Sacred Ground Thanksgiving Dinner Celebrates Growth, Supports Caregivers

Sacred Ground brought together families, staff and church partners for its annual Thanksgiving dinner at the Heritage Center near Winesburg on November 27, 2025, hosting a full room of supporters and participants. The evening combined fellowship with program updates, a prayer before the meal and two videos showing participants arriving at Grace Church in Berlin and Fairlawn Church in Apple Creek, then staff and participants offering gratitude. Leaders used the gathering to underscore the organization’s expanding role serving individuals with special needs and their families across Holmes and Wayne counties.

Board president Rhoda Mast opened the event and Sarah Ecker, director of development, offered introductions. Participant Brittany Miller provided a prayer before the meal. Griffin Long, Sacred Ground director, emceed and reviewed recent growth, reporting that participation rose from 37 to 60 over the past year while staff increased from 15 to 24. That represents roughly a 62 percent increase in participants and a 60 percent increase in staff, a scale of expansion that carries operational as well as community implications.

Pastors Chad Stutzman of Grace Church and Duane Detweiler of Fairlawn Mennonite Church described the daily presence of participants as energizing for their congregations and noted the mutual benefits when congregations host the program. Three couples with family members in Sacred Ground Aaron and Rachel Yoder, Roger and Vi Hershberger, and Leroy and Esther Miller shared personal testimony about how the program has affected their lives, emphasizing caregiver relief and enriched daily opportunities for participants.

For Holmes County residents the event highlighted immediate local impacts. The jump in participation signals strong demand for daytime services that provide safe, structured activities and respite for caregivers, potentially allowing family members to work or reduce caregiver strain. The staff increase also signals hiring activity in the local labor market and will require sustained funding, training and volunteer support to maintain quality as the program scales.

Longer term, Sacred Ground’s expansion reflects a broader trend toward community based supports for adults with special needs and the central role of local institutions in delivering them. As Sacred Ground grows, local policymakers and funders will face choices about supporting staffing, transportation and facility capacity to sustain the program and the economic and social benefits it generates for families across Holmes and Wayne counties.