“Friendship Village Tempe: Where Aging with Pride Meets Peace of Mind” with Cole Marvin – Executive Director - Where Do Gays Retire Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(01:13):
Welcome to the Where Do Gays Retire?
Podcast, where we help you inthe LGBTQ community find a safe and
affordable retirement place.
Join Mark Goldstein as heinterviews others who live in gay
friendly places around the globe.
Learn about the climate, costof living, health care, crime and
safety, and more.

(01:33):
Now here's your host, Mark Goldstein.
Today we're taking a deep diveback into Friendship Village, Tempe,
Arizona, where aging meetspeace of mind with Cole Marvin.
We have the pleasure ofintroducing Cole Marvin, the executive

(01:56):
Director of Friendship Village.
Cole's journey into seniorliving began early, growing up in
a small Ohio town.
With his closest friends werehis retired grandparents and their
peers who lived just down the street.
He was particularly captivatedby the story his grandfathers would
share about their time servingin World War II, which sparked a

(02:20):
lifelong appreciation for thewisdom and experiences of elders.
This early connection inspiredhim to pursue a degree in long term
healthcare administration fromOhio University.
An internship with Life CareServices solidified his passion for
life plan communities.

(02:41):
After graduating, Cole joinedLCS and spent a decade in Honolulu,
Hawaii.
And you're dressed for thatoccasion right now.
Where he refined his skills inhospitality and customer service,
a philosophy he brings to hiswork every day.
In 2007, Cole moved to Arizonato join Friendship Village.

(03:04):
For the past 18 years, he hasled the community with a vision focused
on creating an inclusiveculture, providing fun, engaging
opportunities for residents.
Join me in welcoming Cole Marvin.
Thank you.
Good morning, Cole.
Or good afternoon, I should say.
Yeah, we just.
Just crossed into the afternoon.

(03:25):
And thank you.
You're welcome.
So Friendship Village, for our audience.
That's not familiar, it's a ccrc.
Correct.
And that stands for ContinuingCare Retirement Community.
And that's where somebodywould move to age in place.
So starting off withindependent living, if needed, going

(03:48):
into assisted living, which isright on premise, or memory care,
if that's needed.
Okay.
Yep.
And in addition, we even havea healthcare center where we do short
term stays as well as longterm stays.
Days.
Very good.
It's something that seniors do appreciate.

(04:09):
And we'll get into the nittygritty about what goes on and how
it works.
So we'll ask the first question.
What drew you personally tothe senior living field and specifically
to Friendship Village?
I know there was anopportunity there, but.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, senior living.

(04:29):
One of my grandfathers racedhorses, harness racing in Ohio.
And so as a kid growing up,spending so much time with him, going
from county fair to countyfair, watching him race horses and
in the horse barns, there wasa bunch of guys like him.
Just retired guys that couldtell incredible stories.
Just unbelievable time that Ifinally, you know, reflect on.

(04:51):
And we would end up at thecoffee shop after, have breakfast.
You get started pretty earlyin the morning with horses, and then,
you know, maybe go fishing.
You know, just some incredible time.
And so my comfort level withseniors is and was unbelievably,
they were my preferred groupof people because they had so much
to offer if you just listen tothem and then ask them questions.

(05:14):
And one day I went with mybuddy to see his grandmother who
was living at FriendshipVillage in Dublin.
And I'm like, oh, my God, thisis incredible.
This place has all of these,you know, levels of care.
I had read in a magazine inhigh school about the silver tsunami
and all these baby boomersthat were gonna be hitting at some

(05:35):
point in time.
And I'm like, wow, this couldbe a really incredible opportunity.
And so when I found that OhioUniversity had the program, I went
into it.
It was a natural fit.
And then doing internships, Iwent back to Dublin, where it all
started.
And that was cool.
And then got the opportunityto go to Hawaii, which for people

(05:56):
from my town, don't leave mytown not.
And if they do, they certainlydon't move to Honolulu, Hawaii.
And so that was pretty sweet.
It was incredible.
And learned so much.
Went from a town where we alllooked the same to a place where
I didn't look the same aseverybody else, and everybody else
was all very different.

(06:17):
And it couldn't have been abetter opportunity for me in terms
of growth.
It's unbelievable how luckyI've been.
And that time in Honolulu was amazing.
And then ultimately I got toknow the executive director here
at Friendship Village of Tempeby going to conferences and just
an incredible human being.
And when I found out that hewas looking for a number two and

(06:41):
was looking to retire within,you know, a few years of after bringing
that right person on, it waslike, oh, my gosh, this is an opportunity
of a lifetime.
Wow.
Lucky.
And not only lucky, it'ssomething that you enjoy doing.
It's not really.
I mean, it's a job, but youenjoy it and provide all your customer
service expertise along with it.

(07:04):
Yeah, it is.
It's.
Blessed and lucky are both understatements.
So what would you describe themission and long term vision of Friendship
Village?
Yeah, you know, our missionreally is we sell life care, and
that's really the product thatwe represent.
And we.

(07:25):
And that's a promise whenyou're selling life care.
I am promising you that I'mgoing to take care of you for the
rest of your life, no matter what.
Even if you were to outliveyour assets, we still got you.
And so I think coming fromthat small town where promises were
a big deal, and unfortunately,I don't know if there's quite as

(07:47):
a big deal these days as theyonce were, but that promise is a
big one.
And so we live that life care promise.
We do it in a village typesetting where you're bringing residents
and staff together as one.
We really, in Hawaii, it waspretty clear who the residents were

(08:10):
and what we were there to do.
At the health center or at thehealth center at Friendship Village,
it's not always clear who'shelping who.
Our residents are oftenhelping our staff.
They, they're unbelievable.
We have residents teachingEnglish as a second language.
We have residents assistingpeople with getting citizenship.

(08:32):
And, you know, we've got 70plus retired professors living here.
They're lifelong learners.
And they're engaging, say, ourhousekeeping or janitorial team and
how to speak Spanish.
And so they're helping them onthat front.
And it's just, it's reallyneat to see this back and forth between
the groups.

(08:53):
And we do.
We really come together asone, and that's the mission.
And then the vision is, youknow, we want to be creative, we
want to.
Fun is really what we're all about.
If it's not fun, what are we doing?
Why are we doing it?
And that.
And we kind of run it through that.
It's like, is this going to be fun?
It's like, no.
It's like, well, then what arewe doing it for?

(09:14):
Because you're not buildingrocket ships.
You know, we're not saving lives.
We're having fun and thenconnecting great people together
that we can all grow andbenefit from one another.
And, you know, I would saywe're honestly kind of living our
vision.
We're doing a lot ofremodeling on our campus.
We've been around for 45 years.
So I often say the village wasdoing senior living before it got

(09:37):
cool.
And we're in it for all theright reasons.
And so we're bringing a lot ofnew buildings online, attracting
some unbelievable, justwonderful, brilliant people that
are moving in.
And, and it's been a ton of fun.
I've been there.
I'm proud to say.
I took a tour myself.
And the new apartments, thenew buildings are absolutely beautiful.

(10:01):
I walked through the hallways.
I've visited our friends Joeand Terry's apartment.
I mean, you Walk through thehallway, you see people's names on
the doors, with littletchotchkes by their doors.
Whether it's a pride flag orwhatnot, it just feels welcoming
and it's really nice.

