Wesley Village: 2009 Business of the Year

The Jessamine County Chamber of Commerce recently presented its Outstanding Business of the Year Award to Wesley Village in Wilmore - Kentucky's first full-service Continuing Care Retirement Community.

Opening their doors in June of 1995 with twelve patio homes and twenty-eight "pioneer residents" eager to move in, Wesley Village has been working hard ever since to keep up with the increasing demands for high-quality/affordable senior living options in Central Kentucky.

By 1998, sixty-six patio homes were completed and filled. With the help of Representative Bob Damron and Senator Tom Buford, forty state-of-the-art residential-style apartments for licensed personal care and skilled nursing services were built between the years of 1999 and 2000. In May of 2003 the Lexington Herald-Leader declared the services and accommodations of Wesley Village to be a "new model of care" for the rest of the state.

Again with the help of local officials including Mayor Harold Rainwater and Judge Neal Cassity, The Wilmore Senior Community Center at Wesley Village was officially opened in June of 2006 as a "warm and inviting place for area residents to gather for the best of life's enriching activities" including free musical concerts, fine dining, worship, movie nights, exercise, creative writing classes, computer instruction, arts and crafts, library services and a meeting place for Lions, Women's Clubs, Gideons and more. Many of you have attended wedding, birthday and anniversary celebrations there too!

Over the years Wesley Village has been first in the Bluegrass to offer independent living patio homes, residential-style health care apartments, a complete continuum of care from independent through skilled nursing services, and a senior community center built through a creative public/private partnership. In the near future, Wesley Village hopes to again stay on the cutting edge by being first in Kentucky to offer the latest "small homes" for long-term health and memory care to a whole new generation of Baby Boomer consumers.

Wesley Village is a not-for-profit ministry affiliated with United Methodist churches across Kentucky, who together have given back over a half million dollars of Benevolent Care for residents who outlive and exhaust their own financial resources.

With 100 employees and 140 seniors currently in residence from all across the Commonwealth and 22 different states, Wesley Village continues to find new and innovative ways to be of service to Wilmore, Jessamine County, our region, state, and beyond.

Wesley Village president/CEO Glenda Creech holding the 2009 Business of the Year award surrounded by Village staff members.

Photo © 2009 Kim Deyer, Editor, Wilmore Newsletter