This place, Suzie Bliven says, is “a safe and loving environment.”

Bliven’s mother Carmen Jarvis has attended Tim’s Place — a group of volunteers and caregivers who each week support people who are living with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia — before the collective got shut down during the COVID pandemic and recently, when the group restarted.

“They are all about nurturing the loved one and the caretaker,” Blivens says.

“I love it here,” Jarvis says.

Rhonda Heyn is executive director of the community respite program that meets from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. each Thursday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave. — a group that offers hours of activities and lunch.

Cecelia Schouten eats an orange at “Tim’s Place” a weekly gathering of volunteers and people who live with memory loss hosted by Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim. Cecilia and her daughter said that she grew up in Azusa, Calif., surround by orange groves. Her first job was packing oranges, and she says she loves the smell of orange blossoms and still loves to eat oranges.

Although welcome to stay, caregivers know they have a nuturing place to drop off their loved ones while they relax or focus on whatever they need or like to do, organizers say.

“Our original focus was caregiver respite,” says Heyn, “but it quickly became a two-fold goal of both respite and keeping those with memory loss an active part of the community. We built the program to provide them with purpose, joy, and community.”

Bliven says she spends the three hours, “balancing things that need to be done and self-nurturing.”

About 40 individuals volunteer with the program; Heyn says some come twice a year while others come almost each week.

Both volunteers and those living with memory loss wear the same name tags, which identify them by their first names only.

Sequim Gazette photoS by Emily Matthiessen Elaine Bradford and Cecelia Schouten participate in a variation of balloon volleyball in which participants keep three balloons going by hitting them with pool noodles. This game is a favorite at Tim’s Place and other Respite for All gatherings. Schouten, according to her daughter Valerie Schouten, was always very athletic and loved climbing trees as a child. She was recruited to join the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, but her father said, “no.”

“We don’t differentiate between volunteers and participants during the program,” says Heyn, who noted many of the volunteers are retired professionals.

“I think [activities are] just as much fun for us as them,” says volunteer Elaine Bradford. Activities include conversations about early life experiences, art, music, word games, exercises and more.

A favorite with almost everyone is a form of volleyball in which participants hit balloons with pool noodles.

Individually-boxed lunch, with a vegetarian option, is prepared by Leo’s Cafe, but people are welcome to bring their own lunches; beverages and snacks are offered.

Tim’s Place asks for a $30 donation a session, but “we don’t turn anybody away based on ability to pay,” says Heyn.

“While we had been given funds to launch, we depend on donations to keep our doors open and to provide scholarships for those in need,” she says.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / A balloon that was used during a balloon volleybal game at Tim’s Place.

Heyn hopes the program will expand to offer Tuesdays by the end of the year. About 30 people is the capacity for one day, and they have about 20-25 volunteers and participants attending in recent weeks.

People interested in volunteering can contact Heyn at timsplacesequim@gmail.com to be put onto the waiting list.

“I’d like to have a one-to-one or at worst case one-to-two volunteer-to-participant ratio to give everyone the care and attention they deserve,” she says.

Also needed, says Heyn, are people in the community to share their talents.

“Musical instruments, singers, clowns, pet therapy animals, artists, etc. — we invite people to share their talents with us,” she says.

Tim’s Place origins

Tim’s Place was named after Carolee Dunn’s husband.

“Carolee wanted to start a day care like the one her husband attended in California. She moved up here after after his passing,” Heyn says.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / Tim’s Place Executive Director Rhonda Heyn holds up a bingo card during a game.

“She asked the church to create a respite program and donated the seed money to get it started. The church then put together an exploratory committee to figure out how a program could be created and function.”

Tim’s Place operates financially independently from the church, Heyn notes. She said she joined the committee at the request of Dunn and previous church pastor Bill Green, because of her history as a caregiver.

“After the plan was put together, the committee then formed the board and asked me to be the executive director,” she says.

Heyn does the administrative work, training and coordinating volunteers and preparing and running the sessions.

She says 12 years ago she left her career to become caregiver to her in-laws.

“My mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, and as she herself had been caregiver to both her aged mother and her husband (who has dementia),” Heyn says, becoming the caregiver for all three relatives.

“I realized how difficult it was, and how few resources were available for caregiver support,” she says. “When the opportunity arose to be part of creating this program, I knew I had to make it a reality.”

Respite for All

In doing research for opening Tim’s Place, Heyn came across an innovative program called Respite for All, begun in a church in Montgomery, Ala., by Daphne Johnston.

“I called her to get more information about the program and was so intrigued by it that I asked if I could go to Alabama and observe it,” Heyn says.

Sequim Gazette photo by Emily Matthiessen / Volunteers and people living with memory loss play a two-team game in which they take turns throwing a number of small velcro balls into a dart board during a Tim’s Place gathering at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim.

“The name ‘Respite For All’ reflects the belief that people living with dementia as well as their care partners need a respite from daily lives frequently marked by social isolation, anxiety and stress since the time of the diagnosis,” Johnston says, “The program is dedicated to helping family care partners in a variety of ways while simultaneously providing, for people living with dementia, the possibility of new friendships and a sense of belonging in the local community outside the home.”

In training, Johnston says, Heyn learned that “people with dementia still have purpose and a strong desire to be part of their community. Her leadership is effortless and she has an authentic way of bringing people into the circle, volunteers and participants alike.”

Tim’s Place opened in August of 2019 and closed in February of 2020 because of COVID-19. After a brief second start, it re-opened again in June of this year.

“We want to grow the program,” longtime volunteer Barbara Parse says.

“There’s a huge need, and we can’t help everyone.”

Says Heyn, “We would love to share in Daphne’s dream of growing this model of community care. We hope to grow to be too large a group for our building and get more churches in the community involved.

“As of now, we are still in our early stages and we aren’t there yet, although I would be happy to meet with anyone from another church to discuss it.”

In the 27 of the volunteer communities inspired from Montgomery, Johnston says, “the running theme is those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia can reclaim their joy with help from their neighbors.

“A famous theologian, John Swinton, once said, ‘It is not the person with dementia that forgets their community, it is oftentimes the community that forgets them.’

“Tim’s Place is a prime example that love never forgets.”

To learn more about Respite for All, visit respiteforall.org.

To volunteer or learn more about Tim’s Place, email to timsplacesequim@gmail.com.

Donations can be made at or sent to the Trinity United Methodist Church office and specified for “Tim’s Place”: TUMC, P.O. Box 3697, Sequim, WA 98382.