(10:21):
I, you know, it's a place thatI would love to live.
Yeah.
It's.
It's honestly having grown upin what I would have to believe is
as close to Mayberry as one could.
The village, in so many waysis Mayberry.
I mean, good morning, good afternoon.
Nobody locks their doors.
It's like, guys start lockingyour doors, you know, but all of

(10:43):
those types of things that youassociate with just kind of a little
slice of heaven and a stepback in time and.
People and name tags.
Because that's very importantto me.
Yeah.
Because I'm the type of personthat's somebody introduces themselves
and two minutes later it'slike, oh, my God, what was their
name?

(11:03):
Yes.
So that's pretty cool as well.
Tell me, how would you balancetradition and with innovation when
leading a life plan communityin today's changing world?
Yeah, you know, the, theexecutive director before me blazed
the.
This trail, and then I kind ofjust may have blown it up even more.

(11:26):
But when we are doing what webelieve is in the best interest of
Friendship Village, and that'smy commitment to the residents, is
I'm always going to do what'sbest for Friendship Village.
I think that part of it lendsitself to doing some things that
sometimes upset people.
You know, when they first didthis major campus repositioning,

(11:47):
we were serving the greatest generation.
And those folks were very Spartan.
They were like, oh, my gosh,we do not need all this fancy stuff.
This is going to be expensive.
We just need a buffet.
We don't need three restaurants.
We don't need a cocktail lounge.
And it was a bit of an uphill battle.
Thank God they did it, becausethat's the hardest message really

(12:11):
for people is, folks, you livehere, we're actually looking down
the road.
We're positioning ourselvesfor future success.
You know, I didn't love how mygrandmother decorated her home.
And I did.
I didn't decorate my home thatway either.
But what she did was nice.
But, you know, so you'removing the needle.
You're doing things that are alittle out there, like putting a

(12:34):
brewery on a rooftop.
I love it.
That's a little out there.
And so you've got some folksthat are like, ah.
But I'll say in all honesty,we have worked so hard to have real,
meaningful, honest relationships.
I've Earned their trust over18 years.

(12:54):
And, you know, they're like,you're a little wild, but it looks
like you know what you're doing.
And, you know, we've got 130people on a wait list.
It's like, guys, you're doingsomething right.
Yeah, we got this.
Just trust us.
And I know it's a little outthere, but it's going to be fun,
trust me.
But when I walked in there,you know, and not knowing what to

(13:16):
expect, you know, you say, Ididn't even know what a CCRC was
until I visited, and I'm like,holy moly, look at all these nice
restaurants.
And I didn't even.
We didn't even eat at thegourmet one.
And the one that we ate at wasreally good.
And so was the staff.

(13:37):
Yeah.
And then when we walkedthrough and saw a brewery, I was
like, for real?
But I.
That's great.
You know.
Yeah, it is.
It's a lot of fun.
And we, you know, we'regetting ready to take another one
of those 45 year old buildings down.
We lose our sports bar in thedemo, but it comes back on the roof

(13:59):
and we've got two lanes ofduck pin bowling that are going to
be in there.
That's another strategy.
We want to create anenvironment where adult children
want to come and visit,because I think that's important
to healthy, successful aging.
And if we can do some thingsthat make the grandkids want to come

(14:20):
too, and make Grandma andgrandpa proud about their new home,
I think you're onto something.
And I think it feels good.
And I love coming in here, youknow, on a Saturday and Sunday, and
you see kids running aroundhere like wild animals, and you see
smiles, and it's.
In the end, it's good.

(14:41):
It's good for the soul.
Well, look, they saylongevity, community is everything.
You know, making community,laughing, smiling do.
Playing games with, you know,your family or neighbors.
That's what it's all about.
If you ever.
What was it?
The blue.

(15:02):
The Blue Zone.
The Blue Zones, yes.
Thank you.
The Blue Zone.
You know, that's what theyshowed, you know, people, you know,
living over 100 years old thatare doing that stuff.
Yes.
So meaningful relationships.
Yes, exactly.
So let's talk a little bitabout inclusivity and the LGBTQ community.

(15:25):
How welcome they are.
Friendship Villages, oryourself at least, has completed
SAGE training.
And what impact has that hadon the staff culture and resident
interactions?
Yeah, you know, we weretalking about this earlier today.
I was letting my boss knowthat I was going to be doing this

(15:45):
podcast and he had seen somework that we were getting recognized
for on the Sage Sage badge andthe training and was asking about
it.
And you.
It's interesting to say we.
It.
It all started off with acouple ladies that moved here from

(16:06):
a very high profile mobilehome park area and I think they were
influential there and theywere the true trailblazers because
I'll be honest, we weren'tdoing much in that way of it, but
we just bring in the mostamazing, awesome, real people already.
Organically, it was like, yeah.

(16:28):
And so I think theirexperience went well and next thing
you know, their friendsstarted moving in and it was just
this domino effect.
And then for the longest timewe were working with a couple guys
who would come to our parties,kind of hang out on the outskirts.
I'd always see him and go upand engage them and trying to pull

(16:50):
them over the line and couldnever get those two to move in.
But ultimately we did have afew guys come in and the same effect,
man, it was just a waterfallof awesome people.
And I never heard anythingfrom any of our residents as to,
hey, what's going on?
Or what is this?

(17:11):
Or nothing.
And then I think it evolvedinto, guys, we're being successful
in this area.
Let's do better.
And we engaged our marketingteam, our advertising agency, to.
We wanted them to create alogo that we could use in all of
our advertisements that gave afeeling or an indication that we

(17:35):
are a safe place for people to live.
And they came up with a verysimple umbrella that has the rainbow
as part of the umbrella partand just a stick that turns on the
bottom there.
And we put that on everything.
And.
And then my team, I cannot.
For the Sage training, it wasmy director team that got onto this

(17:57):
and they're like, let's do this.
And I'm like, absolutely.
So it was.
That was one of the things wetalked about on the call today.
It is not easy.
And Sage sets it up as such.
You can't just, oh, yeah,we're cool and you know, put this
thing on there.
It.
It took us a lot of time, alot of effort, and it's a true commitment.
It's not something you justkind of halfway due.

(18:20):
And I.
Kudos to my team forpersevering through it because you
got a lot of other hard workthat if it doesn't get done, you
get fired.
That was more of our petproject, a little side project that
we worked on and it was a tonof fun.
We, you know, we build theserelationships with our residents

(18:42):
who create this unbelievablepride group.
And they throw fun parties andwe go to them.
You know, we did a luau, whichI was like, oh, hey, I know a thing
or two about a luau.
So we did this big party, and,gosh, I brought lomi salmon and Haupia,
and they had their own stuff,and it was beautiful.
And so just that gellingcoming together in a real as one

(19:07):
way, it's had a huge impact.
And on the flip side, weemploy an incredible amount of employees
that are LGBTQ as well, andthat has been awesome.
We've actually just had newemployee orientation yesterday, and
one of the gentlemen, a nurse,which they are hard to find, picked

(19:30):
us because of how crystalclear it was as to how we roll and
inclusivity.
And it was like, oh, my gosh.
We didn't even think about itaffecting staff as well, but it's
like, oh, man, this is.
This is wonderful, Cole.
It's so important.
So what LGBTQ seniors dreadthe most is having to go into a nursing

(19:55):
home and going back into the closet.
Nobody wants to do that.
After coming out and thehardships that we endured all through
life, the last thing we wantto do is the last part of our lives.
The last thing we want to dois go back in the closet and not
be ourselves.

