January 2026

Creating a Supportive Community

By Barbara Madden
Posted: 03/22/2022

FINDING A SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY

 

By: Barbara Madden - member since 2011

 

I learned about Pasadena Village just as its founding members were organizing. It sounded like something I had been looking for since reading about Boston’s Beacon Hill Village; an organization that I could involve myself in to help to navigate the unknowns of aging.

 

My family did not live in Southern California and, with retirement, the socialization with work colleagues quickly declined. I hoped to find a social community.

 

I found what I was looking for and more.

 

I found an energetic group of people on a mission to create a supportive community.

 

I found opportunity. Opportunity to use myself to make the Village work, to have value, to participate in developing valuable educational programs and new social activities.

 

I found that who and what you have been is less important than who you are now.

 

I found that the strength of the Village is that it is dependent on the creativity and investment of its members in developing and maintaining its programs; that the necessity of working together to create and maintain the Village creates the opportunity to know new people and to develop friendships.

 

I found a mutually supportive community of like-minded people who are invested creating a satisfying life and in giving support to each other through the joys and vicissitudes of latter life.