Several years ago, the community opened Summer House, a memory care neighborhood serving residents with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and began offering Truly Yours, a program that brings personal assisted living services directly to residents in their homes at Vista. The community also recently enhanced resident amenities, including a new resident lounge, refurbished and expanded dining room and an outdoor patio.

In 2022, the Foundation partnered with Vista to pilot video touch-screens that tell resident and community stories, provide information about the campus, and showcase the community’s compassion through charitable gifts to the Foundation.

Vista del Monte residents have a zest for life that matches the vitality of the entire Santa Barbara area. Some residents explore their creative sides, in groups like the Vista Voices Choral Group and the Vista del Monte Players theatre company. Others stretch their minds with lifelong learning classes taught by outside experts as well as by residents.

Vista del Monte has always been a generous community. Through gifts from residents, the community has been able to make numerous enhancements to its campus, including the opening of Summer House. Joanne Freeman, the chair of the VDM Philanthropy Committee, made a gift through her Donor Advised Fund (DAF) to support that project, and also regularly donates to the Employee Scholarship Fund. “When I was a child, my family had a practice of giving back to others,” Joanne said. “I’ve kept this practice throughout my adult life and love giving to programs that serve people in my local community.”

Joanne’s friend and neighbor Jeanne Giacobine chairs the Scholarship Committee, a role she took on because “it’s a cause that means a lot to me.” But Jeanne’s charitable giving did not stop there. She has also donated to the Foundation’s Resident Assistance Fund for her community, to assist those neighbors who, by no fault of their own, have outlived their resources. “I look at residents who have been here for a long time and think how scary it must be if they ran out of money,” Jeanne said. “The Foundation elevates Front Porch and this community from just being a business to something bigger and greater. I’m happy to be part of that greater good.”

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“You could say Santa Barbara is part of my DNA,” Marjorie said with a laugh. “Why would I want to live anywhere else?”

But Marjorie’s roots in California go back even further – seven generations further. She is the direct descendant of Luis Quintero, one of the original founders of the City of Los Angeles on September 4, 1781, then known as El Pueblo de Los Angeles. Her descendants moved to Santa Barbara in 1783. Given her historic past, it’s no wonder Marjorie chose to stay in Santa Barbara when selecting a senior living community.

“When I broke my leg on vacation in India, that was a significant moment in my life,” Marjorie said. “I started to think about my future. My kids took care of me when I had the broken leg but I did not want them to have to take care of me forever.”

Fortunately, around that time, Marjorie was a volunteer at Vista del Monte’s renowned Fitness and Aquatic Center, where she also enjoyed jazzercise classes. She did her due diligence and checked out other communities but they did not feel like home.

“I knew deep down Vista was the right place,” she said. “The other places I looked at were large and impersonal. Here, the community is intimate and inspirational.”

One of Marjorie’s desires was to live in a place where she could continue her active lifestyle, not only at Vista but in the greater community. Every August, she enjoys attending Old Spanish Days Fiesta, a citywide celebration of its heritage and attends mass at her long-time church nearby.

She is a theater buff and attends plays at numerous venues in the area. In fact, for 30 years, Marjorie was a volunteer usher at the Granada, Garvin, Arlington and the Lobero, the oldest continuously operating theater in California and the fourth oldest performing arts theater in the country. “During that time, I crossed paths with Desmond Tutu, Joe Biden and when the Russian Ballet performed here, Mikhail Baryshnikov.”

At Vista, Marjorie enjoys water volleyball, Pilates, meditation, Rummikub and doesn’t miss the Friday night happy hour each week. She also reads a book a week while enjoying quiet times. She was thrilled in 2015 when King Felipe the VI of Spain visited Santa Barbara to meet with Spanish decedents. “I actually shook hands with the King!” Marjorie said. “That was exciting.”

“I love having choices here at Vista,” she said. “I can be as busy as I would like to be. I pick the things I like and I do them in a community I love.”

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A Southern California company that began as a start-up, SpaceX is a leading name in reusable rockets and manufacturing. So it was no surprise that when Vista del Monte Executive Director Doug Tucker accompanied residents and others to the Hawthorne headquarters, the launch rockets were the main attraction.

“The first thing we saw as we walked in was the very first space craft they launched hanging from the ceiling,” Doug recounted upon his first impressions of the facility. However, Doug was not the only one immediately impressed.

Vista residents, who consider themselves lifelong learners, marveled at the sheer scale of the rockets and how much work went into making them. Doug, and the others were shown the command center and the entire process of assembly, as well as parts used in previous rocket launches. The tour also included a look at other various aspects of the rocket building and launching process, such as cargo bays, fuel pods, and heat shields.

Throughout the year, Life Enrichment Director Helene Hellstern organizes local and regional trips that residents enjoy. Past excursions have included Solvang, the Santa Barbara Mission, the Labyrinth Walk at UC Santa Barbara, museums, wineries, the Harbor Seal Reserve and Rookery, Morro Rock, and to the spectacular “super bloom” of wild flowers at Figueroa Mountain and now SpaceX.

“We are aware that residents have a wide range of interests, so we strive to develop a well-rounded itinerary to provide many choices,” Helene said. “If residents want to go to a particular location, if at all possible, I will make it happen. Traveling as a group is always fun. It gives us all a chance to get to know each other better and share our interests.”

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