With the help of over 100 business and community leaders, as well as families and friends, non-profit organization ServiceSource officially opened its newest site, the Chantilly Center, this past Wednesday, September 12. The center has been online since July 2, when it welcomed 29 program participants who previously received habilitation services out of ServiceSource’s Springfield location. As of the official opening, 40 participants currently receive services at the Chantilly Center, with additional participants on the way.

“ServiceSource is very excited to officially open our new day center for adults with intellectual disabilities in Chantilly,” said Paul Wexler, regional executive director of ServiceSource. “We are very appreciative of all the support we have received from elected officials, donors, residential partners and especially our program participants and their families.”

The September 12 Open House allowed members of the community to see the new center in action, with art, dance and music therapists running special programs, as well as occupational and physical therapists demonstrating their work. With a grant from the CFS Foundation, a new state-of-the-art sensory perception room was also unveiled. Congratulatory remarks were offered by several local elected officials during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Fairfax County Chairman Sharon Bulova, along with County Supervisors John Cook, Michael Frey and Catherine Hudgins participated in the special ceremony, along with State Senator Dave Marsden and State Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn.

“At our Board Meeting on Tuesday, September 11^th, our Board adopted the Carryover Review Budget adjustments for Fiscal Year 2012.  I think it is significant that in a County budget of over six billion dollars our Board’s number one priority was making sure Fairfax County could provide day time vocational services to adults and high school graduates with Intellectual and developmental disabilities,” said Bulova. “We very much value our partnership with Service Source and congratulate you on a beautiful new building where great work and great things will happen.”

The Chantilly Center represents one of the many strategic ways ServiceSource facilitates partnerships between public, private and corporate partners. Through this model, more than $2 million in private funding was used to equip and modify our state-of-the-art center.

“ServiceSource is a great partner doing great work – providing hope, opportunity, and a friendly neighbor to those most in need.  I salute their efforts and call on our citizens and business community to consider supporting ServiceSource through their own philanthropic efforts,” remarked Cook. “Together we can continue to be leaders in providing great services to our neighbors will intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities.”