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New York Builders Recognized for Pediatric Respite House
The Home Builders Association of Central New York (HBA) was awarded the 2005 National Housing Endowment Home Builders Care Community Service Project of the Year Award at the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla. on Jan. 11.
The HBA received the prestigious award, which recognizes a home builders association for outstanding community service, for its support of Casey's Place, a pediatric respite house for children with disabilities.
"We are pleased to award this year's honor to a project that has had such a profound and immediate impact on the community," said Gary Garczynski, chairman of the endowment’s board of trustees. "While it was a difficult decision since we reviewed so many worthwhile and generous projects, the HBA of Central New York truly united its members behind the project. Once again, we see that home builders across the nation are committed to making a difference in their communities."
After efforts to establish a pediatric respite house languished for more than 17 years in the face of legal, educational, bureaucratic and medical challenges, Doug Klepper, president of Klepper Construction and a builder member of the HBA, and Patty Herrmann, daughter-in-law of an association past president, both parents of handicapped children, were able to successfully move the project forward with help from the home builders.
To build Casey's Place, the New York association partnered with Familycapped, an organization that provides services to families who have children with developmental disabilities. Familycapped currently serves a population of more than 200 families in central New York and is the only organization of its kind that is governed by parents.
The HBA formed a capital campaign committee and established a budget of $750,000 for the new facility. The organization purchased land for the project through a community-wide fundraising campaign and a $250,000 state grant.
Members donated materials, money and labor valued at nearly $500,000. In the end, Casey's Place cost a little more than $1.3 million, but with the donations, the actual cost of construction only slightly exceeded the original budget projection of $750,000.
"This is the kind of project that truly fulfills the 'Builders Care' philosophy, provides a desperately needed service and allows every association member to become involved in some fashion," said the association executive director Bob Tomeny.
The facility was named in memory of Casey Crichton, who died in 1994 at the age of six. Casey's parents moved to the area in 1998 from San Francisco, purchasing a home from Doug Klepper, only the second one he had built. The day after the couple moved, Father's Day, Casey was born, nine weeks early and suffering from extensive damage to her lungs and brain that left her blind and unable to learn to walk or talk.
Six years later, the Crichtons asked Klepper to remodel another house to accommodate their daughter's disabilities. The morning of the move, when the Crichtons went to wake Casey, they discovered she had died during the night. Casey's Place, then, is in reality, the third house Klepper has built for Casey Crichton.
Since opening its doors on Dec. 17, 2004, Casey's Place has provided overnight, school-break and summer day program respite to more than 100 children and their families from eight counties.
Established in 1987, the National Housing Endowment is the philanthropic arm of NAHB.
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