Dr. Jaclynn Faffer, president and CEO of Baker Senior Center Naples, flashes a wry grin and explains the crux of her dilemma. “We’re not cute,” she quips.
Photos of sweet, smiling kids dreaming about their futures—those win community champions and loosen purse strings. But seniors’ dreams? I want to be able to afford my medication and my groceries. I want to not feel alone after my spouse passes away. Such images do turn heads—often in the opposite direction.
Jaclynn stared them straight on. Fifteen years ago, she moved to Naples to head a small family services agency. As she settled in, someone inquired about the county’s senior center. To her surprise, no such place existed, even though nearly 27% of the population at the time was 65 or older. “Let’s start one,” she told her board. They agreed. In 2014, the Naples Senior Center debuted in a rented office building. On opening day, 80 people showed up. Over time, they kept coming, from mobile home communities and exclusive enclaves and everywhere in between.
The accomplishment, however significant, was only the beginning. Jaclynn knew she would need to expand the offerings. To do so, she had to win over a community that prefers to equate aging with golf and pickleball, not isolation and loneliness. “I talk about it incessantly,” she says of senior issues. “I talk anywhere to anyone who invites me.”
In 2023, nine years after her first grand opening, Jaclynn cut another ribbon, this time to the 30,000-square-foot Baker Senior Center in North Naples. The building is paid in full, almost entirely from donations made to the $25 million capital campaign.
At the center, Jaclynn and her staff—with the help of 300-plus volunteers—deliver a full slate of services under one roof: dementia care, mental health counseling, case management, a food pantry and select homeless services. That may sound weighty; it is the aspects of aging no one wants to think about until they have to.
But this center is equal parts joy. Just ask the hundreds who participate in the roughly 40 social, wellness and educational programs. Or the singers who discovered their shared passion at the center and now frequent karaoke bars around town. Or the more than 60 ukulele players who strum in solidarity. This fall, the center introduced its newest offering, Baker Senior Center College, which will include a graduation ceremony this spring. “You’re never too old to learn,” Jaclynn says. “More importantly, you’re never too old to want to learn.” Now, there’s an image of aging that we might all embrace. —Jennifer Reed
Dr. Jaclynn Faffer's vision transformed the lives of thousands of older adults in Collier County. Through her unwavering compassion, bold leadership, and relentless advocacy, she built far more than a senior center—she created a community where every older adult was valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. Her legacy lives on in every life she touched, every friendship she helped foster, and every person who found hope, purpose, and belonging because of her work. She will be remembered with profound gratitude, admiration, and love.