From 1954 to the present, Peak Community Services has been evolving and growing into what it has become today. Read through our history to discover how our desired mission was transformed into an everyday reality.
In September of 1954, the Cass County Council for Mentally Retarded Children (also known as the CCCMRC) was organized. In November of 1954, the organization opened Adams School for Children in the old YMCA building, where ten children soon attended.
The same year incorporation papers were filed for the Cass County Council for Mentally Retarded Citizens, the CCCMRC and the Society for Crippled Children merged to offer combined classes at the Franklin Elementary School. Incorporation papers were also filed for the Pulaski County Council for Retarded and Exceptional Persons, Inc. in 1955. In Winamac, Indiana, Aurora School opened its doors to sixteen students and provided educational services until 1965.
The Logansport School system opened Hendricks Special Education School in 1958. By November of 1960, the CCCMRC had organized the Hendricks Habilitation Center and acquired the old Youth Foundation building on Woodlawn Avenue for this purpose. The Hendricks Habilitation Center was a facility open to anyone who had outgrown the need for Hendricks School.
The first contract for sheltered workshop services began at the Hendricks Center in 1961, just three years after its opening. A day service program was later offered to individuals who did not qualify for either the Hendricks School or the Hendricks Center. Shortly after Carolyn (Crick) Moore was hired as the first Executive Director in 1964, a new facility was acquired for the day center.
In 1965, Pulaski County opened its first workshop for adults with developmental disabilities in Star City. To the benefit of the clients, the workshop moved to a more central location two years later. With the facility’s new location came a new name, and soon thereafter the Pulaski Habilitation Center had opened its doors in Winamac, Indiana as well as surrounding areas. This facility also organized an educational program for children with moderate to severe intellectual or developmental disabilities.
A new workshop was underway on the site of the Hendricks Habilitation Center in 1969. Two years after the initial remodel, an office area, gym, and additional classrooms were added to the facility. The newly remodeled facility would now be known as the Woodlawn Center.
The present Workshop and Day Services facility was purchased in Winamac, Indiana in 1972. In 1973, The Pulaski County Association for Retarded Children welcomed twelve new clients to its facility.
The name of the facility in Winamac was changed to Pulaski County Association for Retarded Citizens. This center was also referred to as the PARC Center.
A group home for men opened in Logansport, Indiana in 1979. Just three short years later, a women’s group home opened to lodge eight women comfortably.
Dave Congdon took over as Executive Director in 1987.
The facility known as Pulaski County Association for Retarded Citizens in Winamac, Indiana, became known as Pulaski Developmental Services shortly after they came under the management of CCCMRC. Management by the CCCMRC continued until 1995, when the two organizations merged.
Woodlawn Center began providing services under Mediciad Waiver.
Woodlawn Center in Logansport and Pulaski Developmental Services offically merged into one agency.
Steve Brundage became the new Executive Director in 2000.
Training Recreation Individual Programming (TRIP), a program devoted to providing recreational opportunities to clients, began in 2001.
In 2002 the organization was renamed "Peak Community Services, Inc.".
Don Weikle became the new Executive Director in 2006 and the title of Executive Director was changed to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Under new administration, an IDEM Grant was received, to purchase shredding equipment for the clients in the workshop. The agency had also implemented a standardized Annual Planning and Budgeting System during this time.
After an update to the agency’s office furniture and equipment and the initiation of an annualized policy and procedure review system, the company set its sights on forming the only foundation in Indiana to provide Interim Waiver services to its clients. In the fall of 2007, two clients were the first to reap the benefits of this foundation. In addition to the successes of the agency earlier in the year, construction of the 19th Street Group Home began, replacing the old North Street home.
In 2008 Peak Community Services Inc. was awarded a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).
Moving forward, a generator was purchased for the Woodlawn Avenue facility enabling it to serve as an evacuation center for group homes. Down the road from the agency, the Woodlawn Avenue Group Home opened, increasing the agency’s residential client capacity. After just a year, the Treen Street group home opened, replacing the Linden Avenue home. Also in 2009, June Kestle, who taught for 42 years in Pulaski, Winamac, and Logansport, passed away and left a generous bequest to the Peak Community Services Foundation. The first of many partnerships with Ivy Tech Community College also began in 2009, to conduct ADA assessments of local businesses.
Peak Community Services Inc. earned both the CERT and CARF (for Habilitation, PCS Industries, and Employment Services) three-year accreditations in 2011. Throughout the year, renovations of the second floor in Logansport took place creating a large staff training room, a new server room, and more office space. The Pepsi Refresh Project (an initiative to award $20 million in grants to individuals, businesses, and nonprofits that encourage new ideas that have a positive impact on their community, state, or the nation) awarded a grant to The Peak Community Services Foundation.
Renovations began at the 50 East and Main Street group homes in Winamac, to update both kitchens. This opportunity was funded in part by grants from the Peak Community Services Foundation as well as the Pulaski County Community Foundation.
For the first time, since the expansion of the workshop in 1984, the PCS Industries space in Logansport underwent renovation.
Peak Community Services Inc. received a new three-year accreditation from CARF, which included Community Living and Respite programs for the first time.
PCS Industries was awarded the ISO-9001-2008 Certification (a standard that outlines what requirements an organization must maintain in their quality system). Further into the year, Christopher Nabors took his position as the agency’s new Chief Executive Officer.
In 2016, Peak Community Services Inc. was one of nine agencies in the state to be awarded a Pre-Employment Transition Services contract. This program supported high school students in 25 various northern Indiana Schools in their transition from school to community-based employment.
Construction of a replacement group home in Winamac, Indiana took place and was completed by the end of 2017. Construction started on a replacement group home (for)(finished).
New Community Living home was constructed on Erie Street, providing an opportunity for 8 new residence to gain independence through Community Living in a home that is 100% handicap accessible. Winamac facility underwent renovation to improve the quality of habilitation services provided to clients.
Peak celebrates the reopening of our remodeled Day Services Program in Winamac and celebrates the grand opening of our Galbreath Street Group Home.