Featured Volunteer: A Woman with a Heart for Service—Peggy Abney
Robin Wilson
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of chatting with Peggy Abney, you know her brightness and generosity are completely contagious. Peggy’s journey with Neighbors Who Care first began back in 2012 while she was working full-time as a nurse at Intel. With a favorable schedule of working three days a week, Peggy found herself with open days and an overwhelming desire to give back to her local community. In those early years, she assisted neighbors by driving them to medical appointments, providing business assistance, and offering crucial respite care for family caregivers in need of a well-deserved break.
In 2017, life led Peggy back to Albuquerque, N.M., where she temporarily had to bid farewell to Neighbors Who Care. However, in a turn of events, her journey brought her back to Sun Lakes. As she began preparing for retirement, Peggy knew exactly where she wanted to invest her time. She reconnected with Neighbors Who Care and officially rejoined our dedicated volunteer team in April 2025.
Peggy shares that transitioning into retirement can be a major adjustment. Going from a busy, full-time career to having open days requires two key steps: giving yourself permission to relax, and actively finding intentional ways to stay social. For Peggy, volunteering became the perfect bridge into this new chapter of life. Over the past year and a half, she has stepped seamlessly into a variety of impactful roles, providing transportation and her favorite Dinner Delivery!
Peggy enjoys delivering hot meals to neighbors in her own community. Beyond ensuring that individuals receive a warm dinner, she places value on providing an essential daily welfare check. Clients quickly get to know the friendly face at their door, eagerly anticipating her warm smile, her caring spirit, and her bright, uplifting visits that routinely brighten their day.
When she isn’t delivering meals or assisting clients, Peggy stays active with her family and personal passions. She is blessed to have her daughter, son-in-law, and the ultimate joy of her life—her grandson living nearby. We also can’t forget her beloved rescue dog, Bernie, leaving everyone to wonder: did she rescue him, or did he rescue her? Additionally, Peggy loves diving into her hobbies, including reading, sewing, and quilting. Being an active member of local sewing and quilting clubs allows her to combine her favorite things, making friends, staying connected, and learning fun new techniques.
For Peggy, the true heart of volunteering comes down to a simple yet profound truth: she receives far more joy and purpose than she could ever give. She often reflects on how every delivery, quick doorstep conversation, and shared smile enriches her own life just as much as it blesses the client. Volunteering fills her heart, gives her days rich meaning, and keeps her deeply connected to the people around her. We are so incredibly grateful for Peggy’s nearly six years of service and the gentle, giving spirit she brings to our Neighbors Who Care family!
Save the Date!
Jenny Sanderson
Thriving Through Every Stage of Life
Neighbors Who Care invites the community to the sixth Annual Aging Made Easier Conference on Jan. 26, 2027.
This free half-day community event is designed for older adults, caregivers, families, and anyone interested in learning more about resources and services that can help make aging easier.
This year’s theme, “Thriving Through Every Stage of Life,” will focus on practical information, helpful resources, and ways to support well-being throughout the aging journey.
The morning will begin with a Senior Services Resource Fair from 8 to 11 a.m., giving attendees an opportunity to connect with local organizations, businesses, and service providers. The conference will follow from 9 a.m. to noon, featuring informative speakers and engaging conversations on topics that matter to our aging community.
Save the Date!
Jan. 26, 2027
Resource Fair: 8 to11 a.m.
Conference: 9 a.m. to noon
For updates, registration information, and more about the Aging Made Easier Conference, visit www.neighborswhocare.com.
Meet the Heart Behind the Neighbors Who Care Meals
Robin Wilson
Executive Chef and Business Owner Gabriel Garfio
I recently sat down with Executive Chef Gabriel Garfio to hear how his journey in the culinary arts began and what continues to inspire his work.
For Gabe, passion for food truly runs in the blood. His grandfather was a chef, and his uncle was a prestigious baker. Some of his earliest memories are of watching his father, a businessman, open his first restaurant when Gabe was just a little boy. Another defining moment came in junior high when representatives from the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) visited his school. Hearing about their high school culinary program sparked a drive in him early on. As a high school junior, Gabe enrolled at EVIT to build a solid foundation in cooking.
