Non-profit expands after flood setback

CEDAR RAPIDS - Last summer's flooding delayed but didn't sink Discovery Living's new headquarters.

“It took a little longer to finish this campaign than we anticipated, but we met our goal,” said John Morris, CEO of the Cedar Rapids non-profit that operates group homes and other services for adults with developmental disabilities.

Pressed for space at its current offices at 220 Northland Court NE, the agency had purchased 2.7 acres for a new administrative center and set about raising $1.9 million for its construction. The capital campaign was launched in early June 2008, the same week the Cedar River hit a record crest at Cedar Rapids.

Once things had dried out, “we went back to some of those lead donors and said, ‘What should we do?'” Morris said. “The city's in shambles and we're going to have tremendous needs. Their feeling is, we're too far along to pull the plug.”

“The places we were going to go make calls weren't there anymore,” said Karen Volz, the campaign's co-chair. “They didn't know what they were going to do anymore, and here you're asking them to put other people first.”

Boosted with a $600,000 grant from the Hall Perrine Foundation, the campaign met its goal earlier this year. Work has already started in the new 10,000-square-foot building, about triple the current space, at 1015 Old Marion Rd. NE.

Once the building is finished next spring, Discovery Living will sell its current offices.

“We figure we're not going to do much more than break even, because the commercial real estate market is down,” Morris said.

Begun with a single eight-person group home in 1981, Discovery Living serves 118 clients in 23 group homes and several supervised-living apartments. The agency has 137 full- and part-time employees.