Benevolent Care – A Perspective from the Trenches

By Natasha Killian, Capitol Lakes Resident Services Director and Capitol Lakes Foundation Board Director

I enter into our residents' lives often the day they move in.  The experience is different for everyone. But even if everything goes perfectly, a life transition such as moving from your home of 50 years to a retirement community that is seen as “the last stop” can come with various feelings of grief or loss.

Once the logistical parts of moving happen and the new resident fog starts to lift, there are really wonderful connections that are formed, experiences shared, and a layer of security created by living here. The last thing anyone wants to do is move AGAIN, and that’s why people move to Capitol Lakes: to stay in one location as your health needs change. This “last stop” becomes the beginning of the next journey that includes all the amenities Capitol Lakes has to offer.

So, at this point, wouldn’t it be nice if I could say it’s all sunshine and rainbows from here? As a staff person working in the trenches of difficult situations, I can assure you that life still happens. It can be unpredictable and quite frankly unfair at times. I like to think I always have the skills to troubleshoot my resident situations, but if that unpredictable life event is an unexpected financial emergency, I can't personally make things better.  That's why the Benevolent Care Program funded by you, our donors, is so important.

As a member of the Capitol Lakes Foundation Board, I know that we were able to gift nearly $70,000 to offset the total cost of the Benevolent Care Program in 2024, thanks to your support.  The Foundation started supporting this program 8 years ago with a grant of $10,000. Thanks to your incredible generosity, we have been able to budget an increase in our offsetting grant each year since then.

This financial support not only makes a difference to the residents who are in a tough spot. The entire Capitol Lakes community benefits by shifting the burden of paying for the program from all residents - regardless of their individual means - to our broad coalition of donors and supporters.

But far beyond that, the Benevolent Care Program protects our residents' quality of life. As I've seen, you can do all the right things, you can move to a community setting like Capitol Lakes, exercise your mind, body and soul every day, make all the right decisions--- and life still happens. 

On behalf of the Capitol Lakes Foundation and the residents who we've helped –

thank you for taking care of your neighbors and our friends in need through your support of Benevolent Care.