For the last four years, Lou Castriota, Jr. has worked to establish a York County farm-based therapeutic and rehabilitative facility for children and young adults with special needs. He called it Leg Up Farm.
This morning in the Lafayette room of the Yorktowne Hotel, Castriota announced that a York County landowner has agreed to allow Leg Up Farm to build a 77,000 square foot facility and use her 200-acre property in East Manchester Township.
The facility will feature physical, horse, aqua, speech, art, music, recreational and occupational therapies in a setting surrounded by pastures, nature trails and woodlands. What’s unique about the facility is that these therapies are rarely combined in one site, making it difficult for a patient who needs multiple therapies; in addition, they are rarely ever in a farm environment, Castriota said.
The site is on North Sherman Street Extended, less than five miles from both Route 30 and Interstate 83.
“Our most exciting moment is yet to come, when children enter the front gate with smiles on their faces, anticipating the excitement that awaits them inside Leg Up Farm,” Castriota said.
Castriota said he met landowner Barbara Warren early last year while trying to find another site for Leg Up Farm and she offered him the land in December.
He plans to open the facility sometime in 2004.
“The partnership with Leg Up Farm will demonstrate my firm belief that being close to the land and all of the elements of nature on it, promotes healing,” Warren said in a press release.
Matching grant proposed: Castriota also said that with the assistance of state Sen. Michael L. Waugh, a longtime supporter of the project, Leg Up Farm has been added to the state’s capital budget proposals for a matching grant of $4.5 million.
This means if Leg Up Farm can raise $4.5 million, and the governor agrees, the state will match that amount.
The facility needs about $7.2 million to start up and another $1.8 million for the first year’s operating costs, Castriota said. The facility will consist of a two-story main building, stables, an indoor riding arena, a pool and a gymnasium. It also will include a tranquility garden to be shared with the nearby Staview United Church of Christ.
Employment opportunity: Leg Up Farm will employ about 25 people, including administration, therapists and assistants, he said.
“We’ve seen great therapeutic riding centers, but that’s all they do. There’s traditional hospitals that care for children with traditional therapies, but there’s nobody that brings all of these together under one roof in a child-friendly environment,” Castriota said.
Castriota’s supporters include politicians such as the York County Commissioners (with late President Bob Minnich), parents of special needs children and doctors.
Within a year, Leg Up Farm has received a $60,000 community development grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and has set up a 13-member board of directors and a 10-member advisory board.
Castriota’s inspiration for Leg Up Farm is his 5-year-old daughter, Brooke. She has mitochondrial disease, a metabolic disorder similar to cerebral palsy.
As Brooke worked with several therapists, the idea for Leg Up Farm germinated in Castriota’s mind.
Brooke is featured on a poster board for Leg Up Farm. Her picture is in the center of a circle, surrounded by colored puzzle pieces, a different therapy in each piece. Surrounding the pieces on the outer portion of the circle, are the groups of people that will make Leg Up Farm possible: Family and friends, teachers, physicians, community, volunteers and therapists.
Looking for site: Castriota said he met Warren early last year, when he worked with her on a committee to propose the idea of Leg Up Farm and two other facilities for the Horn Farm in Hellam Township. Castriota said he soon realized it may take several years for all of the controversy surrounding the Horn Farm to be ironed out and began looking for a site.
By TED CZECH, The York Dispatch/Sunday News