Staff Report
AGE of Central Texas, a regional nonprofit, will break ground on a new facility in South Austin on Tuesday, June 7.
To be completed in the summer of 2023, the new center will provide programming and support for older adults and family caregivers, including a state-of-the-art, non-residential adult day health center for older adults living with memory loss or dementia.
“AGE is so excited to bring this project to life,” said Jayden Beatty, Chief Development Officer. “Donors from all walks of life in our community have come together to bring this needed resource to South Austin. Thanks to them, thousands of older adults and family caregivers will get the help they need.”
Founded in 1986, AGE of Central Texas aims to help older adults and family caregivers navigate the realities and opportunities of aging and caregiving.
The new 20,000 square-foot center, funded through philanthropic contributions, will house all six of AGE’s comprehensive community programs, including a new Thrive Social & Wellness Center, a state licensed adult day health center. The new Thrive Center has been designed to provide specialized and personalized care for older adults living with memory loss or cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia and will be licensed to serve up to 75 individuals daily.
The St. David’s Foundation is the lead investor of the Thrive Campaign project and has been joined by major contributors including H-E-B, the Anderson Charitable Foundation and the Moody Foundation.
“Not only do adult day health centers provide an enriching experience, including social connection and mental engagement for the older adult community,” said Dr. Ed Burger, President and CEO of St. David’s Foundation, “but they also provide families the opportunity to take a moment to recover and recharge – as well as the ability to work during the day.”
AGE launched its comprehensive major gifts campaign, Thrive: A Campaign to Add Life to Every Year, in 2017 to fund a multi-stage expansion plan designed to grow AGE’s programs to better serve the Central Texas aging community.
“No one is talking about how we are going to accommodate this population that is growing so rapidly and whose needs are growing along with them,” said Lina Supnet-Zapata, Thrive Campaign Chair. “Older adults should mean as much to us as the incoming youth do to this city. We can’t leave them behind.”
The first stage in the Thrive Campaign is to expand into South Austin – an area local city leaders identified as a “services desert” where older adults and family caregivers lack access to needed care. As a whole, AGE seeks to use the Thrive Campaign to spark conversation to change the way Central Texans think and talk about aging and shine a light on the growing need within the local aging population.
“We want to serve older adults and family caregivers so thoroughly – and in such a personal way – that their focus can broaden from survival to renewal,” said Suzanne Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of AGE. “Our new facility is expected to double the number of people AGE is able to serve each year and will offer immediate relief for older adults and family caregivers throughout South Austin and the surrounding areas.”
The groundbreaking also launches a public giving campaign to complete the funding for the new South Center. For more information on making a donation, visit www.AGEofCentralTX.org or contact Beatty at [email protected].
