SARASOTA – Friday The Haven’s ‘Mary Jane’s House’ officially opened its doors.
“About three years ago we came up with the idea to build our sixth group home on campus, and we designed the house to be specifically for those with disabilities that have mobility issues,” The Haven President & CEO Brad Jones said.
The customized, wheelchair accessible home stands in honor of Bernie Hardiek’s late wife Mary Jane, whose sister had a severe case of cerebral palsy.
“My wife and her parents cared for her at home for a long period of time, until she got too big to handle a home and her parents got older,” Hardiek said.
He and Mary Jane had a hard time finding somewhere to care for her sister.
“We’d go to see her. Whenever we would leave she would always have tears in her eyes and she would turn to me and she would say, ‘Bernie, isn’t there something we can do?'” Hardiek said.
That question stayed with him after her passing.
“I came out here and I talked with Brad, and Brad took me around, and I was really impressed with how happy the people here seemed to be,” Hardiek said.
He got his three kids involved, and the Hardiek Family Foundation backed the project.
“So their parents wouldn’t be concerned, ‘What happens to them when I’m gone?'” Hardiek said.
The house’s eight residents have been living there for almost a month, bringing the total number of The Haven’s campus residents to 48.
“It’s the whole social component when residents move in here,” Jones said. “They really get to be with their peers, get to live their life independently.”
“She would be very happy to see this built,” Hardiek said.
Jones says there’s a ten year waiting list to get into The Haven’s residential program with about 100 people on it.