Friendship Center is not just a day program for those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

“We are not just a social center where members are welcomed with a light breakfast, a hot lunch, and an afternoon snack along with a day full of engaging activities and the care and attention you’d want for your own loved ones,” Friendship Center said.

“We are a lifeline for family caregivers, our services often providing the only way of keeping their loved ones with dementia in their own homes,” the center said.

“For some of our elderly members, meals provided at our centers are the best and most dependable nutrition they receive,” the center reports.

In the aftermath of recent disasters in the community, the stress family caregivers and care-receivers are experiencing cannot be underestimated.

The confusion those with dementia feel is exacerbated by change to daily routine, and the changes they are dealing with are now extreme — different daily schedule, perhaps temporary change to living situations, and the uncertainty about what is happening and why, the center said.

One of Friendship Center’s caregivers had to be hospitalized during the fires. Many of the center’s families have been displaced, some leaving the area and others living in local hotels until they can return home, the center reports.

Though the center welcomes all members who normally attend in Montecito to attend the Goleta Center, those living “on the Carpinteria side” are unable to access the support and services Friendship Center provides.

One ashy morning in December, the center’s administrator drove into Montecito with N-95 mask firmly in place, working to gather everything needed to keep the Goleta site open while the Montecito site was closed due to air quality and ash residue.

This turned out to stretch on over three weeks. Only a week after reopening the Montecito Center to much relief, this scenario was to play out again, this time with devastating and deadly flooding and mudslides, the center said.

With the freeway shut, and most of Montecito, including Montecito Friendship Center, in the safety exclusion zone, the center’s executive director and administrative assistant were escorted by police to the center and again had to assemble necessary items.

Since then, the center’s staff has pulled together to attend to needs of participants in Goleta, and continue planning the annual Festival of Hearts event.

“We believe our best response is to continue without interruption doing what we do best, which is to continue providing stellar day services and trusted, reliable respite for families and caregivers,” said Heidi Holly, executive director.

The Friendship Center said it is fortunate its Montecito site is unharmed and will reopen as soon as staff is able to do so.

The Friendship Center said, “We are grateful to our partners, including Community Action Commission (CAC), which has made sure we have hot, nourishing lunches for the many people we serve each day in Goleta; Easy Lift, which has accommodated the changes to where our participants are living and where we are providing services on next to no notice; All Saints-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which ensured our site was cleaned and safe for our participants to return after the fires, and the continuing support of Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, the site of our Goleta Center.”

Friendship Center also thanks First American Title, which has been provided temporary workspace for the center’s administrative team in First Title’s offices on upper State Street.

“We are also so thankful to our volunteers, entertainers, and SBCC Vitality Program instructors who, though affected as we all are, continue to work for the benefit of our Friendship Center participants,” the center said.

“We are also fortunate to be served by a wonderful group of volunteers, supporters and board of directors, who are committed to Friendship Center’s mission,” the center said.

“At this time, board members, staff and volunteers are working hard to make sure our 19th Annual Festival of Hearts goes forward as planned, Feb. 10 at The Fess Parker,” the center said.

“Called The Queen of Hearts’ Tea Party, it will be a chance to let some of the cares of the world fall away and enjoy good food, wine, and company for a good cause, with a Wonderland twist,” the center said.

Call the Goleta Center, 845-7442 for more information or questions.

— Justine Sutton for Friendship Center.