EADS settling into new island center
Published 3:37 pm Tuesday, October 21, 2008
In the Sportsman Park Business Complex, a new building is coming to life.
Earlier this month, nonprofit Elder and Adult Day Services moved its Kitsap County center from Bremerton to the ground floor of a two-story building on Coppertop Loop.
On the top floor of the same building, baking company My Kids’ Cookies and Island Children’s Montessori School are settling into new spaces.
The building has given EADS, which offers daytime care for elders and special needs adults, the capacity to double the number of Kitsap participants it can host, from roughly 34 to 70.
Helping dish out lunch to participants in the center’s main hall last week, Bainbridge branch director Susie Harris-Roggeveen said her staff has been thrilled by the building’s abundant space and natural light.
“This is like going from a studio apartment to a mansion,” she said.
The EADS facility has been christened the Birkenfeld Center, after the late C. Keith Birkenfeld, whose estate contributed $440,000 to EADS’ capital campaign.
The 4,884-square-foot new center includes a long activity and gathering hall, a library and nurse’s room, along with staff offices, large bathrooms and a laundry room. The spaces are linked by a circular hallway, which doubles as an indoor exercise track.
Harris-Roggeveen said EADS and Island Children’s Montesorri are already planning inter-generational activities for their participants.
EADS, which receives referrals from Medicaid and other government programs, draws participants from all parts of Kitsap County. A Kitsap Transit VanLink van is being used to shuttle participants from the peninsula to the island.
The public is invited to tour the Birkenfeld Center Oct. 28, from 4:30 to 7 p.m.
EADS is seeking new participants for its Bainbridge center. Enrollment information is available by calling (206) 859-5750.
