Beverly Farm Foundation kicks off its year-long 125th Anniversary Celebrations beginning with its Fall Family Weekend, September 30 to October 2, 2022.
“This Fall Family Weekend, we’re kicking off our 125th anniversary festivities.” Said CEO Crystal Officer. “On the weekend of September 30, we’re inviting our resident families to join us as we honor our past, celebrate our present and inspire our future as we commemorate 125 years of creating loving and caring homes for adults with developmental disabilities.”
The high point of Fall Family Weekend will be on the afternoon of Saturday, October 1, when there will be a tree planting ceremony and the burying of a time capsule. The afternoon will include live music and a sampling of local tastes from around the Riverbend region. The day’s event will conclude with a resident variety show that evening.
“We’ll be celebrating our 125th Anniversary for a full year,” Officer continued. “We’re planning a series of special events; some like Family Weekend will be private events for our residents, their families and our staff, while others will be open to the general public. Turning 125 years old is a momentous occasion worthy of more than just one celebration.”
Due to the events being planned on the Beverly Farm campus near The Shoppes at Beverly Farm on that Saturday, The Shoppes will be closed to the public on Saturday, October 1.
Then and Now – 125 Years of Love and Care
In the 1800s, people with developmental disabilities were often relegated to asylums and alms houses where no attempts were made to treat or educate them or provide for them a dignified quality of life. Beverly Farm was founded in September 1897 using a fundamentally different approach to caring for people with developmental disabilities. Dr. William H.C. Smith and his wife Elizabeth came to Godfrey, IL to provide a caring home, socialization, proper medical care, healthy diet, physical exercise, education, recreation and meaningful work for children and adults with disabilities.
What began with Dr. and Mrs. Smith’s pioneering vision in 1897 starting with two residents and two buildings on a working farm has grown and changed throughout the decades. It has evolved into the multi-million dollar facilities and planned community you see on our campus today with our loving, caring homes for more than 300 men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The vision of our founders, the Smiths, still drives our mission today and remains the inspirational force behind the continuing growth and development of the progressive programming offered here at Beverly Farm.
Our Mission Today…Beverly Farm Foundation is a loving, caring home for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, providing each individual with physical and emotional security and a dignified quality of life, with opportunities and challenges, within each individual’s functional capabilities.
You can view the agenda for Fall Family Weekend here: https://www.beverlyfarm.org/fall-family-weekend/
The photo shown above is of Dr. William H.C. Smith, his wife Elizabeth, and the entire Beverly Farm staff and was taken in 1902, five years after Beverly Farm was founded.
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