Among those attending the Vista Vocational & Life Skills Center’s recent Annual Meeting, Dinner Dance and Awards Ceremony at the Water’s Edge Resort in Westbrook are: (from left) Barbara Pearce, president and chief executive officer of H. Pearce Company Realtors; Ted Gerhardy, manager of H. Pearce’s Madison office; and Lois Krimsier, who also works for the company at that location.
The Madison office of H. Pearce Co. Realtors was awarded a community support award at the Vista Vocational & Life Skills Center’s recent Annual Meeting, Dinner Dance and Awards Ceremony at the Water’s Edge Resort in Westbrook.
Vista, a nonprofit organization that helps individuals with disabilities live independently and work in the community, recognizes annually the special individuals whose good works and leadership have made a vital difference at Vista. Officials said loyal and devoted individuals play a major role in Vista’s success and inspire others to become involved in helping Vista’s programs grow and prosper. Vista recognizes the leadership contributions of volunteers, employers and community members in the awards ceremony at Fall Family Weekend each year. An audience of about 270 honored award recipients at Vista’s 16th anniversary.
The Madison office of H. Pearce Co. Realtors has been taking care of the grounds at Vista’s Madison office since 2002 when the company wished to take on a project for the Sept. 11 Day of Remembrance. The Realtors volunteered to plant bulbs and landscape the grounds. They have been doing it every year, planting more bulbs each time.
Attending the awards ceremony from H. Pearce were Barbara Pearce, president and chief executive officer; her husband, Norman Fleming; and from Pearce’s Madison office, Lois Krimsier and her husband Robert, and manager Ted Gerhardy and his wife Nancy. The award was presented to Barbara Pearce by Leslie Strasser, a Vista Outreach Program member.
Vista is based in Madison and Westbrook. Its mission is to enable individuals with disabilities to live independently and work successfully in the community. At Vista, the specific disability, whether it is called a learning disability, epilepsy, autism, traumatic brain injury or another name, is not the defining factor for the individual.
H. Pearce Co. Realtors is a full-service real estate company with more than 140 agents and branch offices in Greater New Haven and the Shoreline. The firm’s corporate/industrial and commercial offices are located in North Haven, where the company was founded in 1958.
Senior Community Planned
In an effort to help lower-income elderly residents remain safely in their own communities, a new senior housing community will be constructed at 160 Coventry St. in Bloomfield, across the street from the St. Francis Hospital Burgdorf Clinic.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Coventry Place will offer 30 one-bedroom handicapped accessible or adaptable apartments for those who are 62 or older, with an income of not more than 50 percent of the area median income.
Coventry Place was previously the Mediplex of Greater Hartford nursing home, which closed about five years ago. After several years, the building was acquired by Meadows Real Estate Management and Development Corp., an affiliate of Community Renewal Team Inc. The rehab was designed by architect Brandon Clarke of Clarke Architects and construction will be executed by Enterprise Builders of Newington. Move-in is expected in August and September of next year.
Residents will pay 30 percent of their income as rent, with the remaining residential costs covered by HUD. CRT will bring in elder programming and case management to support residents’ independence. The resident service coordinator will assist residents with obtaining all resources for which they are eligible, including SSI, ConnPace, Medicaid and Medicare. Through the Homemaker Program, residents who are referred from the state Department of Social Services can access light housekeeping services, including cleaning shopping, laundry and meal preparation.
