Newsletter – December 2025

Residents and staff do a beautiful job of blending traditions each year by decorating the lobby Christmas tree and lighting the menorah together to usher in the holiday season.

The annual Holiday Tour of Doors (#4!) is always a don’t-miss, heartwarming trek through residents’ unlimited creativity. Everyone ambled down the halls to ooh and ah at decorated doors before voting for their favorites; and our very own bookkeeper Tommy Saenz provided some merry tunes on the piano. Who could resist s’mores and cocoa out on the patio afterward—and who knew the Grinch lived here?

Every day’s a good day to play dreidel during Hanukkah! Residents recently tried their hand at the traditional Jewish game of spinning a dreidel (Yiddish for “top”). The person with the most tokens at the end of many spins wins!

Age is insignificant at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park’s ever-popular Holiday Lights experience. Join First Place–Phoenix residents on a recent, wondrous glittering train ride through a true holiday wonderland!

Culinary and Cactus-y Community Life!

After a yummy year of Chef Titina’s “Clever Cooking” sessions, it’s appropriate to end 2025 with a final fancy First Place–Phoenix community meal. Every seat at the festive table was taken as everyone enjoyed the fruits (and vegetables and salmon and tenderloin) of their labor. Happy holidays—and bon appétit—to all!

Valley jewel Desert Botanical Garden is a frequent destination for residents and staff. They recently experienced FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse, a multisensory art exhibit evoking the visual and emotional energy of the Sonoran Desert. It was a visit filled with captivating cacti and superlative-inducing succulents!

The “Love, Courage &” film series continues with two amazing, unstoppable women.

Caren Zucker is a journalist, co-author of the 2016 book “In a Different Key,” co-producer/co-director of the award-winning 2020 documentary of the same name and Mickey’s Mom. She tells us how Mickey’s diagnosis turned her into an ardent advocate for her son and all individuals with autism.

JaLynn Prince is founder and president of Madison House Autism Foundation, a changemaking organization advocating for the full—and fulfilling—inclusion of adults with autism in the life of their communities. She tells us how her son, Madison, motivates her work and feeds her passion for change.

Ideas take root and spread beyond the local soil.

Ideas developed and shared during Dimensions™ 2025, the First Place Global Symposium, continue to reverberate. In her latest blog, First Place Global Founder & President/CEO Denise D. Resnik examines where those ideas can go—and grow!

Support from a true community partner!

Huge thanks to National Bank of Arizona’s “first gift” to 2025 beneficiary First Place AZ in the form of a $20,000 check representing proceeds from its annual October “Taste of the Biltmore” fundraiser. This special event is a testament to National Bank of Arizona’s community presence—and generosity—and will help make many firsts possible for adults with autism and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities.

The year is almost over! But it’s not too late to make your 2025 gift—and help create years of firsts for adults with autism and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities. A first home living away from family. A first job working in a neuro-inclusive workplace. A first meal cooked with friends. Learn how one first leads to the next at First Place—and give today!