Friends gather to help cut ribbon for Susan's Cottage

Brooklawn ushered in a new era for the children of Kentucky on April 8, when it cut the ribbon on the state's first intensive psychiatric residential treatment program for young girls, ages 6 to 11.

Approximately 100 friends gathered to help open "Susan's Cottage", the first of three new cottages funded by Brooklawn's "Horizons of Hope" Capital Campaign.

The new program will allow Brooklawn to bring hope and healing to young girls who before did not have a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) as a treatment option in Kentucky.

Among the honored guests were Kosair Charities, the Independent Pilot's Association, Jim and Lana Susemichel, Isabel Boyer, and the co-chairs of the campaign.

The arrival of the first girls to campus on April 13, marked the first time in more than a decade that the agency has served girls. Brooklawn, founded as an orphanage in 1851, was a coed facility until 1991.

Brooklawn’s current residential programs, serving emotionally troubled children due to abuse, neglect and other severe trauma, only included boys until now.

Helping cut the ribbon were:

"Horizons of Hope" Capital Campaign Co-Chairs (left to right), Dean Holland, Marc Jackowitz, Ted Nixon, (Amos Martin- not pictured) and Brooklawn President/CEO David A. Graves cut the first ribbon.

Representatives of Kosair Charities gave Brooklawn
$3 million to the "Horizons of Hope" Captial Campaign.

Mrs. Isabel Boyer, a former resident of the German Protestant Orphan's Home (Brooklawn's former name), and the first woman to serve on Brooklawn's Board of Trustees, helped cut one of the ribbons.

Representatives of the Independent Pilot's Association (IPA) particpated in the ribbon cutting. The IPA Foundation's gift of $150,000 helped Brooklawn reach a larger challenge grant from the nationally-recognized Kresge Foundation.

Lana and Jim Susemichel cut the final ribbon on Susan's Cottage - named in memory of Mr. Susemichel's mother.

* All Photos courtesy of Bill Goffinet

To see more pictures from the Ribbon Cutting, please click here.

To learn how you can help a child at Brooklawn, click here.