(20:16):
Can't even imagine.
Yep.
So I'm really happy thatFriendship Village is very LGBTQ
friendly and has taken stridesand taken that sage course as well,
just to get a feeling, learnabout the community as well.
So do you feel that, does thevillage actively ensure LGBTQ residents

(20:39):
feel not just safe, but celebrated?
You know, I do.
I really do.
We hit it harder in June.
Yeah, we do.
Is it a year long celebration?
Not necessarily, but the groupthat is formed, it's amazing they

(21:01):
that during that luau, we allcame together for a big picture.
There was probably six orseven staff members, and then, gosh,
I bet 15 or 20 residents.
And they.
We got the photo and they gotto laughing after and they're like,
can you believe we never wouldhave ever wanted to be photographed
as a group like this, right?

(21:22):
Never.
And we didn't even think onceabout it.
And I was like, oh, my gosh,that is that.
I get it.
I hear what you're saying.
You know, we are celebratingin many ways.
Could we do better?
Sure, I think we could do better.
Do you think the community,you know, is satisfied and enjoys
it and welcome, you know, whatfeedback did they give you?

(21:44):
Do they give you positive feedback?
Yeah, you Know, it's.
I'll give a differentcomparison, which was pretty powerful
when it was shared with me.
But, you know, we had aperson, a prospect in a.
We have resident ambassadorsthat join these prospects who come
and they get a presentationgiven to me, given by me.

(22:05):
Then we get together up on oneof those rooftops for a little happy
hour, and the residents kindof go in and mix and mingle with
the folks and talk to them.
But this one gentleman said,you know, because you got to come
in independently, if you waituntil you need us, we don't want
you.
Right.
We say that for effect.
But the guy said, you know, I can't.
I gotta be honest with you.

(22:25):
I look around and I see allthese walkers, and it just.
It makes me feel old.
And one of the residents said,you know, if you move in here, eventually
all you'll look around and seeis friends.
You don't even see the walkers.
And I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's.
A good way to look at it.
It really is.
And so I think what happenshere is it's not even a conscious

(22:49):
thought.
It truly is unconscious as towho's what and what's what.
And we are just one big happyfamily of.
And friends and gettingtogether for meals and drinks and
fun and events.
And so I'm being honest, Idon't know that people even think
about it.
That's the way it should be.

(23:09):
Yeah, agreed.
Agreed.
It's just 100 natural.
That's the way it should be.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's talk a little bit aboutcommunity design and amenities.
So what inspired the newer additions?
The Starfire Rooftop Brewery.
Wasn't.
That was your idea, wasn't it?
Yeah, you know, it when Ifirst got here.

(23:30):
So I.
At Ohio University, they'vesince tamed themselves a bit.
Back in the old days, it was alittle wild down there in Athens,
Ohio, and I bartended, and,gosh, one of the greatest opportunities
in my life, really, to hone mypeople skills and get good at that.
But I also.
I have a passion for bartending.
And so I got here to thevillage, and I talked to my boss,

(23:55):
Darrell.
I said, hey, I got an idea.
It's kind of crazy, but let meknow what you think.
What if we did a happy houronce a month, me and you bartend
it and we'll get a mobile bar.
We'll have it fully stocked.
I can make anything.
And he had a little bit of apassion, and him for making a good
cocktail.
It was a little more limited,but nonetheless and he let me do

(24:15):
it.
And we did it.
And it was successful to thepoint where it got too successful.
We would have lines that wereof people so long.
And then the next thing youknow, the adult children were planning
their visits to see theirfamily around these happy hours.

(24:38):
You know, where you could geta Grey goose martini for $7.
You know, I had one, I had one.
I was like, seven bucks.
It became this thing.
And so our culture started tochange a little bit at that point
where we like to have fun andwe attract people that do, people

(25:03):
that don't come.
And that's okay, too.
I mean, not entirely, butstill, it's.
And so it was like, oh, mygosh, these two ladies that lived
up on top of South Mountain,and they were wildly successful in
early technology and builtthis incredible home on top of South
Mountain.
And we're coming here.

(25:24):
And they said, cole, we wantyou to come see our home.
I said, okay, that sounds fun.
I'll be over.
So I went over on a Fridayafternoon, and I walk in there, and
they had this unbelievablesports bar that you could tell was
built in the 80s, so a bunchof square TVs all over.
They had a sport court floor,had a really neat bar.

(25:46):
And then they had this supercool old school shuffleboard table.
And they're like, you need asports bar and we want to put this
in it.
And I was like, oh, my God,you're right, we do.
And so we went back and putour heads together and converted
our billiards room into asports bar, put that shuffleboard
table in there, and peoplejust started gravitating towards

(26:08):
that.
And it became.
I mean, it's coming down withthe construction.
And that's one of the biggestissues people were worried about,
is what are you going to do?
And it's like, don't take awaymy bar.
Well, you're not going tobelieve what this sports bar looks
like when we build the new.
And it's going to be unbelievable.
Wow.
And so they're excited, but,you know, and so then the brewery,
that was just like, why not?

(26:30):
You know?
And we just.
We like to create things,venues, amenities, spaces that facilitate
fun.
Probably get a little carriedaway, but.
That'S not a problem for me.
What do you do?
No, I mean, gosh, we have 130people in line, so we're.
There's people out there wholike what we like.

(26:51):
So is there an amenity orprogram that you're most proud of?
Is that your brewery?
No, I would say our communitygarden There is magic happening in
the community garden.
It was a dream, a vision.
We looked all over our campus,could not find anything.
Had an architect suggestapproaching the city of Tempe and

(27:13):
capturing some land behind ourproperty that was a retention area.
Because water doesn't drain inArizona, it runs to retention areas.
But there was a high part, andwe convinced them to let us develop
this community garden.
And it has.
Residents have thrown their heart.

(27:33):
Souls into this communitygarden with.
We have intergenerationalprogramming happening.
We have.
Gosh, half of our beds areused by neighbors who live around
the village.
And I think, you know, at onepoint, we kind of had this, like,
Willy Wonka thing, like,what's going on behind those walls?

(27:53):
And, like, those.
That's where the rich people live.
And it couldn't be furtherfrom the truth.
And this has really opened thedoor for the community around us
to interact with theincredible people that we have living
here.
And, oh, my gosh, these peopleare amazing, you know, and then,
yeah, like I said, we havekids coming down.

(28:14):
We've got these firstSaturdays, these events that are
absolutely out of this world.
I'm so proud of that.
That amenity.
I never would have everenvisioned it becoming what it became.
I'll have to come back becauseI missed it.
Totally missed it.
Come back.
Definitely have to come back.
Take a look at that.
Okay.
Any new amenities coming up?

(28:36):
Just that when that buildinggets built, that sports bar that
gets up there, that will be.
That would be the big one.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
I'm gonna have to check thatone out, too.
I did see.
I think I saw the Sport.
Is it still open or is itunder construction?
No, it's still open.
The one.
Yeah.
We haven't torn that buildingdown, so you would have.
I saw January is when thatcomes down.

(28:59):
Yeah.
Okay, so let's talk a littlebit about costs and access.
Can you walk us through thethought process behind the entrance
fee model, and what do you sayto prospective residents who may
be hesitant about.
You know, it's a bit.
It's such a big decision, youknow, and my husband and I were thinking

(29:21):
about it as well.
And, you know, it's.
You know, you have to takeyour life savings, basically, and
you want to go in and explainhow that all works.
Yeah, it's.
It's.
It's priced like real estatein that the newer, the bigger the
location will.
The entrance fee that we wouldbe attaching to the home that you

(29:45):
would be looking at, and we.
The entry fees at the villageright now range between 300 and $800,000.
So you can, it's incrediblyaffordable for people who, who saved
right.
And understand the true valueof life care and what you truly get.

