By Diane Strzelecki
Barb Hemme was in the midst of her deaconess training when she had an idea. Her church, St. Peter’s North Plato, Hampshire, owned approximately 7 acres of empty land behind the church. Hemme had learned of other NID congregations with similar situations; most of them hoped to build a school or nursing home on the property someday.
At the same time, Hemme was visiting nursing home residents who deeply missed worship services, church activities, and their church families. Hemme thought: Wouldn’t it be nice if we could build care facilities on church property? The idea of Cedars Lutheran Living Centers (CLLC) took root.
Hemme was able to fully share her vision when her nephew, a graduate student studying architecture at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, developed architectural drawings for the living center as a thesis project. “Pastor Mau [the former pastor at St. Peter’s] gave me permission to move forward, so we organized a committee, prepared preliminary information, and presented the idea to the congregation along with the architectural drawings,” Hemme. “We had three meetings where we discussed issues such as sale or lease of the land, a shared mission, and any potential liabilities.” On June 6, 2016, St. Peter’s voted to move forward.
Rev. Donald Balgeman began serving as vacancy pastor at St. Peter’s after Pastor Mau’s retirement. He currently serves on the CLLC Board of Directors. “I think it’s an idea whose time has really come,” he says of the CLLC. “There is nothing in our area that provides for care for the aged. If you live in Hampshire or Burlington or west of Elgin, you have to go into Elgin or Rockford or DeKalb to find a facility.” He notes the distinctive advantages of the CLLC model: the ability for residents to be part of a church, to worship locally, to serve the church if they’re able, and to be cared for by their own full-time pastor and church family.
Shortly after the positive vote at St. Peter’s, CLLC became incorporated, received 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and was acknowledged as a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) by the LCMS, Hemme received a timely phone call. Pastor Scott Herbert of St. Andrew, Rockton, another church questioning what to do with vacant property, wanted to hear all about CLLC.
“We thought our property would be a good site for an assisted living or nursing home facility, but we didn’t want to sell to a chain and not be able to do ministry,” Herbert says. “CLLC’s mission statement fit exactly with our goals of the congregation taking active involvement in the lives of the people living there.” Thus another church tapped into the vision.
Hemme describes the living centers as having two “houses” each with 8 large bedrooms with private bathrooms, a shared dining room and living space, a connecting atrium, and a wing for staff offices. St. Peter’s facility will have another house with living quarters for full-time deaconesses, field workers and Concordia University System students completing internships at the facility.
Hemme says these individuals, supported by congregational volunteers, will play key roles in the day-to-day facility operations. In fact, commissioned LCMS deaconesses intentionally play a key role in CLLC; the center’s bylaws state its president and vice president must be deaconesses. There are currently five on the board of directors.
Across the board, meetings with city, county, and state officials have been positive, with a lot of enthusiasm generated for the centers. “Our property is perfect, no issues,” Herbert says. “The City of Rockton and Winnebago County agree there is a huge need for such a facility in our area and are on board and excited.”
CLLC is now at the fundraising stage, with both churches applying for a Lutheran Church Extension Fund Kaleidoscope Grant, which supports ministries with a focus on outreach and expansion, education and rostered church worker wellness. Initially, the proposed grant will help St. Andrew move toward obtaining congregational approval by paying for full architectural services and drawings, property assessments, and other preliminary expenses, so that a professional presentation can be prepared without spending church dollars. For St. Peter, the funds are essential to breaking ground while keeping costs down for residents.
“If we are going to truly be an organization that operates without state dollars, we need private funding from grants, congregation members, and the church at large,” Hemme says. “We need the opportunity to get the first center set up.”
“It’s an exciting time and it will be an exciting project as we move forward,” Balgeman says. “Hopefully, when I get to that point, there will be an opening (at the living center) for me.”
To learn more about Cedars Lutheran Living Centers, visit http://www.cedarslutheranlivingcenters.org/ or like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CedarsLutheranLivingCenters/ . You can donate directly at http://www.cedarslutheranlivingcenters.org/donate/.