The True Spirit of PVE
The true spirit of PVE is not a place. It is not focused in the Friday brunch at the Pavilion, the Dining Room, The Club, or even the bocce courts. It is centered in the warmth, openness, and generosity of Paradise Valley Estates residents.
It can be seen in the enthusiasm with which new residents are greeted and incorporated into the fabric of the PVE community. It can be measured by the extra time it takes to walk from the lobby to the dining room as we pause to talk with friends and the two-hour dinner conversations that follow. It is found in the 20-minute walk around the campus which can take an hour and a half to complete allowing for conversations along the way. It expresses itself in the dog park on Sunday afternoons when all the dogs congregate to allow their owners an opportunity to relax and discuss the week’s events and the election of the next pet mayor of PVE. The camaraderie of groups within PVE which work to improve its quality of life is a key element of the spirit of PVE: the landscape committee helping with landscape projects donating time and resources; The Store and estate sales teams working together to generate funds for campus-wide projects; the philanthropy committee overseeing scholarships for staff improvement and the benevolence fund; and all the other committees and organizations which keep an eye on the pulse of PVE lending a helping hand. It can be seen in the way team members easily become fully integrated members of our extended family and we in theirs. The spirit of PVE is visible at any time all around the campus.
This spirit is unique. It is not often found in retirement communities. PVE’s spirit originated with its founders and their military background. Military families are faced with frequent moves and transfers uprooting them from their friends and local support groups. The military family learns quickly how to make and welcome new friends, reconnect with old friends, and lend a helping hand at each new location. Without the rapid and reciprocal outreach to their neighbors, moving to a new base or home can be rather lonely, even frightening. The military tradition of supporting all the members of its community and looking out for one another is the genesis of the true spirit of PVE. It is what makes PVE unique among its peers as a welcoming, caring, supportive community. It is a tradition we all need to work at preserving. It is what makes the most lasting impression on the minds of visitors to our campus.
