“The church itself recognized a need that they could fulfill with the assets they had,” said John Lovell, board treasurer and the former director of development for Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley. “Serving the community is part of the role of the church, especially serving the poor and the needy in the community … What I would tell [other] churches is to look outside your walls and see what’s happening and where that need is.”
The board worked with AmeriCorps VISTA and hired an architect to develop an official plan. Bisgard, a retired attorney, took classes on how to access funding for affordable housing. The original vision for a senior housing development soon morphed into an intergenerational project. The shift made it more appealing to funders and meant that the project could serve a broader range of people, reflecting what the community needed.