Knowing he wanted to master the craft, Gabe took his education further at Johnson and Wales University’s College of Food Innovation and Technology, earning his Associate’s Degree. Returning home to Arizona, he eagerly paid his dues across the industry, working in resorts, restaurants, and catering operations, and even co-owning Sunnyside Breakfast Lounge in Mesa with his parents. All that relentless work and dedication culminated on Mother’s Day in 2023, when he opened his very own restaurant, The Taqueria Factory, located right in our neighborhood at Alma School Rd. and Ocotillo Rd. in Chandler.
Gabe brings that same intense dedication and heart to Neighbors Who Care. Each month, he thoughtfully crafts a complete menu with a wide variety of dinner options. He shares that our clients especially love classic comfort dishes, his meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy remains one of the absolute most popular choices!
Preparing these meals with care is a true labor of love, especially amidst current economic challenges. To keep meals accessible and priced at just $9 each while food prices rise, Gabe gets incredibly creative. When the cost of beef rose significantly, rather than compromising quality, he adapted by developing vibrant new choices, like his widely praised eggplant parmesan.
What drives Gabe most is the deep personal reward of supporting local seniors. Working side by side with his close friend and talented Sous Chef, Alex Skelnik, the duo seamlessly manages the Neighbors Who Care dinner delivery program. Knowing that together they are providing hot, delicious meals to seniors who might otherwise go without brings Gabe and Alex genuine joy.
Gabe loves when volunteers, clients, and family members drop by his restaurant to say hello and offer a warm thank-you. It is a daily reminder of the impact he and Alex are making serving our community and making a difference, one meal at a time.
Neighbors Who Care Needs Volunteers
Jenny Sanderson
A little time can make a big difference.
Neighbors Who Care is looking for caring community members who would like to volunteer their time to help older adults in our community remain independent and connected to the people and places that matter to them.
Our volunteers provide the helping hands that make so many of our services possible. Whether it’s providing a ride to a medical appointment, helping with grocery shopping or errands, delivering a meal, visiting with a neighbor, or offering a helping hand around the home, every volunteer makes a difference.
For some of the older adults we serve, a volunteer visit may be more than just a ride or an errand. It can be a chance to have a conversation, see a friendly face, and feel connected to the community.
You don’t need to have special training or a lot of free time to make a difference. Volunteers can choose opportunities that fit their schedules and interests. Even a few hours a month can have a meaningful impact.
Neighbors Who Care believes that neighbors helping neighbors is what makes a community strong. By volunteering, you can help an older adult stay independent, while also building friendships and becoming part of something bigger.
Could you be the neighbor someone is waiting for?
To learn more about volunteer opportunities with Neighbors Who Care, visit www.neighborswhocare.com or call 480-895-7133.
For More Than 24 Years, Dinner Is Served!
Robin Wilson
The Neighbors Who Care Dinner Delivery program grew from a simple, heartwarming desire to ensure homebound seniors receive a hot, nutritious meal. In the beginning, the operation was wonderfully grassroots. Functioning much like a non-digital version of modern delivery services, our program coordinator spoke with clients daily to take their meal orders. Volunteers then drove directly to various local restaurants, paid for the meals, and hand-delivered them to seniors’ homes.
While effective, this early method was complex and challenging for our volunteers. The team soon streamlined the process by establishing client accounts to handle payments, but volunteers still had to navigate restaurant pickups before starting their delivery routes.
We knew there had to be a better way to simplify meal distribution and better serve our community. The turning point came when Joan, our dinner delivery coordinator at the time, met with Executive Chef Gabriel Garfio, who was working in a Sun Lakes community. Recognizing the need, Gabe proposed an inspiring idea: he would launch his own culinary business and become the dedicated personal chef for Neighbors Who Care.
In 2022, Gabe began crafting daily meals out of his parent’s professional restaurant kitchen, Taqueria Factory, located near Arizona Avenue and Ray Road. He prepared the food fresh every day and brought it directly to the Neighbors Who Care office. From there, volunteers could easily pick up pre-packaged meals and deliver them warmly to our clients’ doors.
Since making that transition in 2022, the Dinner Delivery program has experienced incredible growth. What started as serving about 50 clients a month has expanded to supporting more than 120 seniors. Our impact has soared from delivering roughly 200 meals monthly to reaching milestones of over 1,400 meals in a single month.
Chef Gabe’s personal journey has flourished right alongside the program. He has since purchased his very own Taqueria Factory location at Alma School and Ocotillo roads, where he now masterfully balances running his own successful restaurant while continuing to serve as the dedicated Neighbors Who Care chef, nourishing both the bodies and spirits of our homebound neighbors.