Our Heritage

Circle Center Adult Day Services opened in May 1976 as Stuart Circle Center under Title III of the federal Older Americans Act, and has been providing high-quality, cost-effective care for 33 years for frail or functionally impaired older adults, along with peace of mind, respite, education and support for their caregivers. 

Stuart Circle Center, Inc was the culmination of several years of study and planning by the Stuart Circle Parish churches: Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, First English Lutheran Church, Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, St. James Episcopal Church, and St. John’s United Church of Christ. Adult daycare was in its infancy in 1976 and Stuart Circle Center was among the first 100 centers in the nation. The Center was located in First English Lutheran Church. A grant from Capital Area Agency on Aging (CAAA) supported the Center for its first three years of operation.  We started with 5 participants and 2 employees, the executive director and the program director. On July 23, 1976, the Richmond Times Dispatch stated that the center "hopes to provide medically oriented day care as well as the usual recreational facilities, so that the elderly can continue to live independently or with their families instead of having to be sent to nursing homes."

The first executive director, Jim King-Foulke, summed it up: "This is not a nursing home and we can't handle the level of people that you find in nursing homes. But to some people this is an alternative to a nursing home, especially if the person is ambulatory and has a family to live with."