The 55th Anniversary Open House

Blog #1 in the “Celebrating 55” series

Last week, we were all bustling around campus, making sure everything was in place for our 55^th Anniversary Open House.

Walkie-talkies for the tour guides were charging, the Domestics and Maintenance teams were polishing and straightening and tweaking, and the tour speakers were making last minute edits to their speeches to ensure they held guests at their stops for no more than five minutes.

The grounds crew was placing temporary signage at all the tour stops, the Shepherds Kitchen staff cut and mixed and sautéed as they prepared the hors d’oeuvres, and other staff moved their cars to the back lots to make parking room for our visitors.

I was ordering balloons to decorate the stage and stocking up batteries for the digital camera, Joy was fielding early visitors at the door, and Becci and Mary were desperately trying to get the beautiful posters of our clients to stay adhered to our slick gym walls.

The Horticulture students picked tomatoes from the Shepherds College Gardens, the Culinary Arts students chopped those tomatoes and turned them into a luscious topping for bruschetta to serve our visitors, and the residents were humming with excitement at the chance to welcome the guests into their homes.

It was a beautiful day. God blessed us with comfortable temperatures, a mild breeze and sunny skies – the perfect day to showcase His work at Shepherds Ministries.

Eventually, with lots of prayer and persistence, everything got done, and we waited for our first visitors in the lobby of the Findley Center. There was a little bit of tension at the uncertainty an Open House naturally elicits. Would we have two guests, or two hundred guests? We really didn’t know. We could only wait to see if anyone walked in the door at 4:30. 

At 4:10, our first four visitors arrived. Whew! We had people to take on a tour. Becci showed our guests into the Welcome Center to watch a video while they waited for the first tour to begin.

It was exciting to watch all the visitors arrive. People wanted to know about Shepherds! They wanted to see our campus! They wanted to meet our clients! Young and old came through the front doors with interest in their eyes. Men, women and children.  A priest, potential students and former staff. Community friends, church friends and our friends from Southern Center. About 75 guests in all went on tours from 4:30 to 7:00.

I was assigned photography duty and elected to walk along with a group whose dynamic intrigued me – two potential college students and their families, a couple - Dan and Verna - who were part of the original Sunday School class that started Shepherds, and another couple -Nate and Katie - just starting out on the ground floor of a ministry with a support structure similar to Shepherds – Christian individuals, foundations and churches.

At the first stop, Dr. Amstutz took people through the history of Shepherds, summarizing each decade on the History Wall in the Findley Lobby. Our visitor Dan turned toward me and said, “55 years ago I was standing in this spot, only it was an empty field, and I was up to my ankles in mud wondering what on earth we were doing.”

 

We left the Findley Center and walked to The Harbor, the men’s unit at the north end of the Wood Center. What a welcome we received! Mary Wright, the speaker, explained group home living while Gary shook hands, the other men smiled, and fresh baked cookies were offered to all the guests.  

Our next stop was in the North Commons of Shepherds College. Some of the college students were eating dinner while Tracy Terrill talked about Shepherds College and its cutting edge program designed to educate and train young adults with intellectual disabilities for a life of Appropriate Independence.

As we headed down the hallway, we ran into Mrs. Luchterhand, the instructor for Ai Academy. She explained the goal of this new college program and had Ellie and Matthew, two of her students, greet the visitors.

Then it was off to the Vocational Training area where our guests met Leslie Leith, Lead Instructor of Horticulture, who showed them a PowerPoint presentation of the Horticulture Program, and Chef Brett McCarthy, Lead Instructor of Culinary Arts, who talked about the Culinary Arts program. He and his 3^rd year student Josh served bruschetta, fresh and warm from the oven, to the guests.

Taking our snacks with us, we walked down the hall and around the corner to Tracy Lackey and her Catalyst clients. They showed us a PowerPoint presentation that included images of our independent living clients in their homes in the community.

We left the Wood Center for our next stop – Lamb Cottage. Andrea Humphrey explained the programs we have available to our clients on a short-term basis. As she talked, life in the cottage went on as usual. Ladies played games around a table, staff comforted one resident, while others watched television and rocked slowly in rocking chairs.

After leaving this cozy scene, we headed to the Miter Building to hear Gloria Dahlberg talk about the Day Services Center and all the activities it offers for our older or less mobile clients. Sweet Cathy was giving away butterfly magnets that the clients had made for the visitors. 

Down the hall, Bryan Edwards was coaching the Shepherds Enterprises employees as they bagged accessories for Andis hair clippers. 

Our last stop was the Bolthouse Center.  Dr. Kinkade presented the vision for the future of Shepherds Ministries in an inspiring presentation to our guests. 

Following the tour, each guest had the opportunity to visit information tables, read about giving and volunteer opportunities, meet staff, students and residents, and talk together as they gathered around the food tables. 

It was a tired, but animated bunch of people at the end of the day! Dan and Verna exclaimed about how much the ministry has developed over the years, and Nate and Katie listened attentively, mentally taking notes for their own ministry journey. 

It hit me in that moment, after several minutes of listening to the interaction between the young and the old, between the tested and tried and the nervous and new, just how much Shepherds Ministries has gained, and just how much it has to offer others, after all these years. 

55 years of experience caring for people with intellectual disabilities.

55 years of making mistakes, learning from them, fixing them and “perfecting” the process.

55 years and hundreds of staff members, each dedicating their own talents, wisdom and abilities to the service of a people we love.

55 years of praying and listening, of discerning God’s will and obeying.

55 years of building loyal friendships with people who have given hands and feet and heart to this important ministry.

55 years.

 

Thank you, our dear friends – for your prayers of support, for the untold hours of volunteer work on our campus, for the millions of Campbell’s Labels, for your words of advice and encouragement, for including us in your wills, for your generous donations both big and small, and for the gifts of quilts and clothing and vehicles and…it goes on and on. God has used you to impact the lives of people with intellectual disabilities for 55 years.  

And He still has wondrous plans in store for the years ahead…