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Background
The ElderSpirit Community is an elder cohousing neighborhood with a focus on “late life spirituality and mutual support.” The community came out of a non-profit organization called the Federation of Communities in Service or FOCIS which begun in 1967. The ElderSpirit Community is being developed by the Trailview Development Company which secured a 3.7-acre site along the Virginia Creeper Trail in Abingdon, VA. Construction is underway and residents are expected to move in by the summer of 2005.
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The ElderSpirit Community will consist of 29 homes including 13 privately owned 1 and 2-bedroom attached homes, 16 income restricted rental homes, a Common House, and a Spirit Center. The neighborhood will be connected by a pedestrian path and have extensive landscaping.
Through the efforts of Project Manager Dene Peterson, the group was able to attract substantial public money and grants to aid in the creation of a mixed-income community.
Group's Mission Statement
The following is Elder Spirit's Mission statement:
ElderSpirit Community is a participatory membership organization for older adults that provides opportunities for growth through later life spiritual programs and through the formation of communities and residential centers.
Their “Values” Include:
SPIRITUALITY Members believe that spiritual growth is the primary work of those in the later stages of life. Members encourage one another in the search for meaning in life and commitment to a spiritual path. Freedom of religion is fundamental.
MUTUAL SUPPORT Members develop face-to-face relationships through which they offer and receive support. They express their needs and convictions, listen to each other and strive to act responsibly, considering their good and the good of the other.
SIMPLE LIFESTYLE & RESPECT FOR THE EARTH Conscious that over-consumption by persons in wealthy countries threatens the earth's living systems, members seek a simplified lifestyle that reflects a respectful relationship with the environment.
ARTS & RECREATION Leisure, recreational activities and travel contribute uniquely toward refreshing the mind, body and spirit. The arts form an integral part of the community. Members share and develop their gifts and talents through such activities as music, dance, theater, storytelling, gardening, crafts, weaving, etc.
HEALTH The word "health" comes from the same root as "heal," "whole," and "holy". Recognizing this members pay attention to nutrition, rest, exercise and social interaction.
Resident members also commit to the following values.
CARE DURING ILLNESS & DYING The common goal of the cohousing neighborhood is to offer care to one another in the later years. It affirms home care and dying at home. However, when institutional care occurs, a member of the community stays in touch with the person and closely follows her/his condition. Members recognize that the process of living involves one's desire for tolerable health and a capacity to be generative. Within the community, the process of dying raises one's awareness that all surrender physical life, not in isolation, but as a sister or brother of the human community.
MUTUAL ASSISTANCE Sharing of goods and services is the norm in the cohousing neighborhood. When members have needs beyond the individual and family group, they are encouraged to make their needs known. Community meetings and common meals provide opportunities for open discussion, sharing and mutual assistance.
Membership
Members of the community are a diverse group and include a range of professions including:
• Management consultant
• Developer and fundraiser
• Advertising professional
• Missionary and community gardener
• Retired teacher
• Bookkeeper
• Nurse
• Speech pathologist
• Ministers.
Group Process
Resident business meetings take place once a month followed by a potluck lunch. The group is currently focusing on its policies, practices and procedures for living together once people move in. Board meetings of the FOCIS Futures team happen monthly to follow through on non-profit funding matters and to do outreach to other groups interested in creating an ElderSpirit Community in their region. In addition, for the past five years, the community has held an annual retreat in the summer. Dr. Drew Leder, author of the book Spiritual Passages, has been a retreat guest speaker three times and has helped guide the spiritual structuring of the community. Social gathering happen regularly and informally.
Special Features
Spirit Focus. ElderSpirit recognized the importance of late life spirituality and incorporates this element into all aspects of the community. A Spirit Center will be built to provide members with a space for spiritual and personal practices.
Mutual Service. As part of the residents’ commitment to one another, they have agreed to offer four hours of “mutual service” each month for self-improvement, with other members of the community or service to the larger Abingdon community.
Mixed-income project. Thirteen of the homes will be market rate and sixteen will be will be permanently affordable including 10 for low-income and six at moderate income.
Public/Private Financing. The project was able to qualify for over one-million dollars in low interest loans and grants from the Virginia State Housing Fund, HOME monies, and the Retirement Research Foundation based in Chicago, IL.
Developer-Driven. The project is being developed by a team of professionals headed up by Dene Peterson of the Trailview Development Company and a future resident of the community. Construction began in 2004 with an anticipated move in during the summer of 2005.
ElderSpirit Community
At time of press, all homes at ElderSpirit Community have been reserved. Names are being taken for their waiting list. More information is available at: www.elderspirit.net or by calling (276) 628-8908.
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