(30:06):
And then you can, you know,there's a lot of, a lot of people
think they need a huge homeand we try to convince them they
don't.
But invariably the large homesare the ones that go the quickest.
They're generally priced inand around the housing market price.
So more often than not someoneis selling their home and the proceeds
of that home sell are usuallywhat is used to pay for that entrance

(30:30):
fee.
It's a one time fee, it is atax deduction.
We are a not for profit.
And that one time entrance feeis a very large tax deduction which
people often get a littleexcited about.
You've got two different plans.
You have a traditional whereit's, you get nothing in return.
So that would be somethingthat a consumer would say, hey, so

(30:53):
let me just get this right.
I move in and two weeks in Idrop dead.
Do I get that $350,000 back?
And the answer is no, you do not.
And I'm quick to say, we havepeople who have been here for 30
years and I don't come to themand say, hey, I didn't think you
were going to live this long.
Can you give me a little bitmore money?
It doesn't work that way either.

(31:14):
Rarely does what I justexplained happen, but it has happened
and it is not fun.
We also have a return ofcapital plan.
You can get 50% or 80% of thatinvestment back to your estate once
you were to vacate the planet.
And people do that now, it'spriced differently as well.

(31:35):
And so that what I would tellpeople is just to keep the Numbers
easy, for $100,000 traditionalentrance fee, you would be looking
at 190,000 for that same exacthome if you wanted to get 80% of
that 190,000 back.
So you know, generally I sayfolks, if you're coming in when you

(31:58):
should, which is mid-70s,early-70s, we've got people coming
in earlier than that.
And if I'm you, I'd ratherkeep that money, invest that money
and I think I can do betterwith it than I can giving it to you
to, you're going to invest itand then at some point you're going

(32:20):
to give me what I'm due back.
And now if you're 90 and youwaited that long and you qualify
and are a return to capitalplan actually makes sense, you know,
that actually I would do it ifyou could afford it.
It makes sense.
So that's really the entrance fees.
It's a one time fee.
You own nothing.

(32:40):
You own that promise that wewill take care of you for the rest
of your life.
You do get a bit of a taxdeduction and that's kind of.
It's your upfront insurance policy.
Effectively you've purchasedlife care.
So if you had a entrance fee,let's say on the traditional side
for 800,000, we're talking amillion six on the 85% back.

(33:02):
Yeah.
So yeah, about double.
Yeah.
Okay.
So yeah, it just depends.
And it depends upon, ofcourse, your square footage.
You know what you're looking for.
Give me an example.
Let's say a couple examples.
1200 to 1500 square feet apartment.

(33:25):
What are we looking at for anentrance fee?
Yeah, I would say you'relooking at a solid 5.
5 to $600,000.
Okay.
Is that more on the 1200square foot side or 15?
You know, we have built allthe sizes.
We don't go much lower than800 square feet with our new builds.

(33:51):
We're getting ready, just togive you an example, we're getting
ready to build a 2,000 squarefoot, two of them on the rooftop
of this phase three.
And they are priced at 1.1 million.
Whoa.
Luxury.
And guess what?
They're both sold.
Wow.
We have 69 apartments for that project.

(34:13):
We started selling in June andwe have 30 of the 69 sold where they've
placed 10% down.
Wow.
And the two first ones to gowere the two penthouses.
Sweet.
Those must be unbelievable.
Very good.
And then there's a monthly.

(34:36):
Yes, monthly service fees.
They cover pretty much everything.
That's the one nice thingabout a type a life care community,
the village in particular.
Once you're in, we do notnickel and dime you.
You get your dining dollars,which more.
Most people have a hard timespending all of them.
You're getting yourhousekeeping services.

(34:58):
It's a maintenance free lifestyle.
If something breaks, we fix it.
We fix it right.
We fix it quick.
We're sending housekeeping inthere every other week.
We're doing flat linens.
You know, you get your cabletv, all your utilities, water, all
of that stuff.
There are some people who livehere who effectively cut one check

(35:20):
per month.
And it's to us.
And then we have people livingvery active lifestyles that are doing.
We've got couples that aretouring around the world, you know.
Yeah.
And this is their home base.
But yeah, the monthly fees AndI think one other thing that's important
to acknowledge is every year,about the first, second week of February,

(35:42):
we provide you with a letterthat was a calculation that was performed
by our corporate finance teamspecific to our community, with a
percentage of how much you candeduct your monthly service fees
because they fall under ahealthcare cost.

(36:04):
And so it's somewhere between30 and 40% of a deduction.
And so folks really like thatas well.
Yeah, I would like that.
Yeah.
Okay.
So a portion of the entrancefee is tax deductible, as well as
the monthly could be 30 to 40%.
Okay.

(36:24):
And that pretty much includes,like you said, everything.
The dining dollars isapproximately, what, $17 a day.
$17 a day and person per person.
And so, yeah, the contractbasically reads one meal per day.
We still honor that if onewere to go to the buffet every day

(36:48):
for one meal, that they wouldnot incur any additional expenses.
Some residents, our cafe is abit of a bargain.
So they're smart.
They'll come in, they'll havean incredible breakfast for part
of that $17, and then theywill come back for a dinner, maybe
an early dinner.
Either in the cafe is verypopular, but Starfire, the rooftop

(37:11):
restaurant, is also popular.
Do a dinner, they might go alittle over, but they plan on going
out to dinner with theirfriends the next night.
And they're not, you know,going to be using any dining dollars.
So it gives you autonomy.
The old school way was you getone meal per day, and if you missed
it now, you're like, you know,beholden to have to use this thing

(37:33):
versus you could go away forhalf a month, come back with a bunch
of dining dollars and go tothe fireside and, you know, get lobster
and crab legs and, you know,have a lot of fun.
Yeah.
And anything not in diningdollars, not used goes back into
Friendship Village.
Right?

(37:54):
Yeah.
And that is a very difficultthing to explain to people, because
dining dollars are not real dollars.
Right.
You know, sometimes people arelike, well, who's getting these dining
dollars?
It's like, nobody.
We could call them widgets.
You know, they're placeholders.
But the reality is, ifeverybody's spending all their dining
dollars, that means we'rebuying more.

(38:15):
The more food and we'repreparing and more food, which is
going to make your overallexpenses that you're all sharing
go up.
You know, sometimes you gotpeople that want to take the leftover
dining dollars, buy a bunch offood in our convenience store and
go donate it to a shelterthat's entirely up to You.

(38:36):
But no, you are artificiallydriving up expenses by feeling obligated
to have to do all 100% of yourdining dollars.
And if everybody did that,fees would probably end up going
up a little bit.
Can you give me an estimate ofwhat the monthlies are?
Yeah.
And that also depends uponwhere you're living, right?

(38:59):
Yeah, yeah.
I would say you're looking atanywhere between 3,3000.
You could maybe get up intothe not quite seven thousand dollar
range.
3,6.
Kind of just depends.
So what I did was you guyshave a sheet of all categories.

(39:21):
And so I said, wow, this kindof sounds expensive.
But when I put everything infront of me, like, okay, we got our
real estate taxes and we have,you know, electricity here in Phoenix
is not the cheapest of things.
You know, cable, everything,all the expenses, food.

