Carole Sund Center marks 45 years of hands-on support in Humboldt County

The Carole Sund Center’s 45th anniversary celebration in Eureka put its daily work on display: participants were tending plants, caring for goats and chickens, and showing visitors the farm-based routines that have defined the program for years. For adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Humboldt County, the center is not just a service site. It is a place to learn job skills, earn money and take part in visible work that reaches the community.

Butler Valley, the nonprofit behind the center, says the program serves adults with intellectual disabilities through both residential and day-program services, including two group homes. It also works with people with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities. The farm model is built around hands-on tasks, from gardening and animal care to selling fresh vegetables and eggs, with the goal of giving participants structure, useful skills and a sense of purpose.

That model has taken shape over more than two decades. Butler Valley says the Carole Sund Center opened in 2000, moved to the Pine Hill area outside Eureka in May 2005, and expanded in October 2013 to a 4 1/2-acre former dairy farm on the south end of Eureka. The land was renovated over several years for agricultural use, turning the site into a working space where participants can learn by doing. The organization describes the farm and garden as offering both active and passive interactions, a setup meant to meet different needs while keeping people involved in the work.

The public side of the program matters too. Plant sales and open houses help support the center financially, but they also show the community what the program produces and how participants contribute. Staff have said the plant sale helps build independence and job skills, while public events let families and neighbors see the farm in action. Earlier plant-sale events also featured baby goats and a silent auction, underscoring how the center blends fundraising with a working agricultural setting.

California licensing records list the Carole Sund Center as a licensed adult day program at 4635 Broadway in Eureka. The facility license date is Oct. 1, 2012, and its stated capacity is 30. At 45 years, the center’s importance in Humboldt lies in that practical, day-to-day role: a small program with a limited capacity, but one that provides training, work, and community connection that would be hard to replace.