Hope & A Future is special in many ways. To begin with, you drive down Mineral Point Road–bustling with activity and business, take a turn onto South High Point Road and pass the Cinema, Princeton Club and multiple turns toward shopping until suddenly the 4 lane road goes to three lanes and on one side is a field and on the other side is Hope & A Future’s tree lined driveway. As you drive in, you are transported to another time and place.
The core of the farmhouse was built in the 1870’s and there is still a barn on the property. They are surrounded by 5 ½ acres of trees, flowers, vegetable gardens and five black and white chickens with red combs. Our dog Odie may come to meet you, unless he is busy chasing wild turkeys or deer in our yard. Currently, the flowers are blooming, and the vegetable garden lovingly cared for by volunteers is producing. Small fruit trees have been started by additional volunteers and the grape vines are full of not yet ripe grapes. The pool, lovingly cared for by staff and a volunteer, looks inviting. And the memory garden is filled with blooming wonder. If you are lucky enough to run into a volunteer mower or gardener you will be blessed. The love poured into this place is an ongoing wonder.
Then open the door between the lions to enter one of the warmest and most welcoming homes I have ever been in. It often smells great from cooking and baking. Staff and residents can be found happily engaged in meal preparations, doing puzzles, playing games, enjoying music or doing dishes. Children of staff may be here adding to the fun. Odie, the dog or Christina the cat may make an appearance too. You may even see one of our well loved preschoolers push a needed walker toward a resident who is getting up without it, reminding them that “this will help your legs”. Even on our least smooth days, this is a place of love. The people inside know they are safe. Food will be good and conversation flows.This is home. And this is the first phase of Hope & A Future’s model.
What comes next is nothing short of thrilling. We will become an intergenerational neighborhood! A neighborhood with different kinds of housing and more services. A place where people live independent lives and share their time and talents to help enrich each other’s day to day experience.
The ideas for this special place came out of an awareness of a growing need for change. Long term care and childcare systems are overburdened and expensive. The population is aging and the workforce is shrinking. The need for child and senior care is outpacing availability. Staff shortages, housing shortages, and higher costs mean senior residents are not receiving the services they need. At the same time, costs of childcare and parenthood are skyrocketing. Young parents who cannot cover the costs of childcare face painful realities of working long hours and not seeing their kids. Kids miss out on the warmth of loving adults and stability of care. Current systems are not working and they are not satisfying. Both young and old suffer. And research shows us that 60% of the population, across generations, complains of loneliness. Hope & A Future is a change maker! We offer an exciting new approach that helps young and old in a vibrant neighborhood setting.
Hope & A Future is working to expand its unique model that reimagines what a community can be. We are redefining intergenerational living as a truly sustainable, deeply connected community of people where young and old support and care for each other. The planned expansion project will complete our community model through increased opportunities for independent living, affordable multifamily living, affordable daycare, afterschool programs and intergenerational connection opportunities. Creating a vibrant, successful example for living with dignity at every age will become a model for communities across Wisconsin and the country.
If you are interested in learning more about living in our planned housing, or our capital campaign, please contact us at [email protected], sign up for our newsletter or check out the Next Steps page of our website. If you are ready for some intergenerational fun, visit us on August 11th from 2 to 4 for our Family FUNdraiser! We can talk then!
Until then, I hope you are enjoying summer with your neighbors and family!
