“We used to have home plate,” Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke told the crowd at Thursday’s opening ceremonies of The Green House Residences of Stadium Place . “Now we have home sweet home.”
The Grand Opening of Stadium Place, built on the site of Memorial Stadium, had all the festivities of opening day at the ballpark, complete with hot dogs, and a ceremonial first pitch thrown out by Dr. Bill Thomas and elder, Shirley Dickens. It was a wonderful culmination to a long and winding journey with strong partners. The Green House Project is built on relationships, and this project, the first in Maryland, highlighted that core value. GEDCO’s steadfast vision partnered with NCBCI and RWJF’s creative and innovative financing to create a home where Catholic Charities, with a long history of compassionate care, could create real home, in the community, for the community!
In addition to the Oriole Bird, the media were present to document this moment that propels Baltimore to the forefront of providing cutting edge services for low income elders. The Baltimore Sun covered the Stadium Place grand opening with a great story about the elders and background on the project. A couple TV stations attended the festivities and WBAL Channel 11 broadcast this excellent story featuring Stadium Place’s administrator Nate Sweeney GEDCO Executive Director, Mitch Posner and others. A blogger from Kaiser Health News also attended the gala and wrote a post touting the research proving The Green House Project model. WYPR 88.1 FM’s Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast interviewd Dr. Bill Thomas about the urgent need to provide long term care to underserved populations he was joined by Brown University assistant professor Zhanlian Feng, who has led ground-breaking research about the changing ethnic and racial make-up of nursing home residents.
This event was one of those beautiful days, where everyone in attendance is filled with hope, and happiness.
