Submitted PhotoThe Canopy Commitment is giving back to various businesses across town. 

VALDOSTA – The staff of a new senior living facility is setting out to “cover the community in love” during the pandemic.

Alice Popielarz, director of sales for The Canopy at Azalea Grove, said she has always had a passion for giving back to the local community, sparking the “Canopy Commitment.”

The Canopy at Azalea Grove is a new senior living facility with 64 rooms and 24-hour in-house nursing. Residents have an outdoor courtyard and social hour within this new, state-of-the-art facility.

Unfortunately, the pandemic disrupted the ability to show the new facilities in person and halted new residents moving in, so staff took this downtime to make it into something charitable.

“We started going to random businesses like Chick-Fil-A and Miller Hardware and gave out goody bags for working through this,” Popielarz said.

For Popielarz, showing that a person can change someone’s life by doing something little is the driving force behind her platform. The hope is the gestures will not only bring happiness to people on the receiving end, but will let people know The Canopy at Azalea Grove may be new, but it is already dedicated to serving.

As the Canopy Commitment continues with its deliveries across town, plans are already in place for how to stay committed once residents are inside the building.

“Once we get residents in, there will be activities like making blankets. We were planning a fall festival and inviting the community to come out, doing food drives and adopting families at Christmas,” Popielarz said. “Just always having something going on that integrates this building back into the community.”

More information about the facility and the Canopy Commitment can be found on Facebook at The Canopy at Azalea Grove. 

Desiree Carver is a reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be reached at (229) 244-3400 ext. 1215.