Sturbridge Nonprofit Takes On Historic Farm
Rehabilitative Resources Inc., a Sturbridge-based nonprofit focused on people with developmental disabilities, is branching out in a new direction. It's now in managing the historic Elm Hill Center farm in Brookfield.
The Blanchard Means Foundation, which runs the farm, has transferred control of the site from Hope Homes of Ohio to Rehabilitative Resources.
The estate was built as a farm in the 1700s and included 1,300 acres with apple orchards, horse stables and a purebred cattle operation. "Elsie the Cow," the symbol of the Borden Inc. dairy company, was an Elm Hill Cow.
Bonita J. Keefe-Layden, CEO of Rehabilitative Resources, said her organization will preserve and showcase the center's history, including keeping a huge Victorian home on the land open to the public. The group also hopes to expand a horseback riding program and possibly add a petting zoo and other attractions.
The project may seem like a departure for an organization that focuses on running residential sites for people with developmental disabilities, but Keefe-Layden said the group has been involved with the center for some time.
The family that owned the farm includes a developmentally disabled woman, Louise Means. In arranging for the future of the farm, Means' mother wanted to ensure that her daughter could continue to live there. So Rehabilitative Resources helped build a home on the site where six people with disabilities, including Louise Means, now live. It is also involved with a therapeutic horseback riding program on the site.
Besides keeping the farm open to the public, Keefe-Layden said, the group will expand the services for people with disabilities offered there. That may include incorporating more animals into therapy programs and expanding a gardening program that it now runs on other sites.
Keefe-Layden said she hopes income from attractions at the site will make it self-sustaining, helping to support creative programs for Rehabilitative Resource's clients that might not otherwise receive funding.
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