Our History

In October 1993, the Center added evening respite services with its "evening out' program.  This program operated one night weekly from 5:30 pm until 9:30 pm at the Wendover facility through the spring of 1994.  Like the day programs, this program offered enrichment opportunities for participants while providing caregivers time away from caregiving responsibilities during evening hours.  The program was part of the American Business Collaboration for Quality Dependent Care, an initiative of local corporations participating in a nationwide project to demonstrate corporate support for community services that assist working caregivers of both children and adults.  This program was open to both Adult Center daycare participants and individuals from the community.

In May of 1994 the CARE program began operation at First Baptist Church.  It is another respite model with a paid coordinator and volunteer staff, operating Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.  Being less than six hours in length excludes it from state certification and allows greater flexibility and a more user-friendly approach to respite for caregivers.  In October 1994 another respite model was briefly operational (through December), offering respite care at the Wendover site two Saturdays a month from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.  Because the CARE model has been best received by caregivers, it was expanded with United Way Venture Grant funds, Brookdale Foundation and HRSA grants, during 1995-1997 to two rural sites (Country CARE) and a second urban site (GRACE) at Muir's Chapel United Methodist Church.  By May of 1997 respite was offered Monday through Saturday throughout Guilford County.  In September 1997, under the advice of the Respite Advisory Committee, the Adult Center discontinued its rural respite program, thus providing group respite Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, at two urban churches and on Saturdays at the Bardolph Center.  In March 1998, the Saturday Respite program was discontinued due to reduced usage rates and staffing issues; however, it has been revived annually in November and December 1998 and 1999 for limited holiday respite at the Caldwell House.  In August of 1999 a third respite program within the city limits of Greensboro opened at Friends Homes Guilford, operating Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, and was expanded to include community participants in October 1999.  In the summer of 2002, Friends Care was discontinued due to low utilization by Friends Homes residents and an inability to break-even with the space limitations.

With notification early in 1996 from Evergreens that the space currently utilized by the Adult Center for Enrichment was needed by Evergreens for their own programs, the Adult Center began moving toward a single large site, with additional locations to be on contract basis.  Summer of 1996 saw an agreement made between the Caldwell House, Inc., an adult day care/day health facility in development by Buffalo Presbyterian Church and the Adult Center.  The Adult Center contracts to provide adult day care/day health, a turnkey operation for the David and Rachel Caldwell House, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 non-profit).  With this in mind, the administrative offices of the Adult Center moved in March 1997 to the Self-Help Building, 122 N. Elm St., Greensboro, so that the Bardolph space could be expanded, with the initial intent to serve 37 participants.  Upon completion of required recertification, space is now available at Bardolph for 29 participants. The Adult Center discontinued its search for additional space in the Northwest sector of the city/county to house the program currently located at The Evergreens, making a short term decision to accommodate the participants from Evergreens at either The Caldwell House or the Bardolph Center until long-term plans can be realized for a centrally-located Center that will accommodate up to 50 participants.  The Caldwell House was certified March 1998 for 16 participants and opened officially on March 3, 1998.

As early as 1996 when the Adult Center was looking for space options for its Wendover site, conversation began with Presbyterian Homes of NC for the possibility of an adult day service program on site with Presbyterian Homes.  As plans developed for a new continuing care retirement community – River Landing at Sandy Ridge, the Adult Center for Enrichment worked with Presbyterian Homes to design day care space and entered into a partnership with Presbyterian Homes in August of 2003 for a third adult day care/day health combination program.  This expanded the available space for adult day services by 31, 21 for day care/day health and 10 for respite.