(39:42):
Oh, and food.
We spend a lot of money onfood, restaurants and groceries.
So when you add all that stuffup, it comes up pretty close.
It truly does.
A lot of times we don't fullyappreciate the real cost.
It's eye opening.

(40:02):
Yeah, it is eye opening.
If you have somebody sit downand really add it up for you, it's
like, oh, no.
Yeah.
I said, oh my God, I spendthat much.
We spend that much.
Yeah, yeah.
So very cool.
What efforts have been made toensure affordability or access for
residents that have moremodest means, Seniors on fixed incomes.

(40:24):
And how do you, how do younavigate that?
Is that through your marketing department?
Well, you definitely, you.
The lists that you utilize aregoing to be developed based upon
a certain asset level, acertain income level, and then there
are, of course, zip codes thattend to like us most.

(40:49):
So we tend to focus in thosezip codes and narrow things down
to some degree based uponassets, income and assets that they
have.
So it is not cheap to live atFriendship Village.
And I wouldn't want to sithere and say that, but I am proud
of how many school teachersthat we have living here who.

(41:14):
It's amazing, Mark, but we'lltalk to these folks.
And Cole, I knew I was comingto Friendship village when was 30.
I told my husband when we gotmarried, you know, this is where
we're going, you know, andit's like, oh my gosh.
And so we've.
We saved, we worked hardbecause we knew it wasn't cheap,
but we knew that was where wewanted to be.

(41:34):
And so it's one of those things.
If you have disciplinefinancially, we really are able to
appeal to quite a wide varietyof economic people.
So it's, it's pretty Pretty good.
And the size also helps, youknow, when you're.
We're the eighth largestcommunity in the country.

(41:56):
Wow.
And you're spreading out a lotof costs over a lot of people.
And that helps us keep.
Keep things down.
And the other thing is, youknow, we have an incredible board
of directors and, you know, alot of communities would be, you
know, hard pressed to bemaking four, five, six million dollars
a year and net operating income.

(42:19):
And don't get me wrong, wewant to get back to where we were
pre Covid, where we weremaking about $2 million a year and
simply just reinvesting thatin to our investments to ensure that
we're able to live that lifeCare promise.
But man, after Covid, we'vebeen working hard to break even.
I'm sure that was hard for you.
Yeah, it Covid.

(42:40):
I mean, we went from making 2million a year to losing 2 million
a year.
And that was in 20, 21.
22.
Things started to even out in 23.
Okay.
Is there any danger of thefederal government pulling funding?
Do they fund you at all?

(43:00):
No, I think they would havepulled it by now if they could.
We do not participate in theMedicaid program.
We do participate in Medicare.
Medicaid is a very trickyprogram and it's hard.
It's like a vicious cycle.
They don't get paid what theyneed to be paid to take care of folks.

(43:22):
So staffing is usually 2/3 ofevery dollar you spend is staffing.
And so you can't staff how you want.
You can't feed people how you want.
And it's a very sad state of affairs.
And more people are notprepared financially than are prepared.
So you got the majority of thepeople that need that system.

(43:43):
It's.
I'm terrified as to what'sgoing to happen.
Yeah.
Because it's already bad.
Yeah.
I mean, what you have to do tostretch that buck, it's going to
get worse.
So, yeah, it's that.
That is a thing.
Now, we do have a residenthere who is.
Is transsexual.
And she came to me veryconcerned about a lot of what's happening

(44:08):
out in, in the administration,the news.
Just to give you an idea howamazing people are here.
She's like, cole, if you everneed me to use a restroom other than
the one I use, I want you toknow I'm here.
I'll do whatever I can.
I'm not going to be a problem.
It's not how I roll.
And I'm just like, oh my gosh,I Never even thought about this,

(44:31):
but 100%, you know, and so itdefinitely has people's attention
and has people concerned and scared.
I don't see anything directlyaffecting us.
I think obviously the we from.
We've always followed therules as it relates to staffing.
All of our staff areabsolutely legal.

(44:52):
We go through all of thethings that you have to go through.
But what is going to happen isI don't think everybody does that.
So now you're going to createthis artificial demand where you've
lost this huge group of peopleand so you've got less people doing
the work.
Well, that's going to drivewages up.
And so that absolutely has thepotential to affect us.

(45:16):
I mean, we had to raise ourwages in November of 2022.
We weren't competitive.
And I think we did a 15%increase for the employees.
And probably one of myproudest days, I really felt so proud
in our board.
So incredible to allow us todo this because that's big bucks,

(45:39):
millions and millions.
And it's sad to sit here todayand realize that whole entire increase
got devoured through inflation.
These people are no betterthan they were at that point.
I mean, we were dancing in thestreets for a year.
Right.
And then, good Lord.

(45:59):
With tariffs, all your costsare going to be going up.
And I know you're going to bepaying, you know, Friendship Village
is going to be paying thedifference, you know, if you're doing
construction and.
Well, the constructionindustry is getting hit very hard
because I think they doheavily rely upon staff that might

(46:22):
not be legal.
And it's not uncommon to havea group show up on a job site.
And, I mean, we've seen the videos.
And also for materials thatare not, you know, made here.
Yes.
So I know.
Yeah.
It's scary times.
It is.
Okay, let's see.
Staffing and resident connection.

(46:45):
Hiring and retainingcompassionate staff is really crucial
to this type of business.
And I've personally noticed,even the people, the wait staff in
the restaurants, they were sosweet people.
How do you build a team thataligns with your values?
Friendship Village's values?
Yeah, it's.
It's a lot of hard work.
It's not an accident.

(47:07):
It starts.
I just did it yesterday.
New employee orientation is afull day.
And I kick new employeeorientation off with mission, vision
and values.
And I hit them hard.
I do about an hour.
And I really connect the dotson the importance of them.

(47:28):
There's not a single personhere who isn't important.
And the importance ofestablishing relationships with our
residents.
So that we can get to knowthem better, so that we can serve
them better, we can reallygive them.
We get to know them.
We know exactly what theywant, and that feels good.
And so when you do that, theyare like, you know, I hear this all

(47:51):
the time, Cole.
This is the best decision Iever made in my life.
And what they do is theyrecruit their friends and they make
their friends.
They're like, you got to move here.
You got to come here.
Because friends make the best neighbors.
The same thing on the staffside, I think they are proud to be
a part of something special,to have the.

(48:11):
You know, we joke, we say,once the residents get the hook,
get their hooks in you, it's over.
I'm sorry.
A guy that's been here for 40years and a lady that's been here
for 35 years, and, heck, I'vebeen here for 18 years, and I'm a
newbie.
And it.
It's magic that happens.
And we hit.
Hit that for an hour.
And then at lunchtime, I comeback and we do customer service and

(48:35):
hospitality.
And I tell them, guys, I'm notgood at much, but when it comes down
to customer service andhospitality, you're gonna have a
hard time beating me on that one.
I'm pretty good at it.
And I give them a bunch of tools.
I do about an hour and 15minute presentation on that one.
And I tell them, this is themost important thing I do here.
There is no way you're leavingthis building not knowing what's

(48:57):
expected of you and what is important.
You know, if you're not greatat your job, we will work with you.
But if you're not nice and youdon't treat our residents right,
you're gone.
And that's not a threat.
It's a promise to ourcommitment to upholding this reputation
that we've worked 45 years to have.

