When Blessings to Share Foundation co-founder Lacey Arend first started dreaming up the Foundation with her family, she remembers saying that she wanted “a place where someone can come and have community – a place just to sit and talk about how life is going.”
“a place where someone can come and have community – a place just to sit and talk about how life is going.”
Lacey Arend (C.A.R.E.S. Club Visionary/Program Coordinator)
With that, the idea of the C.A.R.E.S. Club was born! The Club is officially set to launch in summer of 2022. The C.A.R.E.S. Club will be a technology-enabled, membership-based center where Uniquely Abled adults can come to grow and develop while building relationships with others in the community.
The C.A.R.E.S. Club will be housed inside of the Asbury Development Center. This Center was a vision formed by Asbury United Methodist Church Pastor Tom Harrison. In talking about the purpose of the Center in a video for the Church, Pastor Harrison says, “We wanted Christian ministries that would help us, as Asbury folks, to volunteer [and] serve our community – not only with our checks, not only with our prayers, but with our hands and with our hearts.” (To see the full video, click here.)
The Center will also be home to other organizations such as Building all Children, Circle of Care, Restore Hope, Good Samaritan, and Asbury Theological Seminary. “It will be good to be in the Development Center with other organizations, because we can all support each other in making an impact,” said Linda Arend, co-founder and Executive Director of Blessings to Share Foundation and mother to Lacey, when asked about being in the Center alongside other organizations.
“It will be good to be in the Development Center with other organizations, because we can all support each other in making an impact.”
Linda Arend (Co-Founder & Executive Director)
Linda recently had the chance to visit the Development Center construction site alongside other members of the BTS team. “It was exciting that we can see it is officially happening!” said Linda Arend.
The opening date for the Club is approaching quickly, and our team at BTS could not be more excited! See below for a sneak peek of how the final space will look.
We are currently developing our waitlist for the Club. If you or a loved one are interested in membership at the Club, please email us at contact@btsfoundation.org!