On Friday August 20, Taos Behavioral Health, in collaboration with LEAP and Vida Del Norte, teamed up to do the first of what we hope to be several senior yard cleanups in the Questa community, as part of the monthly Community Connection Days.

The yard chosen for this month was that of Berna Trujillo, owner of that longtime downtown Questa fixture, the Village Stop & Go. She is also a working grandmother, raising three grandchildren. It was a pleasure to see not only her grandson Kingston Gist-Trujillo working to improve their yard, but to also see members of the community, Benita Muniz, Nancy Parker, Desiree Martinez, Madalena Miera, and others.

After a couple of hours of hard work, and a final look around at the improvements with pride in his eyes and approval of a job well done, Kingston and the crew enjoyed some pizza, donated by Berna from the Stop & Go.

We look forward to helping to improve the yards of other senior members of our community in the upcoming months. Questa honors and values our community seniors and know they would like to continue to age in place in their own home safely and comfortably. By connecting seniors with youth and other capable community members, we will come directly to your home and do general clean-up and basic maintenance in your yard. Our payment from you will be to share stories of your youth with our youth. If you or someone you know are in need of help, please contact Benita Muniz at (720) 662-9652; b.muniz3@gmail.com or Claire Coté (575) 224-9066, emailforleap@gmail.com.

Our next helping seniors Community Connection Day will be Friday, September 17 in and around downtown Questa and will continue to serve seniors in our community. We hope you will join us for a fun and meaningful day of community investment and Give-Back in September!