderful reputation in the Sun Cities.” She was also impressed with the volunteer orientation. “When I left, I felt very familiar with all the service areas,” says one of 700 volunteers.

Today, Benevilla remains true to its roots with support groups for caregivers as their loved ones progress through the stages of Alzheimer’s or dementia. It’s more than a facility—it’s a solid community.

Check out Benevilla.org for more information.