Community members visiting Poway Gardens Senior Living on May 30 could explore the expansive gardens and visit vendor booths to help support the Alzheimer’s Association.
“Looking at this garden brings tears to my eyes because I know our memory care residents did this,” said Celia Preciado, resident experience director at Poway Gardens at the Do What You Love to End ALZ event.
“Our gardens give memory care residents the opportunity to place their hands in the soil, plant seeds and tend to the garden,” she said. “It is very special.”
Preciado, who has worked at Poway Gardens since 2005, says each day when she is with the memory care residents in the garden, she carefully explains the steps of planting the seeds and tending to plants, even though she knows due to their cognitive impairment, “many will forget what she said in 30 seconds.”
“What matters most is our conversation at the moment,” she said.
Poway Gardens is a memory care facility that supports residents living with Alzheimer’s and related dementia, said Sherryl Hernandez, health services director. Horticulture therapy is an important part of the program, so the fundraiser fits well into the mission, Hernandez said.
For a $50 donation to the Alzheimer’s Association, visitors received a large bag of fresh produce, including fruits and vegetables grown at the Poway Gardens complex and the Abraxas High School Garden, said Hernandez, who has organized the donation drive for the last six years.
“All proceeds go to the Alzheimer’s Association,” she said.
Poway Gardens employees, from left, Eileen Sigarlaki, activities assistant; Sherryl Hernandez, health services director; and Carlos Banuelos, maintenance director, attended the event. Hernandez, a nurse who has organized the fundraising event for the last six years, said every day there is an outdoor gardening activity residents can participate in. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Deb Zimmer, an Alzheimer’s Association volunteer, paints a community art piece organized by Alicia Fahme of Rebull Arts Studio. Visitors were invited to paint in shadows cast by flowers—the finished piece will be hung on the garden grounds. Zimmer lost her mother to Alzheimer’s and dad to Lewy body dementia. She donates money regularly to the nonprofit. (Amy Stark Shireman)
From left, Faranak Bavardeh, Laurie Ching and Julie Farmer attend the fundraising event with Abraxas Garden. Abraxas Garden volunteers handed out green peppers, cucumbers, leeks, kale and lettuce to attendees. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Collin Kokaska, left, horticulture assistant, and Sherryl Hernandez, health services director, stand in the facility’s custom-built greenhouse. Residents visit the greenhouse weekly to plant seeds that are later transferred to the outdoor gardens. (Amy Stark Shireman)
From left, Evangeline Garcia, Remy Pajarillo and Dante Pajarillo take a break from walking the vendor booths, bringing chairs to relax and listen to live music from singer-songwriter and guitarist Helena Holleran. (Amy Stark Shireman)
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Poway Gardens employees, from left, Eileen Sigarlaki, activities assistant; Sherryl Hernandez, health services director; and Carlos Banuelos, maintenance director, attended the event. Hernandez, a nurse who has organized the fundraising event for the last six years, said every day there is an outdoor gardening activity residents can participate in. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Sarah Granby, senior constituent events manager, and Jason Golec, executive leadership team co-chair, represented the Alzheimer’s Association at the event.
Golec, an Alzheimer’s Association volunteer for nine years, said the Do What You Love to End ALZ campaign allows groups to pair favorite activities, like gardening, hiking or bowling, with raising money for the organization, he said.
Granby, who has worked at the nonprofit for 10 years, said this is an especially busy time for fundraising because June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month.
Deb Zimmer, an Alzheimer’s Association volunteer, said she attends the fundraiser every year “to support the cause and get fresh vegetables.”
Zimmer, who lost her mother to Alzheimer’s in 2014 and her father to Lewy body dementia in 2004, said she donates money she receives for her birthday to the association and fully matches those proceeds with her own money.
“I hope to be able to match it with double the money one day,” she said.
Bernadine Konopasek stands beside rows of tomato plants. She has volunteered with the Backyard Produce Project since retiring in 2010 and spends two to three hours each week tending the garden. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Reva Mody, center, stands with her daughter, Aria Mody, left, and team member Megan Swe, right, in her mobile coffee trailer at Saturday’s event at Poway Gardens. Mody founded A Little Chai and Coffee Company last October and serves custom chai and coffee drinks. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Jason Golec, left, executive leadership team co-chair, and Sarah Granby, senior constituent events manager, represent the Alzheimer’s Association. Golec, an Association volunteer for nine years, said the Do What You Love to End ALZ campaign allows groups to pair favorite activities, like gardening, hiking or bowling, with fundraising for the organization. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Julie Derry, left, and Lindsey Lambert of Aging 123 attend the event to talk about concierge services for families seeking resources for loved ones with cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer’s. Derry founded the company 10 years ago and provides personalized, no-cost guidance for older adults and their families. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Ruchit Mehta, co-founder of EDERRA, attended the event to showcase his functional superfood product—EMPWR+—a superfood blend of broccoli microgreens and lion’s mane mushrooms. Mehta says adding the powder to various recipes can add functional benefits to everyday foods. EDERRA does all their ingredient sourcing from San Diego farms. (Amy Stark Shireman)
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Bernadine Konopasek stands beside rows of tomato plants. She has volunteered with the Backyard Produce Project since retiring in 2010 and spends two to three hours each week tending the garden. (Amy Stark Shireman)
Alicia Fahme, founder of Rebull Arts Studio, said she leads healing arts projects with Poway Gardens’ memory care residents. Fahme said she uses art and music as a “tool to process emotions” and teaches residents to use art as self-expression.
Her classes can be an “emotional process,” she said. One memory care resident told her a picture he painted “reminded him of a painting his father painted” when he was young.
Fahme displayed several paintings Poway Garden’s residents completed at the event.
Volunteers from Abraxas High School Garden attended with tubs full of green peppers, cucumbers, leeks, kale and lettuce. JJ Barlow, an eight-year Abraxas Garden volunteer, works there several times a week and has distributed produce at the fundraiser for five years, she said.
Julie Derry and Lindsey Lambert attended with their company Aging 123. Derry, who founded the company 10 years ago, said Aging 123 provides concierge services to families seeking resources for loved ones with cognitive impairment, dementia and Alzheimer’s.
“Everyone’s journey through this process is unique,” Derry said. She provides guidance and helps families navigate the complexities of finding resources, she said.
Poway Gardens residents help maintain seven gardens on the facility’s 32 acres, Hernandez said. They regularly plant seeds and harvest vegetables and fruit.
The garden is also cared for daily by the Backyard Produce Project, a Poway-based nonprofit that provides backyard produce to low-income families and seniors, program organizers say.
Bernadine Konopasek has volunteered with the Backyard Produce Project since she retired in 2010. Konopasek volunteers at Poway Gardens every Friday for two to three hours tending to the rows of tomato plants.
As the plants grow taller, she places string around the row to keep them upright. She trims lower lateral branches so the plant’s energy focuses on producing tomatoes, she said.
She said the garden “takes a lot of maintaining” and she “really enjoys what she does.”
Poway Gardens has raised $530 of their $1,500 goal for this event, organizers said.
Donations can still be made online at events.alz.org/fundraisers/PowayGardensMarket/poway-gardens-market-event.