New York HBA receives Community Service Award.

The Home Builders Association of Central New York was recently awarded the 2005 National Housing Endowment Home Builders Care Community Service Project of the Year Award at the International Builders' Show. The HBA received the award, which recognizes a home builders association for outstanding community service, for its support of Casey's Place, a pediatric respite house for children with disabilities.

"We are pleased to award this year's honor to a project that has had such a profound and immediate impact on the community," said Gary Garczynski, chairman of the National Housing Endowment Board of Trustees, the philanthropic arm of the National Association of Home Builders. "While it was a difficult decision since we reviewed so many worthwhile and generous projects, the HBA of Central New York truly united its members behind the project. Once again, we see that home builders across the nation are committed to making a difference in their communities."

For more than 17 years, legal, educational, bureaucratic and medical issues consistently delayed dreams of a pediatric respite house in the central New York area. Enter Doug Klepper, president of Klepper Construction, and Patty Herrmann, daughter-in-law of an association past president, both parents of handicapped children. Together, they approached the association to ask for help with building their dream--a pediatric respite house.

To build Casey's Place, the HBA of Central New York partnered with Familycapped, an organization that provides services to families who have children with developmental disabilities.

The HBA formed a capital campaign committee and established a budget of $750,000 for the new facility. The organization purchased land for the project through a community-wide fundraising campaign and a $250,000 state grant. Members donated materials, money and labor valued at nearly $500,000. In the end, Casey's Place cost a little more than $1.3 million, but with the $500,000-plus in donations, the actual cost of construction was just a bit more than the original budget projection of $750,000.

"This is the kind of project that truly fulfills the 'Builders Care' philosophy, provides a desperately needed service and allows every association member to become involved in some fashion," said HBA of Central New York executive director Bob Tomeny.

The facility is named in memory of Casey Crichton, who died in 1994, at the age of six. Casey's parents moved to central New York from San Francisco, purchasing a home from Doug Klepper. The day after the couple moved, Casey arrived, nine weeks early and suffering from extensive damage to her lungs and brain that left her blind and unable to learn to walk or talk. Six years later, the Crichtons asked Klepper to remodel another house to accommodate their daughter's disabilities. The morning of the move, when the Crichtons went to wake Casey, they discovered she had died during the night.

On December 17, 2004, Casey's Place opened its doors to more than 100 children and their families.