Group Homes Now Permitted in St. Charles

Local service organizations have pushed for changes to local laws that require people operating group homes to obtain a conditional use permit.

Barb Griffith wants St. Charles residents to know people with disabilities are no different from anyone else—they just want to enjoy their homes and socialize with friends. "We want to be good neighbors and we want to promote people that live in their community," said Griffith, CEO of St. Peters-based Community Living.  In the future, a group of people with disabilities will be able to move into a house in a St. Charles neighborhood without having to get special conditional use permit. St. Charles City Council voted on Tuesday to change the city zoning codes to allow "group homes" in the city as a permitted use, meaning they wouldn't have to appear before the city council. It's a change long sought by organizations that provide support to …

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608 SERVE Volunteers Assist at Emmaus Home Events

As part of 608 SERVE Week, volunteers offered assistance to Emmaus Home residents for crafts, birthday parties and an outdoor movie event.

The 608 SERVE Week has been pushing to get Saint Charles residents out serving one another all week and it's proven to be a rewarding experience for both the organizations needing help and for those serving. The Emmaus Homes of Saint Charles, is one of the many locations the 608 SERVE Week team paired with to provide volunteers throughout the week. Residents have disabilities that require additional help and the 608 SERVE Week teams were there to do just that. Individuals are encouraged to log their own service hours to contribute to the goal of reaching 608 hours of volunteer work this week, Sept. 10 - 16. Serve through Sunday and share those hours at www.coswired.org/608.

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Lindenwood University to Build Storage Facility

Planning and Zoning approved a site plan for facility, a conditional use permit for a

St. Charles Planning and Zoning Comission approved several items during the April 23 meeting. 

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Group Homes Still a Thorny Issue For Communities, Residents

Group homes remain a sometimes controversial issue in St. Charles County. Local governments can't bar them but can restrict how close they are to each other.

Lisa Drier remembers a man who spent years in a nursing home before moving into a group home in Wentzville.  The man hadn’t eaten in a restaurant for years, Drier said the staff learned. “He walked in and said, 'It feels so good to be home,’” said Drier, who is the executive director of the Emmaus Trust Foundation. Emmaus is a St. Charles-based nonprofit organization that operates group homes for disabled people. But group homes in residential areas are a complicated issue issue these days. Some area municipalities have laws that limit the number of group homes by requiring them to be a certain distance apart.  Others require group homes to obtain a special conditional use permit from the city.  Some residents have protested putting group …

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St. Charles Considers Permit for Group Home for Disabled Adults

Emmaus Homes requests conditional use permit for home on West Adams Street.

On Tuesday, the St. Charles City Council will consider a request for a permit for a group home that would be used by four developmentally disabled adults on West Adams Street. St. Charles Planning and Zoning approved the request for the conditional use permit at its meeting Feb. 27. Emmaus home staff members would be at the house 24-hours a day while residents were present, although the home would not be owned by Emmaus home. The residents would lease the home from the homeowner. Emmaus Homes proves support for people who have a diagnosis of things like down syndrome, autism or cerebral palsy and need help with basic activities including cleaning and cooking. “The service we provide is completely separate from home ownership or a lease,” …

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Council Gives Emmaus the Nod for Group Homes in St. Charles

City approves conditional use permits for homes for developmentally disabled.

The St. Charles City Council during its meeting Tuesday unanimously approved six conditional use permits for Emmaus Homes to continue operating six group homes for developmentally disabled residents. The six homes could serve up to 23 developmentally disabled people in the city: The city became aware the homes already were operating when it approved a conditional use permit for another Emmaus-run home at 3345 Town and Country Lane. Other cities in St. Charles County have passed “density” requirements, banning group homes from locating within a certain number of feet from one another. Those cities include O’Fallon and St. Peters. However, at past meetings some residents had spoken out against issuing permits for the homes. Some said the …

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Faith Matters

Residents at Emmaus Homes Teach Lessons in Love

Advent is a four-week period before Christmas when the church takes time to wait, anticipate and prepare for the birth of Jesus. The author reflects on the meaning of Advent in light of recent local news.

For many Christians, the four weeks before Christmas are considered the season of Advent, a word that means “coming.” The traditional themes for these four weeks of preparation prior to Christmas are hope, peace, joy and love. After four months of preaching each Sunday at Emmaus Homes West Campus, I know much more about these majestic themes of faith than I did before. Hope Bobby asks each Sunday, “When’s Christmas?” He doesn’t want to miss it. That’s edge-of-your-chair anticipation. It’s that hope and waiting for Jesus’ birth wrapped up in a few words. This is holy expectation, of the hope that the Holy One of God, Jesus was and is, and the hope for this world that Jesus brings with his birth. “When’s Christmas?” “It’s Dec. 25, Bobby, a …

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Faith Matters

A Ministry of Love and Joy

Rev. Joan Jones has been the chaplain at Emmaus Homes in St. Charles for 13 years. It is a ministry of calm compassion, a call to love the people, and joy every day.

The Rev. Joan Jones is chaplain at Emmaus Homes in St. Charles. She began March 1, 1998, having moved from the east coast and parish ministry in churches in New York and Pennsylvania. “I was geared for the parish,” Jones said. “This was all new.” Emmaus Homes is a place of the spirit. Its stated mission is, in part, “to enhance the quality of life for adults of all beliefs who have cognitive, intellectual and other developmental disabilities.”   The first Emmaus campus, founded in 1893, used the former seminary of the Evangelical Synod of the West in Marthasville, MO. That location is Emmaus Homes West. Emmaus Homes in St. Charles or Emmaus Homes East, began in 1901. That is 110 years in the St. Charles community. Both places continue the …

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New Adaptive Garden Opens for Developmentally Disabled Adults

Groups look for volunteers to help with garden program.

A casual conversation on a porch swing about the joys of gardening several years ago planted the seeds for an idea that germinated Wednesday in St. Charles. The conversation between a caseworker and a client sparked the idea of spreading that joy to the developmentally disabled adults here.  On Wednesday the idea came to fruition when clients served by several agencies in St. Charles cut the ribbon on an adaptive garden at Emmaus Homes. The garden, with funding from the Developmental Disabilities Resource Board of St. Charles County (DDRB), gives clients of Emmaus Homes, Community Living, Willows Way and RHD-Missouri the opportunity to plant and harvest their own organic produce.  The agencies a variety of services for individuals with …

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