(49:18):
And they know.
You walk around, you tellsomebody, oh, I work at Friendship
Village Tempe.
Like, oh, my gosh, you know, I.
All I ever hear is greatthings about that place.
I want to go check it out, you know?
And my dad recently had adouble lung transplant in November.
So I am the primary caregiver,and we consume a lot of health care,

(49:39):
and I'm usually in a shirt andtie, and they'll ask me what I do,
and I'll reference thevillage, and they're like, oh, my
gosh, that place.
Everybody loves it.
So it's just this thing, man,that we've created this culture,
and we just keep it going.
My directors don't le.
They get it.
We're all saying the same thing.

(49:59):
And I heard really goodfeedback from your residents.
Like, they get to know, like,the wait staff at the restaurants
and when somebody leaves, theyfeel terrible they're leaving.
Like, where are they going?
Because it's actually their friend.
They are my two daughters bothworked here for years, either during

(50:21):
college breaks and summers or whatnot.
And I can't walk through thisplace without.
How's your daughters?
I.
You have no idea how much Imiss them.
And one of them is actually intown from Chicago and she's coming
today.
I'm going to see her hereafter we get off the podcast and
she's going to go surprise afew folks and it's going to be fun.

(50:43):
That's great.
Do you have systems in placeto help new residents build connections?
Because it's kind of.
It's difficult if you, youknow, if I were moving to any place,
it's so difficult to makecommunity and finding friends.
How do you do the name tags?
Is a good thing?
Absolutely.
It is wild.
It is this culture.

(51:04):
It's.
We have fun with it.
Sometimes we call it a cult, but.
So you have new resident orientation.
That happened yesterday.
Everybody talks about who theyare, where they're from, what they
did this, that and the otherthing and that, you know, it's almost
like an orientation class.
You bond with people in yourorientation class.
There's something specialabout that for the.

(51:26):
For your whole entire time.
But then you're in an area every.
We have about 15 areas at the Village.
Every area has a senior repand a junior rep, and they are people
who have lived there and wantthat position.
We give them money to throwneighborhood parties and our catering
department supports that.

(51:46):
So they'll do three, four of those.
You are going to then go towelcome Coffee where I'm going to
interview you in front of allthe residents and on.
On television.
And we're going to ask youwhat you like, what do you enjoy
doing.
And so we've got people outthere that are taking notes.
Hey, I heard you like bridge.
Well, we've got an opening inour bridge group and they just start

(52:08):
pulling on you almost probablyit gets a little scary.
I think it's for some people.
And you're going to have people.
It's just part of the culture.
Hey, we'd love to have you for lunch.
We'd love to have you for dinner.
We're, you know, come sit withus during happy hour.
Let's meet up in the embers.
You know, it's, you know, wegot this arts and recreation center

(52:29):
where we have some of the mostunbelievable artists that live here
at the Village.
And you might be doing, youknow, pottery, you might be doing
oriental brush art.
Just.
And then those people, youjust start building these relationships
and it's incred.
Incredible.
And then especially I think onthe LGBTQ side, they got a group

(52:50):
and they're going to get you.
You're coming in, we're goingto have some fun.
And they get together quiteoften, all of the things.
That sounds wonderful.
How many residents are there?
Yeah, we, we got about 900residents campus wide.
That's a lot.
About 700 on the independentliving side and then about 100 on

(53:13):
the assisted living.
100 plus in the health center.
It's.
It's a big one.
That's.
Yeah, that's incredible.
That's a village.
It is a village.
It's a village.
So that's awesome.
And I wanted to.
Let's say.
I'll.
Let me give you a for instance.
So let's say I go in forsurgery and it's a minor thing.

(53:38):
It could be, you know, in andout in one day, but I don't know,
they do some surgery that Idon't feel comfortable going back
to my independent livingspace, at least for like a day or
so or a couple of days.
Am I able to use the facility?

(53:58):
Yeah, you are nursing.
We, we have our health care center.
You would need to havedoctor's orders in order to go there.
You just cannot come into thehealth center without doctor's orders.
But generally, depending uponthe procedure, they anticipate that
and they'll write those orders.
And some people want to gohome and see how it goes and still

(54:21):
have those orders on backup.
Some go straight to the healthcenter and just do a kind of a quick
stay.
But we also have thisincredible assistance in living department,
which not all communities have.
Kind of our in house nonmedical home health group.
And we'll come to your houseon 15 minute increment basis, which

(54:44):
you would never find outside.
You know, most places are notcoming without two hours.
Oh yeah.
And it doesn't make sense.
We'll come in on a 15 minuteincrement basis.
We might do that four times inthe first week post procedure to
make sure you're doing okayand you're comfortable and.
And sometimes that's enough too.

(55:04):
So what are their credentials?
Like, yeah, the caregivers.
Certified caregivers.
So they're like, if I had a Catheter.
And I knew it was my firsttime getting a catheter and I didn't
know what the hell is going on.
Some blood.
Will they be able to just sayeverything is cool?

(55:25):
Yes, I would.
What I would say is.
That's a very good example.
That's a great question.
I would say with that, wewould most likely have you go into
the health center, make surethat you get very comfortable, as
comfortable as one can getwith catheter care, and then get
the ails or that team kind ofover and trained up a little bit

(55:48):
to understand it, and then doa transition back to your home, if
that's probably how we'dhandle that one.
Gotcha.
And would I be chargedanything extra for going into that
facility?
No.
No, you wouldn't.
That would be under your lifecare benefit.
So you would be able to dothat without paying any additional

(56:09):
fees, I guess.
Nursing supplies.
You would be billed fornursing supplies and things of that
nature.
That would be covered underMedicare, right?
Well, it depends if you're.
Were you in the hospital forthree midnights?
Oh, yes.
You have to have that threeday qualifying stay in the hospital

(56:30):
in order to access yourMedicare A benefits, which is what
you would be using in aninpatient skilled nursing environment.
Gotcha.
All these things you got to know.
There'S so many rules.
It's unbelievable.
I'm sure.
Okay.
Evolving needs of seniors.

(56:50):
As expectations shift withyounger retirees entering senior
living, what trends have youbeen seeing in lifestyle preferences?
You know, it's funny, I stillsee communities advertising themselves
as we'll take care of you.
You know, we'll be there for you.

(57:11):
And it's like, yeah, I mean,okay, whatever.
It's like, give me access tofun, give me access to care should
I need it.
Give me all the options in the world.
We have a nurse practitionerclinic on our site that you could

(57:31):
go.
It functions like an urgentclinic or urgent care clinic.
Give me convenience.
I want first class food.
I want to believe that I amnot eating in some senior living
community.
I'm going to a real restaurant.
Give me variety, give me wellness.

(57:52):
Wellness is a big deal.
I've come to learn.
I guess boomers in particularare really.
There's.
There's this thing out therewanting to live to be a hundred.
And so you got, man, I'mtelling you, people want to know
all of the nutritional valuesin every special.
We just released these zenbowls that you can custom make your

(58:14):
bowl.
It's almost like Chipotle, buta bunch of different healthy items.
And my God, they are justflying off the shelves.
Used to be people said theywanted healthy stuff, we'd put it
out there, nobody ate it.
Nowadays they want it.
They're dead serious.
And they want, they have veryhigh demands when it comes to the

(58:35):
dining and dietaryrestriction, whatnot.
So that's a great pointbecause if I had my food points and
I was eating most of my mealsat the facility, I want to know what
I'm eating.
Yeah, they do and we give itto them.
They want to know all thenutritional values and it's not easy

(58:56):
sometimes.
You sure?
You got to do a fair amount of work?
We have a full time dietitianand you know, we're doing everything
we can to meet those needs.
But freedom, fun, flexibility,it's, it's absolutely mandatory.
Wow, excellent.
What changes have you made orplanning to keep pace with the new

(59:19):
generation of older adults?
Yeah, well, I mean takingthose old buildings down, building
new ones that have open floorplans, lots of natural light, floor
to ceiling windows.
The large ones, medium sizedones, nothing under 900 square feet.

