Villa Benefit Luncheon: Volunteers, Family, and Fun

SALT LAKE CITY — Attending the annual CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa Volunteer Benefit Luncheon is a lot more than a group of women sitting around eating tuna salad while wearing pillbox hats. The luncheon, held this year in the Kearns-St. Ann School gym, was a get out of your seat, cut a rug, win a prize, and bring your family affair.

The benefit luncheon raises funds for the work of the Villa Volunteers, a lively group of generous men and women who donate hundreds of hours each year brightening the lives of residents at CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa, the only Catholic health care facility in Utah. The Villa Volunteers reflect the Villa residents themselves. They are of many faiths. Some are family members of residents. Others are just giving people whose soft spots in their hearts are for the elderly and the infirm. The one thing they all have in common is they love to gather and have fun.

Proceeds from the luncheon provide arts and crafts supplies, monthly birthday celebration supplies, and butterfly carts filled with items residents and families may find useful in the last days of a resident’s life. The Villa Volunteers and the Friends of St. Joseph Villa also sponsor the annual Villa Benefit Dinner, which annually raises funds for the Villa Charity Care Fund.

The theme of this year’s luncheon was, "A Week in the Life of a Villa Volunteer," and featured all of the activities the volunteers offer the residents from sing-alongs and dances to arts and crafts sessions, one-on-one attention, and monthly birthday parties.

Doug Morgan, a volunteer with a dramatic Santa Claus beard and an accordion, played lively dance tunes and patriotic sing-along music as he does every Monday for Villa residents. He was accompanied by a volunteer back-up group.

Former Villa Volunteer President Oeke Beuke brought along four generations of her family to add to the luncheon fun. Throughout the luncheon, door prizes were given away, take-home sweets were offered at a bake sale table, and Beuke conducted brisk sales of jewelry.

St. Ann Parish Pastor Father Colin F. Bircumshaw opened the luncheon with a traditional Irish prayer in tribute to the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who have administrated CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa since they arrived in the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1947.

CHRISTUS St. Joseph Villa offers long-term care, independent living apartments, an intergenerational day care center, assisted living, special (Alzheimer’s) care, and transitional care, all focused on the needs of seniors.