Staff Spotlight: Benvindo Depina

Six years ago, Benvindo Depina got a call from his former supervisor, Vinnie Rodrigues. “I’ve got a maintenance associate position that you’d be great for,” said Vinnie. “You’ll be doing a lot of different things – painting, plumbing, helping residents move, electrical work.”

Benvindo had enjoyed a strong working relationship with Vinnie at Boston Medical Center, and the feeling was mutual on Vinnie’s end. Although the prospect of learning new skills at a new job was daunting, Benvindo says that the key factor in him accepting the offer at Youville House was Vinnie’s confidence.

“He was worried that he didn’t have enough experience,” remembers Vinnie. “I told him, ‘You can do this. We have people here who can train you.’ I showed him how to paint and now he’s better than I am.”

Today, it’s hard to imagine a day at Youville House without Benvindo, whose high standards and friendly personality regularly brighten the lives of residents. When asked to share thoughts on Benvindo, resident Rita Watson says, “He’s knowledgeable and kind, and he always follows through. Whenever Benvindo tells me he’s going to take care of a problem, I know it’s going to be resolved.”

On a typical day, Benvindo arrives at work before 7:00 AM and prioritizes his projects for the day. He often takes advantage of the early morning hours to tackle building-wide projects like painting, repairs, and renovations. As residents begin to wake up, it’s the perfect opportunity to take a break from painting and visit apartments to attend to maintenance requests.

“One of my favorite things about working in maintenance is there’s different things to do. It keeps the job interesting,” says Benvindo. “If I just spent all day painting, it wouldn’t be as rewarding as helping residents.”

According to Mary Teixeira, “Benvindo has helped me throughout the six years I have lived here. When I moved apartments, he did every little thing he could think of – helping me hang pictures, changing the drapes. He’s also very helpful in the chapel. When he’s not vacuuming or taking care of something, he often joins us there. He shares things with us about his family and his children. He’s a good family man and we love seeing him in the chapel.”

“He can accomplish in three hours what it takes most people six hours to do,” says Vinnie Rodrigues.
“He puts everything into the job and treats this place like his home. Even when he leaves for the day and is walking to his car, he tells me he’s already running through the next day’s ‘master plan’ in his mind!”

Home Away from Home
For Benvindo, interacting with older adults is one of his favorite aspects of working at Youville. “I was raised by my grandparents,” he shares. “When I was a baby, my parents moved away for work. I actually grew up calling my grandparents “mom” and “dad.” To this day, I still call my real parents by their first names, out of habit.”

As a teenager, Benvindo recalls enjoying home maintenance projects and being helpful. “I spent more time helping my grandmother around the house than I did going out with other kids,” he remembers. “I think this is why staying busy and being helpful is natural for me.”

Benvindo grew up in Cape Verde on the island of Fogo, prominent features of which include an active volcano and arable land. The elevation helps traps moisture and enables residents to be relatively self-sufficient when it comes to growing food. However, the majority of economic opportunities are found in Santiago, a different island on which the capital city of Praia is located (this is where Benvindo’s parents moved when he was a baby). For many Cape Verdeans, New England offers attractive opportunities to support a family.

“I moved to Massachusetts after I had my kids,” says Benvindo, “They’re 18, 22 and 24 now. My grandmother has also joined us – she is 98 years old!”

This past summer, residents were thrilled to learn that Benvindo had gotten married to a woman he has known since they were both teenagers in Fogo. In his typical industrious fashion, Benvindo constructed a gazebo in his backyard for the event.