and renovate its facilities, especially to add affordable housing. Using the grant, Wartburg built the Friedrichs Residence, a four-story building with 61 affordable studio and one-bedroom apartments for seniors on a budget. Te grant also helped fund the Rehabilitation and
Adult Day Services Center, which is equipped with all the high-tech equipment of a first-class medical facility. Te center treats seniors and patients of all ages who are recovering from injury or illness. Seniors who have memory issues or who seek daily social activities also can attend one of two day-programs. Te Friedrichs and the center round out Wartburg’s
continuum of care, which also includes independent living townhouses; assisted living apartments; home- care and hospice services; and Waltemade, a skilled-care nursing home with a staff of 700 and a $44 million bud- get that is continually rated among the best in New York by U.S. News & World Report. Te HEAL grant recognized the need for affordable
housing in the area and chose Wartburg to be the stew- ard of the large grant. It was one of nine organizations that received a total of $150 million in grants. President and CEO David Gentner said the HEAL
grant is especially significant because the Westches- ter County area is one of the most expensive in the country, making it hard for seniors to retire there. A two-year waiting list for Wartburg’s affordable hous-
ing bears this out. Linda Burkhardt, 56, a retired widow, moved into
Friedrichs in June. She was living with her daughter and granddaughter in a single-family home in Yon- kers. When the opportunity arose for an affordable place of her own, she jumped at the chance to apply. “I love it here,” she said of her one-bed- room apartment. “I feel safe, and I’ve made a lot of friends. It’s very convenient.” Rents for apartments range from
$719 to $1,000, depending on income limits set by the govern- ment, Gentner said. People receive subsidies in the form of tax credits, he added, and the median income for a single Friedrichs
Carol Fryer (standing, second from left) an ELCA pastor, leads “Worship on Wheels” at Warburg’s chapel in Mount Vernon, N.Y.
resident is around $36,000. Since the Friedrichs project, “we now have the experi-
ence in building and operating tax-credit housing in the community,” Gentner said. Wartburg is now eager to work on similar projects with Lutheran churches that have available land and have expressed an interest in building affordable housing for seniors, he added. Gentner believes we’ll hear more in the future about
affordable housing built by churches. “Te facilities won’t be megaplexes, and that’s OK,” he said. “Tey’ll be good for the communities, the congregations and their members. … Times have changed. Ministries like the Wartburg must look to other places for partnerships.” Sister Maria Barbera, 69, is a member of the Domini-
can Sisters of Hope and a retired New York City eighth- grade teacher whose religious order pays for her to live at Friedrichs. She’s particularly grateful for its affordabil- ity. “My community is at a certain bracket of finances,” she said. “Te finance department took a look at what the rent is here and said, ‘Yes, we can afford that.’ ” Barbera, one of several sisters living at Wartburg, calls
herself an advocate for the organization: “We laugh; we pray together. It’s very upliſting here.” Carol Fryer, an ELCA pastor who directs Wartburg’s
spiritual care and church relations, said residents such as Barbera exemplify Wartburg’s mission to make more housing affordable to seniors on fixed incomes. “With the concept of senior care changing in general, no one wants to live in a nursing home anymore,” she said. “[Wartburg’s] new services will provide more outreach into the community [with growing] home-care and adult day care programs. We help people stay home as long as they can.” Fryer also serves United Lutheran, an ELCA congre-
gation on the Wartburg campus that is an important part of what the senior ministry offers. “Because we don’t have the responsibility of keeping up the building, we can focus more on ministry,” she said. Tat ministry includes a strong connection—United
members frequently visit residents, bring them to church, give them holiday giſts and keep tabs on their well-being. “It’s a really wonderful ministry,” Fryer said.
For more information or to reach Gentner: dgentner@wartburg. org; 914-699-0800; www.
wartburg.org.
Author bio: Healy is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Brewster, N.Y., and author of Life is
Too Short: Stories of Transformation & Renewal After 9/11.
April 2014 41
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