Glade Run Lutheran Services opens Jeremiah Village complex
Glade Run Lutheran Services dedicated its new Jeremiah Village complex on Monday night with a ceremony.
Jeremiah Village, currently in its first phase, consists of eight cottage-style homes along with an apartment-style building that will be open to people with autism, along with other members of the community. Described as a “welcoming community,” the complex was intended to create a “village-style” housing complex for a wide range of people as opposed to a group-home model.
“This village isn't just for people on the spectrum or people with disabilities,” said Dr. Kathleen Strickland, chair of the Glade Run Board of Directors. “It's inclusive in a lot of ways, including income and background. There are all kinds of ways that people are being invited into this community that we didn't even hope for.”
Bill Gatti of Trek Development, the developer behind the project, said Jeremiah Village was intended as a “village for everyone.”“This 'village' was the one thing that Dr. Lockwood continued to say to me,” said Gatti. “'It has to be a village. It has to be around a central green, and it has to feel like home.' We're looking forward to hearing that vision, and making sure that it turns out as we've planned. Now, the buildings are here, and now, it is about the people.”Sheila Talarico, vice president of development and external affairs at Glade Run Lutheran, led visitors on a tour of buildings in the complex and dedicated the facility's community activities room to the Rev. Dr. Charles Lockwood, president and CEO emeritus of Glade Run Lutheran Services.“The name 'Jeremiah Village' says it all because we have so much hope,” Talarico said, referencing a biblical verse that inspired the name of the complex.“We're working with children with autism as they age into adulthood, and we've seen such a void in housing and other programming for them, so we're so grateful to be able to provide that at Jeremiah Village,” she said. “It's only going to get better.”Currently, all eight of the cottages are spoken for, Talarico said, and five are currently occupied, three of them by people with autism. The apartment building portion of the complex is close to completion, and its target is to open in January.
Lockwood thanked current President and CEO Steven Green, along with Gatti, Talarico and other community leaders and Glade Run Services employees who carried the project through its nearly 10 years of process.“We as people of faith believe and see things in a certain way, different than other people might. To have a vision through one's faith, guided by the Holy Spirit, creates a very different thing,” Lockwood said. “In this creation of Jeremiah Village, which has gone on for a long time, it took a lot of perseverance, faith and determination.”Lockwood described the project as a vision come true.“You could look around and say, well these are some buildings, some apartments and houses, but we see something else,” Lockwood added. “This is a place of hope, a place of safety, and a place of community, something that we as a family at Glade Run should be very proud of that this facility is here.”
