(from left to right) Alton Mayor David Goins, Beverly Farm CEO Crystal Officer, Congresswoman Nikki Bidzinski and the Mayor’s wife Sheila Goins at the Beverly Farm booth at the City of Alton Community Juneteenth Celebration.
Beverly Farm Foundation was proud to support the City of Alton Community Juneteenth Celebration as a sponsor and a participant. The event was held at Killion Park in Alton on Saturday, June 17, 2023, and was presented by the Alton Juneteenth Committee.
“Beverly Farm has been a part of the Riverbend community for 125 years, and we are so grateful for the support of our community!” said Beverly Farm Foundation CEO Crystal Officer. “It’s both a privilege and honor to be involved in this celebration of freedom for our entire community.”
Beverly Farm was one of nine sponsors for this year’s Alton Juneteenth Celebration. Other sponsors included Alton Section National Council of Negro Women, Inc., Alton YWCA, Alton Democrats, Bluff City Bait Store, Hit N Run, Loading Dock, BJC and Saint Anthony’s Hospital.
Beverly Farm Choir members stop by the Beverly Farm booth at the City of Alton Community Juneteenth Celebration.
Crystal Officer had the honor of delivering the invocation during the opening ceremonies for the afternoon’s festivities. The Beverly Farm Choir performed “Every Praise” by Hezekiah Walker, and Beverly Farm had an informational booth at the event where celebration attendees could learn more about the nonprofit’s mission providing loving, caring homes for adults with developmental disabilities, as well as learn about current career opportunities offered by Beverly Farm.
2023 marked the 32nd year that the City of Alton has held its Juneteenth Celebration. Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free.
ABOUT BEVERLY FARM
Beverly Farm was founded in 1897 by Dr. William H.C. Smith and his wife, Elizabeth, to establish a caring home that included socialization, proper medical care, healthy diet, physical exercise, education, recreation and meaningful work for people living with developmental disabilities. Today it is a planned community that looks and feels like a neighborhood. There are homes, a recreation center with a pool, an equestrian center, medical services, therapies, and much more. Just under 300 individuals who live with intellectual or developmental disabilities currently call Beverly Farm home.
The mission of Beverly Farm is to provide a loving, caring home for adults with 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.
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