We’re home to those with special needs and the longest-running CSA farm in the county.
Homefields is an award-winning nonprofit organization dedicated to creating new life options for people who have disabilities. A modern ranch and 1800s farmhouse are the homes, and a 19-acre farm is the stage. Hundreds of people who have a disability or other barrier to traditional employment have engaged at our Care Farm, growing organic produce for community shareholders. Six adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities call us “Home.”
Core Purpose
To nurture meaningful experiences that connect people of all abilities to each other and to the land.
Homefields is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization
EIN: 23-2744180 PA BOC: 26729
Core Values
Options: We create opportunities for people of all abilities. Respect: We recognize, respect, and support all abilities, histories, and identities. Integrity: We opt for goodness in our actions and legacy, toward our constituents and the land. Adaptability: We respond to our dynamic community and environment.
stable
Our first residents moved here nearly 30 years ago, and the companies we work with have been here since the beginning. Annual fundraisers attract loyal attendees. Homefields’ roots are wide and deep.
dynamic
Whether it’s our annual outdoor dining event, an on-site class on beekeeping, the weekly shareholder pickup, or a deer caught on the motion camera, our campus is always alive with activity.
“Our son has been part of Homefields since 2001 which has greatly changed his life. He is autistic and learning disabled. With interaction of his peers and co-workers he is more verbal and feels like he has a purpose. He loves the ‘farm’ and learning new skills. He would rather go to work at the farm than go on vacation or to Special Olympic state games in bowling or bocce.”
David Henriques describes what about Homefields drew him to become a CSA member and, ultimately, a board member.
“It was a great experience for our students enrolled in the Horticultural Internship program at Milton Hershey School to learn about your mission, CSA business, sustainable agricultural practices, and career path possibilities within agriculture. [Your] volunteer opportunities teach them real world lessons as in communicating with the community, empathy, respect, professional connections, and helping others.”
—Our History: A Synopsis—
Conception
In 1991, a group of parents and invited professionals came together to discuss the state of affairs for their children, and the plight of Lancaster County adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Existing programs were at capacity with long waiting lists. Our group, determined to build a step where none existed, imagined a more flexible environment where adults with special needs, families, and the community, would partner together to create new opportunities.
Jim Determan, a founding Homefields member, breaks ground that had been untilled for a very long time.
The Dream
We wrote a mission statement expressing a desire for a financially secure, long-term home in a safe, family-like setting where there is respect for the individual in a holistic sense, and where fun and creativity are revered as basic human needs. The home would be situated on land that supported a small farming operation with year-round projects. This environment, with many on-going activities, would stimulate residents and offer them new options. Then we took that dream and made it come true.
Realization
In 1992, five families who love an adult member with special needs, incorporated, pooled their finances, and purchased an eight-acre horse-boarding farm in Millersville, PA. Homefields’ philosophy is a nurturing, self-sufficient one, so the people who eventually moved to Homefields, with the help of their families, were instrumental in renovating and personalizing their own home. Everyone rolled up their sleeves to remodel a ranch house, restore a stone house, disassemble and move a fence, paint a barn, clean up the grounds, and plant even more flowers. Three years after the first meeting, three adults who require assisted living moved into the stone house. Soon after, the ranch house was completed and three other residents moved into that home.
The Present
Residents continue to live as independently as possible at Homefields, which has now expanded to 19 acres. They are supported by the professional staff of Community Services Group, are loved by their families, and are protected through the watchfulness of family members, advocates, Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (BH/DS) of Lancaster County, and Homefields' Board of Directors. New families have come our way seeking a home for their cherished son or daughter. Hundreds of people who have a disability or other barrier to traditional employment have engaged at our Care Farm, growing organic produce for community shareholders. Six adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities call us “Home”.
