Desert Samaritans for the Elderly is the outgrowth of the "Golden Group Foundation", an organization formed in 1976 and spearheaded the building of the valley’s only non-profit retirement and health care center, opening in 1986 as the Carlotta Retirement and Care Center.
In 1997, the non-profit Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society sold the Carlotta to a for profit organization. After the Carlotta was sold, Desert Samaritans for the Elderly was founded by the members of the former Carlotta’s Resource Development Fund and Advisory Boards to continue the Good Samaritan mission by providing programming and financial aid to elderly citizens throughout the Coachella Valley.
Since then, Desert Samaritans has cared for tens of thousands of seniors that other organizations have not been able to help. In 2007, we moved into our current offices in the Berger Center in Palm Desert.