Friday, December 08, 2023

It's official: Beech Brook has sold our property in Pepper Pike! The papers were signed to finalize the sale of our main campus to Heritage Classical Academy.

This marks the end of an eight-year journey.

It is a bitter-sweet time for many staff - past and present - and it certainly is for me! The fond memories seem endless. Since the early 1900s, many staff members started working on the Beech Brook campus as young adults and may have spent 10, 20, 30, 40 or even over 50 years there. We share the same stories, we have seen each other get married, have kids, experience tragedy. We have all been part of successes and a few failures, but overall, the campus was a place where we served Beech Brook’s mission together, made good friends, and created generations of memories.

We will miss our beautiful campus and it’s a rich history of being the place where Beech Brook was fortunate enough to serve children and families for over 100 years.

But Beech Brook is not defined by a place. In fact, the campus was our fourth main home and we have had many more homes in the community over the past 171 years. Our many early supporters understood the need to be flexible and change with the times. That is why their support for wherever we were located came with no strings attached. The campus was never conceived of as Beech Brook’s final destination. It was the place that best allowed Beech Brook to serve children and families for the time. We have always adapted as the needs of children and families shift, and when the needs of the organization have changed.

No, Beech Brook is not defined by a place, and we never were. We are defined by our mission, by our people, and by the children and families we serve. And this is why I am excited for the future!

Originally established as an orphanage, Beech Brook has thrived for over 170 years by adapting. The world is constantly changing, so we adapt and do what we need to do in order to fulfill our mission. We remain committed to addressing the inequities that exist within disadvantaged populations and are constantly working on improving our own approach to give people the best care and support they need, regardless of our location. We have the courage to change when necessary.

The majority of the proceeds from the property sale will be placed in Beech Brook’s endowment to support our mission of helping children and families thrive. The agency’s overhead costs will be significantly reduced. This sale enables us to find a headquarters that is closer to more of the clients we serve and more of the staff who serve them while at the same time providing funds that will help us reach even more children and families in need.

In the coming weeks we will be working diligently to find our new home! It will be new to us, it will be exciting and it will offer new opportunities. I hope to be able to announce our new location in the near future, and I hope we can count on our supporters like you to continue their support during this transition!

- Thomas P. Royer, Beech Brook President/CEO