Bring your “A” game because the “Battle of the Brains” is back! The Community Action Partnership Adult Day Center in Templeton is hosting Trivia Brain Challenge once again on March 3, 2012 at the Paso Robles Senior Center at 270 Scott Street. The festivities start at 1 PM and proceeds from the fierce, but friendly, competition benefit the Adult Day Center. This facility serves the frail elderly, those with dementia, and mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease while also providing respite to their caregivers. There will be 26 tables of 4 contestants and tickets are $25. The winning table receives a small prize and BIG bragging rights.

The Trivia Challenge is Sylvia Biddle’s project. Biddle serves as a volunteer and advisory board member for the Adult Day Center. Biddle, a Paso Robles resident, is motivated by the Center’s work with her late mother, Ethyl, who had been a client. Biddle shared: “at first, my husband and I worked, and we wanted my mom, known to her friends and family as “Cherry”, to be happy and safe during the day. After we retired, mom wanted to keep coming here because she liked it.” It’s easy to see why older people enjoy coming to the cheerful, homelike Adult Day Center. The day we spoke with Biddle residents were playing “Name That Tune”, while a cheerful employee set up an arts and crafts table. The Center provides a full day of activities. Musicians visit frequently, Bingo is a perennial favorite and there are exercise classes. Lunch is prepared by the Paso Robles Culinary Academy. The Adult Day Center is simply a happy place.

Rosa Lee Sonney, also of Paso Robles, had a mom who was a client, and like Sylvia Biddle, she stayed on as an advisory board member at the Adult Day Center because she too is grateful for the quality care her mother received. Sonney stated, “this place is gift to the community.”

“We don’t turn anybody away because they are unable to pay,” says Mara Whitten, the program manager for the Adult Day Center. The Center relies heavily on private donations and fundraising. The Trivia Brain Challenge is run completely by the advisory board as well as helpers from local high schools and the family members of former clients. Local vendors help out as well. Quota International of Atascadero has been a major sponsor of the Trivia Brain Challenge.

For the last 5 years Idler’s has donated a wine cooler that is also raffled off after the tournament. The Trivia Brain Challenge sells out quickly. For more information about the event or Community Action Partnership’s Adult Day Center, contact Mara Whitten at (805) 434-2081.