ADRIAN — When the HOPE Community Center needed a new executive director, it didn’t have to look very far for its choice.
Katie O’Hotzke, who had been serving as the interim executive director since June, was named executive director in mid-October. The longtime staff member first came to the HOPE Center a little more than 10 years ago as a part-time respite worker and later became the program director.
O’Hotzke, a native of New Boston, Mich., first came to Adrian to attend Siena Heights University, where she was a standout softball player both as a pitcher and a hitter and later became an assistant. She earned her degree from SHU in special education.
The HOPE Community Center, located at 431 Baker St. in Adrian, serves developmentally disabled adults from throughout Lenawee County. The fact that the organization has its own building is one of the things O’Hotzke thinks helps make the center unique.
“A lot of programs [like HOPE] don’t have a building, a place like this that the members can call home,” she said.
“There are many reasons why this place is important. For the developmentally disabled community, a lot of them need a place where they can make friends, be safe, and make choices for themselves. And their families get respite for themselves.”
The center has approximately 100 regularly participating members at present. O’Hotzke sees one of her challenges as being “to really spread the word” about what the center provides for the developmentally disabled.
“I think a lot of people could be utilizing our services that aren’t,” she said. “I want people to know what we can offer.”
At the center, members can take part in a wide range of recreational, social, and educational activities. Someone might decide to play bingo or cards, sing karaoke, use a computer, or shoot hoops, for example — and if they really enjoy basketball, they might even get a spot on the Hoopsters.
Members can also take classes in everything from cooking, nutrition, and kitchen safety to personal hygiene and art. They participate in a wide range of activities away from the center as well, including volunteering for organizations such as Meals on Wheels, the Humane Society, the Porter Center, and Share the Warmth.
“And if there’s something they want to do, we help them learn it,” O’Hotzke said.
To her, the fact that members can select for themselves from so many activities is important, because they can have a say in what they want to do every day. And even assisting with tasks such as sweeping the floors or taking out the trash “helps give them ownership” and think of the center as their space.
The center has six paid staffers, student interns from both Siena Heights University and Adrian College, and many volunteers who give classes, assist with activities, sit with members who need some extra support, and much more.
Members’ families are very much a part of the center as well. “Our HOPE families are amazing,” O’Hotzke said. “They help out, they support us, and they trust us with their family members.”
The center is now entering its 50th year of serving Lenawee County, “which is huge,” she said. “To be going all this time is a testament to our community.”
In addition to working to raise awareness of the HOPE Community Center, O’Hotzke said among her aims as executive director is for the center to offer even more programs for its members. “And we’re always looking for ways to get out in the community,” she said.
“Our goal at the end of the day is always to serve our members and to give our members, their families, and the community the HOPE Center they deserve.”