(59:39):
That's important.
Rooftop amenities, you know,the pickleball, the rooftop restaurant,
the brewery, the sports bar.
That'll be coming.
An incredible fitness centerthat is staffed with fitness professionals
that will help you as much oras little as you want, really and
truly offering that urgentcare clinic on site, massage therapy

(01:00:03):
on site, alternative medicineon site.
You have that too.
What's that?
You have alternative medicine?
Yeah, we, we have people thatcome, we've got folks doing some
non invasive acupuncture,different forms of massage that are
being done, yoga classes, justproviding we have a living, well

(01:00:27):
lecture series where we bringin naturopathic doctors.
You know, we've had folks comein and talk about cannabis that you
want to get a bunch of peoplefreaked out, bring the weed doctor
in.
And test out gummies.
Yeah, so we, we've had a, youknow, we're not afraid to mix it

(01:00:47):
up and have some fun with itand generally it works.
Sometimes we fall flat on ourface and dust ourselves off and get
better.
But just, you know that I tellyou, pets.
Holy cow.
Oh yeah.
That's another thing that's important.
140 dogs on our campus and that's.
You want to connect with people.
Gosh, bring a dog on campus,you're gonna make a bunch of friends.

(01:01:10):
You may not remember theperson's name, but you remember the
dog's name.
That's actually what they say.
Nobody knows my name, but theyknow my dog's name.
Yeah, that Community gardenthat has really allowed people to
throw some passion at that volunteering.
Tons of volunteering opportunities.
It's.

(01:01:30):
There's a lot going on.
I think we have an auditorium.
Sorry, you have an auditoriumthere, too?
Like, you put on concerts and.
Yes, we do.
We put on concerts, man.
We had a Rolling Stones coverband come in and just blow the roof
off.
And I was honestly a littlenervous, to be honest.

(01:01:51):
But it.
It was a smashing success.
Wow, that sounds great.
I love it.
It's a lot of fun.
That's what it's all about, right?
Yes, sir.
So when we toured, we noticedthe average resident age seemed to
skew a little bit higher.
Older than us, maybe around 75years old and up.

(01:02:14):
For those in our late 60s, itcan feel like we're arriving a little
early to the party.
So what is the FriendshipVillage doing to accommodate and
engage those younger.
Yeah, retirees or younger.
It's a good question.
And we have had.
We have a lady coming in,right, at 62.

(01:02:34):
Her mom lives here and she'scoming in at 62.
That would be the youngestI've ever seen.
And she already has her groupcircle of friends and all of that.
But, you know, offering theflexibility a lot of folks get.
Something happened, they getthe value of life care, they understand

(01:02:56):
it, but they're also going tolead a life outside of Friendship
Village.
We have people who come hereand are still working full time.
Joe would have just.
You probably talked about himjust retiring.
We've got professors who areworking full time.
We have physicians that areworking full time, consultants that
still are doing a high level,quite a bit of consulting.

(01:03:19):
So you got those people whoare coming in and just living their
own life and then.
But still, you know, using thedining venues, playing pickleball,
it all just kind of comes downto what they want.
To be honest, I think ourprogramming here does lend itself
to a younger resident than itwould an older resident.

(01:03:40):
I do, too.
The brewery.
Yeah, a brewery.
It's not.
It's not perfect.
You could come in a little early.
That is a possibility.
And I'll tell you, we're oneof the only communities that I'm
aware of, I think, in all of East.
The east valley that offer100% satisfaction guarantee if you
come here.

(01:04:00):
And 12 months in this place isjust not for you.
We will give you 100 of yourinterest fee back.
Wow.
No questions asked.
Cole, I hate those aloha shirts.
They're so ugly.
I can't look at another one.
Give me my money back.
Here you go.
So that's how.
And very rarely do people evertake us up on that.

(01:04:22):
But that, you know, if I'm alittle young and I'm a little worried,
that would feel good.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Because I could say, okay, itsounds great.
And then, you know, maybe amonth or a couple of months into
it.
I'm like, well, just thatfeeling of being trapped anyway,
it's just a horrible feeling.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is.

(01:04:42):
And I think people come torealize, especially if they care
for their elders or they docaring for them, for their family
themselves, they get a realunderstanding of what, you know,
long term care is like and howmuch it's really needed.

(01:05:03):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
All right, let's talk aboutthe broader community.
So how does Friendship Villagestay connected with the larger Tempe
and Phoenix area community?
I know you mentioned the gardens.
Are there any partnershipsthat there are with any LGBTQ centers,
arts organizations, or universities?

(01:05:26):
Yeah, so we're pretty wellconnected to asu.
I mean, I bet we have.
At least.
I know we have more than 70professors that are living on our
campus.
I bet well over half of themare ASU related.
So we have nice, strongconnections with asu.
We bring in what is called theOsher Lifelong Learning Program.

(01:05:48):
A lot of highly intelligentpeople here who don't want to stop
learning.
We have a Kiwanis group thatpartners up with Marcos De Niza High
School and their key clubgroup or National Honor Society.
Sponsor that group of youngfolks and mentor them.
You know, we have a teachersassociation group that goes and reads

(01:06:10):
to kids in one of the kind ofunderserved elementary schools, do
a lot of intergenerational programming.
We love bringing young folks in.
Music, same thing.
And then we have residentsthat are getting out and about and
volunteering.
We're at.
We.
We were able to get a.
A booth at the.

(01:06:31):
This Pride Fest event comingup, and gonna have that staffed with
residents from our.
From our group.
You know, we just went and abunch of us went and volunteered
at a place called tch, whichare serving developmentally disabled
adults.
I tell you what, Tuesday wasn't.

(01:06:52):
Wasn't in the right frame ofmind, and I went over there and I
left feeling like a millionbucks spending time playing Uno with
a group of developmentallydelayed young adults.
And my God, we had so much fun.
I left there, I could havefloated home just the value you get

(01:07:12):
from spending time with peopleand helping out.
It was incredible.
Looking to do more of that.
We actually partner with tch,so we employ high functioning Developmentally
disabled folks in our diningvenues doing some busing of tables
and talk about relationships.
Great idea.

(01:07:33):
These folks, they are just thetide that raises all ships and we're
blessed to have them.
And it's a win win for everybody.
That's wonderful.
We do, yeah, we do a lot of stuff.
We have arts and crafts fairswhere we're bringing folks in that
might as well be a recruitmentthing because resident, these people
come in and like, oh my God, Iwant to live here.
You know, Rotary groups meet here.

(01:07:53):
Retiree groups meet here.
It's.
It's moving and grooving.
It sure sounds like it.
Okay.
Recently I did a show on asenior community, LGBTQ plus focused
senior community calledFountain Grove Lodge in Santa Rosa,
California.
It operates under a for profit model.

(01:08:16):
Friendship Villages isconsidered a nonprofit model.
Can you discuss thedifferences between for profit and
a non profit model and how itaffects the residents?
Yeah, you know, I, I actuallyhave a unique perspective.
My 10 years in Hawaii, I ran afor profit skilled nursing facility
out there.

