Doylestown Health breaks ground for new Children’s Village
Taking part in the new groundbreaking ceremony for the new Children’s Village at Doylestown Hospital are local business and political leaders.
Carol Ross
Doylestown Health President and CEO Jim Brexler and Gianluca Ferraguti, 5, who was a student at Children’s Village when it was hit by a tornado. His great-grandmother, Venita U. Duggins, wrote a children’s book for him called “Teddy Bear Comes Home,” about his experience in the storm and losing his Teddy bear. The book is written to help alleviate children’s fear of bad weather. The Ferragutis are donating all proceeds from the book to the rebuilding project for Children’s Village.
Carol Ross
Peyton Hebel and her grandfather, Tom Hebel.
Carol Ross
Dr. Scott Levy, Joy Levy, and Sarah and Scott Moyer, outdoors prior to entering the groundbreaking event tent.
Carol Ross
Dr. Donald Parlee, Ken Snyder, Cecile Balizet and Doylestown Township Police Chief Dean Logan.
Carol Ross
Max and Brayden Dennison.
Carol Ross
State Sen. Steven J. Santarsiero, Doylestown Mayor Ron Strouse and Doylestown Borough Council President Jack O’Brien.
Carol Ross
John and Jeanne Hubbard, Eleanor Wilson, Doylestown Health’s former vice president and chief operating – still playing a major role in this project.
Carol Ross
Jim Brexler, president and CEO of Doylestown Health, holds up a book written by a student’s great-grandmother about the tornado.
Doylestown Health held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Children’s Village Saturday, Dec. 4.
A day care facility located on the Doylestown Hospital campus, Children’s Village was damaged beyond repair on Aug. 4, 2020, when an EF2 tornado touched down in Doylestown.
The project will construct a new multiuse facility for the Children’s Village Child Care Center at the site of the old center. At approximately 42,000 square feet, there will be rooms for infants through kindergartners, a multipurpose area, library, playground and outdoors learning space, and a secure entrance to the center. The new facility is scheduled for a 2023 opening.
Donors, local officials, legislators, and families and staff of Children’s Village gathered for the groundbreaking.
State Sen. Steve Santarsiero said Dec. 3, that he has secured $2 million in state grant funds from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) to help rebuild Children’s Village.
“I want to thank Governor Wolf for agreeing to my request to dedicate RACP funds to rebuild an important part of the Doylestown Hospital campus that was devastated when a violent tornado struck in the middle of the day with the center full of children and staff,” said Santarsiero.
“We were so fortunate there were no serious injuries to the children or staff of the center thanks to the heroism of everyone who helped evacuate the building,” he added.
“Doylestown Health is honored to be awarded $2 million from the Pennsylvania Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program,” said Jim Brexler, president and chief executive officer of Doylestown Health.
“This significant funding will allow us to rebuild Children’s Village and renew our commitment to serving the families of our community, as we have since our founding by the Village Improvement Association of Doylestown. We would like to thank Sen. Santarsiero and the governor’s office for their support of this important capital initiative, and for empowering Doylestown Health to rebuild our early childhood education center to serve the children of this community.”
The project also has received the early support of Jeanne and John Hubbard, PhD, who are matching up to $1.5 million in gifts. On Saturday, Barbara Ann Price announced a $10,000 gift from the VIA to the rebuild project.
Support for the project is still needed, as insurance only covers a portion of the total cost. To date, nearly $500,000 has been contributed to the $1.5 Million Children’s Village Challenge Match. For information, and to lend support, visit DoylestownHealthFoundation.org/ChildrensVillage.
