The Alison Payne Monkey Living Center
For more than 40 years, the capuchin monkeys at Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers have offered independence, love, and companionship to over 200 people living with severe mobility-limiting conditions. Each one gave years of devoted service, forming bonds with the people they helped that were nothing short of extraordinary.
As our monkeys returned home from service, we recognized something important: they needed a place of their own — safe, nurturing, and designed with their changing needs in mind, where they could be loved and cared for throughout their post-service years. That vision became the Monkey Living Center, born from what was once the Monkey College and reimagined as a true home for life.
Today, the Alison Payne Monkey Living Center — named in honor of Alison’s 25 years of dedication and service in 2025 — is that home. Thoughtfully designed climbing structures and enrichment activities support our monkeys as they age, and our older monkeys and those with special medical needs are especially welcomed and protected here. It’s a place where lifelong friendships continue and new ones blossom. A place to find a warm sunbeam for an afternoon nap, or a loving lap to curl up in. A place every monkey can truly call home.
These monkeys spent their lives caring for others. Now, it’s our turn to care for them — and with your support, we can keep that promise for every monkey who calls the Monkey Living Center home.
More than twenty-five years ago, Alison Payne walked through the doors of Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the first time as a full-time employee. The rest, as they say, is history!
Alison’s love for animals started early — back in the third grade, in fact, when she first decided she’d work with monkeys or apes someday. She spent her school years chasing that dream, volunteering at pet clinics, an avian nursery, and Zoo New England, always eager to learn more about the animals around her. At Boston University, she pursued a degree in cognitive and learning psychology and animal behavior, and during her senior year, she began volunteering at Envisioning Access. She was overjoyed to join us full-time the moment she graduated — and she’s been with us ever since.
Today, as our Director of Monkey Care, Alison oversees the health and well-being of every single monkey in the Envisioning Access program. She considers them family, and it shows in the love, patience, and unwavering care she gives them every day.
Please join us in celebrating the incomparable Alison Payne and the 25+ remarkable years of dedication and love she has given to our monkeys and to Envisioning Access. We’re so grateful for her, and for your support in honoring her this way.
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