(01:08:37):
And I can tell you, you couldask anybody.
By far the most highlyacclaimed, sought after health center
on the island of Oahu.
I mean, had physicians beggingme to get their parents in there
when they needed it.
It was, and it was for profit.
And, and we did okay.

(01:08:58):
You know, we weren't crushingit, but we did good.
And so all of that.
You can deliver great highquality care in a for profit setting.
You can't.
And then so the not for profit.
I'm very fortunate.
We went through, I was herefor the Great Recession, the darkest

(01:09:18):
days of senior living, and wedidn't lay off a single staff member.
Not one person got laid off.
And I'm proud of that.
And if we were a for profit,that would not have been able to
be true because thatdefinitely hit the bottom line.
We went through Covid anddidn't get rid of any programs and
we were losing millions.

(01:09:39):
That probably would not havehappened in a for profit setting.
You would start trimmingservices, cutting staff, doing things
like that, which I understand,I'm not knocking it, but, you know,
I think those are the challenges.
There's a fair amount ofpressure on leadership to absolutely
produce.

(01:10:00):
You know, depending upon thegroup you're working for, it could
be unrealistic amount of money.
And that's when things get alittle weird, is if you have pressure
to do things that aren'tpossible, you can lose your way.
So I, I've heard that the bigdifference for, on a resident perspective

(01:10:22):
is for, in a for profit Organization.
If you run out of money,they'll work with you first to, I
guess, lessen your squarefootage where you're living your
accommodations, make it alittle smaller, to see if you could,
you know, survive in thatroute or.

(01:10:44):
And if you can't, you're out.
Whereas a non profit, they'renot going to kick you out.
Yeah, that I can speak forFriendship Village for sure.
As long as you.
We financially qualify you,and if you outlive your assets, you
come see me, we sit down.
It's a pretty easy process.
This is what I got coming in.

(01:11:06):
This is what I've got going out.
We add a little more in thereto give you some walking around money.
Our foundation throws in a fewhundred dollars a month as well.
And you don't have to, youknow, stop, get, sell your car.
You don't have to move into asmaller apartment.
We subsidize the difference.
And, you know, I told you,we've got about 900 on our campus.

(01:11:28):
We probably have nine peopleaccessing a subsidy in some form
or format.
I tell you, the scariest thingis out there is these scams.
Oh, God.
People are falling for thesescams at an alarming rate, and they're
losing hundreds of thousandsof dollars, and it's heartbreaking.

(01:11:51):
I worked for a credit uniondoing customer service on the phone
every day for five years, andevery day tons of people would call.
I think I was scammed.
You know, different types ofscams and scammers are getting better.
They are.
So we have to keep on top of that.

(01:12:13):
It's just unbelievable.
And especially they prey onsenior citizens all day, so they
do it all the time.
So that is a.
It's a big problem.
Okay.
So specifically for LGBTQresidents, I guess the village ensures

(01:12:34):
that so many people are justfriendly and out there that people
don't even think about it asfar as going back into the closet
or need to or, you know, you are.
It is what it is.
Everybody gets along witheverybody, so we really do.
So it's neat, it's fun to be apart of, and I think it feels good,

(01:12:57):
which is part of the magnetismthat brings folks in.
Yeah.
So looking ahead, is thereanything you'd like to change in
the next year?
You know, there's.
There's a program out therewhere you could.
It's Early Advantage programwhere you say, put $50,000 down.

(01:13:22):
You've guaranteed access tothe healthcare center if you need
it.
You have a small discount onthe overall care, and then you have
access to the community whereyou could come in and, you know,
play pickleball, go to thefitness center, eat some meals.
We might.
You might get dining dollars,you know, a very limited amount of

(01:13:43):
dining dollars, but kind ofdip your toe and be a part of the
community.
You could use that 50,000towards an entry fee to move in.
You could never move in and,you know, wait until you might need
nursing care and have.
That's a program we've wentand looked around at.
And I really like that.
I think it's neat.
And we have such a powerfulbrand that I think we.

(01:14:05):
We could.
We could get a program likethat underway.
That would be something I'minterested in of them.
That's a great idea.
And so that 50,000, if, let'ssay I don't use it and three years
later I decided I want to be aresident, I can put that as the down
towards the down payment.
Yeah, you pick a home that's 350,000.

(01:14:28):
You already throw that 50 atit, and now you're just out the 300
and you've made some friends.
Yeah, it's a great idea.
Yeah.
You get a hundred peoplesigned up, that's $5 million.
So.
Yeah, it's not.
Yeah, that's pretty great.
What is your future?
What is your vision for thefuture of Friendship Village?

(01:14:50):
Yeah, you know, we're.
We'll build this phase three.
So then we'll have three ofthose buildings that are new.
We bought some land west ofour health center, and we're going
to build a really neatassisted living building over there
that is more with the timesand position for well into the future

(01:15:11):
in terms of sizes of rooms,options, amenities.
You know, we're alreadytalking about putting like a super
awesome coffee roastery on therooftop and, you know, do something
fun with that.
Possibly have some medicalprofessional leasing of space available
down on the first floor floorand diversify our revenues in that

(01:15:35):
standpoint.
Come back over, take the oldassisted living down, build some
new independent living on theindependent living campus, and then
finally go back and finishthose last two buildings that are
right now 45 years old.
And that should be done in 10 years.
And I should be done in 10 years.

(01:15:56):
I'm saying if I wind up there,don't leave.
I've got a contract with a fewfolks that I've agreed not to.
So I'm in for 10 for sure.
That's good.
That's good.
You're a youngin.
Okay, well, Cole, this hasbeen very educational.
Thank you so much.
Do you have any Questions forme or, you know, anything.

(01:16:19):
Can you tell us how do we findyou or.
Yeah, that's a great question.
We're real proud of our website.
We recently redid it.
It was serving us well, but Igot convinced it could serve us better
and they did a good job of it.
And so we redid it and it'sfriendshipvillageaz.com just Google

(01:16:41):
friendship Village Tempe.
Get.
We have a lot of fun with oursocial media.
We have, we're on, we're onFacebook under Friendship Village
Tempe.
Our brewery, which is run byour brewmaster.
He's a wild man.
Starfire Brewery has its ownInstagram page.

(01:17:03):
We're doing that.
We've, you know, we go to Brew Fest.
We entered the Great AmericanBrew Fest.
We're waiting to hear how that goes.
We went up to Flagstaff andgot a second place silver award for
one of our beers up there.
That was a ton of fun.
So we're just having fun.
I did have a taste.
Yeah.

(01:17:23):
Yeah.
We, you know, we just, we'redoing, doing everything we can to
leave the place better than wefound it and make positive contributions
to our greater community.
And.
Yeah, I was very impressed andalso very impressed with you.
Thank you.
Sure.
And I have to come back.
Yes.
And let me know in the comments.

(01:17:45):
I have to come back for a visit.
I certainly will.
We'll have some fun.
All right.
Well, Cole, thank you so muchfor being a part of the podcast.
We do appreciate it very muchand we'll talk soon.
Thanks, Mark.
I appreciate you, man.
Thank you.
Take care.
Bye.
Bye.
Thank you for listening to theWhere Do Gays Retire?

(01:18:06):
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“Friendship Village Tempe: Where Aging with Pride Meets Peace of Mind” with Cole Marvin – Executive Director

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}“Friendship Village Tempe: Where Aging with Pride Meets Peace of Mind” with Cole Marvin – Executive Director