ADEC will soon be opening new doors in St. Joseph County, in response to the growing needs for services for individuals with intellectually and development disabilities. ADEC recently purchased the former VA clinic and is working with DJ Construction to remodel and redesign the facility to offer day services, therapies and community employment services. This new service location in South Bend will be a thoughtfully designed building that will continue to serve the needs of individuals living with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) in St. Joseph County.
Currently individuals with IDD receive services at ADEC’s Mishawaka day service where they have a fun filled day that includes karaoke, technical training, arts & crafts, a variety of education and social activities and more. “If you want to have fun and meet new friends, then Mishawaka Day (ADEC) is the place to be,” said Tony Hal , a regular client of the Mishawaka location. With the continued growing demand for ADEC services, the current Mishawaka location, modest in size, is not enough to support this demand of our communities. To better support our client needs, ADEC purchased the former VA Building, located at 2010 Farnsworth Drive in South Bend.
More than eleven years ago, ADEC expanded services into St. Joseph County and leased the Mishawaka building, located at 3618 Grape Road, for more than eleven years. The agency will outgrow this ‘temporary’ location and will needed a building that offered more for programming; a building that will go above and beyond the guidelines outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act. “We are committed to our clients and to our mission. Ensuring that our clients have informed choice and possibilities is not just in our programming, but it is also in our infrastructure. Designing a building that will create an environment for our clients, allowing them to experience life to the fullest, is important to us. We are so excited to be able to provide this for our clients here in this area,” says Jeff Schrock, Vice President, Transportation and Maintenance.
ADEC’s mission to offer individuals living with an IDD an opportunity to gain independence, social and vocational skills, meaningful friendships, and more was the driving decision for the purchase. Michelle McGuin, Vice President, Chief Program Office, believes that the purchase is advantageous to ADEC day programing, “Our new building, with its more than one acre of land, will give our clients a chance to enjoy the many benefits that come with being in nature. We are also in a neighborhood; being here will also help foster inclusion and integration in a community that we love.”
ADEC’s President/CEO, Donna L Belusar Ph.D., is just as excited about the recent purchase. “I am delighted to represent ADEC in helping to secure a future new facility for families and individual in St. Joseph county. It has been a vision for many years to expand and we are ready! Our new facility will be intentionally re-modeled to meet the choices and possibilities the clients seek in attending a full-service center. Our clients will have access to the community, dedicated vocational rooms, technology aids, sensory experiences, multiple therapy rooms, and community employment specialists. This facility is an extension of our mission; it is for the families and individuals that choose ADEC. We are thankful for the support and direction of ADEC’s Board of Directors, programming leaders, especially for Michelle McGuin, Chief Program Officer and Jeff Schrock, VP Operations. They truly are rock stars at #teamADEC.”
ADEC’s recent purchase is one of many well thought out decisions that have positively impacted the lives of the clients and families served. The agency’s history in providing exceptional service runs deep in Elkhart County; the agency is paving way to create that same legacy in St. Joseph County.
