As the Season of Christmas nears, most of us are already feeling stressed, pressed, and distressed. Another round of Christmas shopping, another dinner party at Cousin Mark’s place, another day of scheduling, another busy weekend, another this, another…pfew! Wouldn’t it be great, even if just for a few hours, your family had a place where life moves at a different pace? Where it seems there is actually enough air for our lungs to take in? Where the literal Spirit of God is welcomed, celebrated, and daily relied upon? What if that place was just 10 ten miles west on I-10? Breathe easy friend, it is.
At The Brookwood Community, we cherish the slow life. We plan our schedules around surprise conversations, unintended celebrations, or pauses for prayer. When you take just a single step on campus, God willing, you will feel it. The pent-up anxiety that plagues our society is graciously stripped from your soul as you’re allowed (as we so seldom are) to dream, to pray, to smile, and to love without abandon. Can you imagine stepping into a world where every motion is done; every word is spoken with another in mind; every action has consequences and the consequences, here, are glorious.
If you are unfamiliar with Brookwood, allow me to introduce you. Since 1985, Brookwood has educated and enabled hundreds of men and women with intellectual and cognitive disabilities to hold full-time jobs, live in a world built around them, and most importantly give back. The Brookwood Citizens hold jobs in any of our nine enterprises: The Café, horticulture, ceramics, stone-casting, leather-work, and cement are just a few. With the fundamental (albeit uncommon) understanding that all humans are endowed by God with gifts and talents, Brookwood provides the tools and environment for the Citizens to contribute. When this understanding is upheld, amazing things happen. Primarily, the Citizens have become some of the proudest, happiest, and most dignified individuals on the planet. Next, the profound gifts of our Citizens are displayed in the tens of thousands of products they craft. These one-of-a-kind, handmade items are sold to the public and spurn profits that ALL come back to support the community. This has allowed Brookwood to abstain from receiving ANY government funding. By freeing up government funds to be used elsewhere, we believe this freedom we hold is a benefit to all society.
We invite you to come out for a tour, stay and have lunch, to shop, or volunteer so that you may see for the first time, or for the hundredth time, what a community built with God’s design looks and feels like.
Most visitors come expecting to bless our Citizens (and believe me they do); however, you will find yourself leaving with a renewed sense of God’s love for people, of all cultures, of all backgrounds, and across the neurological spectrum. Step into God’s world. Visit the Brookwood Community.