Generosity & Citizenship Make Garden Renovation Possible at Dayspring Villa

Ask anyone in the Dayspring Villa community and they’ll tell you that this is the best the garden and lawn have looked in years. The grass is lush and green. The flowers are so well-tended that they are growing right out of their pots. And throughout, colorful decorations have been added to enhance the natural beauty along with comfortable places to sit.

“A lot of people who don’t go outside are going outside!” says Cassie Vialpando, Dayspring Villa’s Life Enrichment Coordinator. “They’ll take walks in the gardens, sit out on the patio and enjoy the sun.”

It wasn’t a new landscaper who created this beautiful renovation of the community’s outdoor spaces. It was created through the passion and effort of Dayspring residents and the generosity of kind donors like you.

80% of Dayspring residents rely on Medicaid to help pay for their housing and care. With reimbursement rates continuing to fall below the actual cost of care, this leaves the community with razor-thin operating margins. Big community projects are often not possible due to budgetary constraints. But that doesn’t stop the resourceful residents of Dayspring from dreaming big!

They have learned that with creativity, generosity, and citizenship, they can plan and champion community improvement projects themselves.

Last year, residents picked renovating the garden and outdoor spaces as a special project they wanted to lead for their community. They noticed that the mismatched patio chairs, untidy gardens, and bare patches of grass were detracting from the beauty of the community’s outdoor areas.

The resident Philanthropy Committee decided to make raising funds to spruce things up their special focus for 2024, and got to work inspiring generosity from caring donors, including family members, CLC team members, and community partners.

Residents donated handmade art pieces for the annual Dayspring Villa Art Show, with more than $900 in proceeds earmarked for the garden renovation. Resident Richard Raisch made and donated a custom dollhouse for sale at the 2024 Aged to Perfection Silent Auction, netting another $500 for the project. The philanthropy committee also made Christmas ornaments sold at the holidays.

Together, these caring gifts from donors gave the community the funds they needed to enrich their outdoor spaces with new patio chairs, tools, mulch, plants, and seeds. The Dayspring Villa Men’s Group took up the challenge of completing the vision. This hardworking group of community residents regularly plan and complete various projects to benefit the community.

The project kicked off with the purchase of six new chairs for the community’s front porch. Robert, who founded the Men’s Group, happily took the new chairs out of their boxes when they arrived and assembled them himself. The new chairs have received rave  reviews from residents, who think they look great and are both sturdier and more comfortable.

Donors also made it possible for the Men’s Group to complete several projects to beautify the lawn and the garden throughout the summer. They power-washed the patios, re-mulched the flowers beds, mixed new soil into the stand-up garden beds, planted new flowers, re-seeded bare spots in the lawn, and added new garden decorations.

Cassie says “I’m really proud of them. They stepped up and took responsibility for the yard and the flowers. It gives them a lot of purpose. I see them out there every single day!”

The result of their hard work has been noticeably more beautiful outdoor spaces for everyone to enjoy. The community has been thrilled. Residents, team members, and visitors alike have remarked on how good the outdoor spaces look.

Cassie notes the difference it has made for residents: “I think that it has benefitted everybody. Now people go out regularly to smell the flowers, see the squirrels. It very much became a community project.”

The community has also made sure to recognize and thank residents in the Men’s Group for their contributions and continued daily upkeep. And they are so grateful to the incredible supporters who made all of this possible in the first place.

The generosity of kind supporters, combined with the citizenship and determination of Dayspring residents to share their talents and energy for the betterment of their community, truly makes incredible things happen!

Now that the outdoor spaces are flourishing, the Philanthropy Committee is hard at work on their next big idea… making community life at Dayspring go digital. Their goal is to purchase screens for each floor’s lobby that will display the daily life enrichment schedule, menu, upcoming trips, and community announcements. They are excited about how much easier it will be for their neighbors to see what’s for lunch or know when their favorite group is meeting – especially those living with low vision.