WEIR, Texas —
The Brookwood in Georgetown (B.I.G) program is expanding to add housing for adults with special needs.
B.I.G. started as a program to provide adults with special needs with meaningful employment.
The Grace Place addition officially opened on Dec. 3, with a big grand opening over the weekend.
"Most of them will outlive their parents. And so, the need for Grace Place was just a natural next step for our history," B.I.G. Founder Erin Kiltz said.
The new housing gives its residents more independence. B.I.G. also hopes to give parents peace of mind that their child will be taken care of.
For Michelle Meyer, the new housing at B.I.G. is a game changer.
"I'm glad that there is a place for me to live and to hang out with my friends," she said.
She's planning to live in one of the new tiny homes, so she can be independent. It's a big deal to her.
"Because I just grew up that way. And I just love being independent and being on my own and have my own space," she said.
Her mother, Cathy Meyer, also sees it as an opportunity for her daughter.
"You know, she's getting up in age and so it's been – we've been worried about it the whole time that when we're gone," Cathy Meyer said.
That's exactly what Kiltz wanted. She had it in mind for her daughter, Grace, who unfortunately passed away before the Grace Place vision came to fruition.
"It was my heartbeat because I was very concerned of Grace's future, and I needed to know when I left this earth that she would be in good hands," Kiltz said.
Now she hopes the housing will be there for others, like Bart Madeley.
"It's a breath of fresh air for many people, and it makes a lot of people happy," Madeley said.
The 127 acres will have community homes, one for men and another for women; a tiny home village; and, eventually, an assisted living home.
"It feels like the most important kind of assignment that I've been given here on this earth," Kiltz said.
At Grace Place, her daughter's name can live on through a community meant to help people who were just like her.
The plan is to put in a wedding venue, movie theater and other entertainment spaces to draw in the community.
The residents be able to work at those venues as well, much like the shops where they work now. It's all meant to further the mission of B.I.G. to give those individuals meaningful employment and to change the way the world views them.
Boomtown is KVUE's series covering the explosive growth in Central Texas. For more Boomtown stories, head to KVUE.com/Boomtown.