Erin and John Kiltz have three children. Gracie, their youngest, now 25, was born with Down Syndrome. At two, she was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of Leukemia. After her tenth round of chemotherapy, she encountered serious complications, which left Gracie severely brain-damaged, fully dependent on others, and facing a bleak prognosis. Against all odds, she not only survived a deadly infection but lights up any room with her contagious smile.
After Gracie finished high school, the Kiltz family was challenged with the question “What’s next?” After students with intellectual disabilities graduate from high school, there are few options. This sobering reality launched Erin and John on a mission to find a solution for a future with meaning and purpose for Gracie as well as her friends. This search led to the Brookwood Community in Brookshire, Texas where Erin and John knew they had found what they had been looking for.
Erin Kiltz began a pilot program called Light Texas, with the Bridges Program of Georgetown ISD. Students became artisans and began making and selling handcrafted pottery. Their only problem was keeping up with demand!
In 2011, The Brookwood Community expands for the first time ever in 30 years to Georgetown- Central Texas area. Light Texas was absorbed by the Brookwood Community and became Brookwood in Georgetown under the umbrella of their 501c3. Brookwood in Georgetown is forever thankful to the Brookwood Community for setting the bar of excellence in serving adults with intellectual disabilities and continuing to inspire our BiG community.
Brookwood in Georgetown is a very “out of the box” innovative vocational community for adults with special needs where everything they make is sold in a beautiful high-end gift shop, cafe, and greenhouse. They want to change the way our world views this population by taking the “status quo” of providing these individuals with custodial care to these individuals creating beautiful, marketable items to sell to help sustain the vocational community they enjoy every day. They have become artisans, bakers, gardeners, card makers, jewelry makers, and more.
Our $1,000 donation will go towards their new baking enterprise and help with the equipment that needs to be purchased. If you would like to donate, please click the button below.
No act of generosity is too small to make a difference!