SCARBOROUGH – Residents of the Casa Inc. home for the intellectually disabled in Scarborough, will soon have a new home, thanks to a $6.2 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.

Located on Gorham Road in Scarborough, Casa’s Intermediate Care Facility is the only one of its kind in Southern Maine, offering round-the-clock resident nursing services. The USDA loan will allow Casa to replace its current facility, largely built in 1982, with one that, at 15,785 square feet, gives its 16 residents 45 percent more living room.

“Apart from our building being in need of a lot of repair, when we admitted the people who are living here, they were much younger,” said Casa’s executive director, Anne Walp, following groundbreaking ceremonies last Friday. “They’ve grown, like all of us, and with their physical size their need for additional therapeutic equipment, like a therapy pool and built-in oxygen, have also grown. In 1982, regulations were not where they are today.”

The new Casa facility was designed by Gawron Turgeon Architects of Scarborough. AlliedCook Construction of Portland will manage the construction. Once the new building is finished, roughly one year from now, Casa will add 12 new staffers to its current crew of 65, mostly to direct care and clerical positions. The current home will be razed to create additional parking.

“This is about so much more than the construction of a new building, it’s about what this new building represents for people,” said Rural Development’s Maine Director, Virginia Manuel. “For the staff at Casa Inc., who have a passion for helping others, it will be a building better designed to help them deliver vital services. For the many clients who will come through its doors, it will mean care that provides the enrichment, compassion and opportunity to help them develop to their fullest potential in life.

Roberta White, whose son, Christopher, was Casa’s first resident as a 10-year-old in 1982, said raising a child with cerebral palsy required “more time, attention and skill and organization” than she or her husband could give on a regular basis.

“When my husband, Dick, and I were expecting our first child, we, like most first-time parents, envisioned a life of love and promise,” she said. “We expected some struggles, but we never anticipated we would need others to help our child achieve simple goals.”

With that help, Christopher White graduated from Deering High School in 1992. He has worked at Walmart since 1997 and continues to call Casa home, at age 41.

“For all Casa has done for our son, and for the children of other parents, we will be forever grateful,” said White.

“Today, we all get to be a part of what is such a celebratory day the excitement of Casa continuing their longstanding tradition of providing high-quality services in a homelike environment,” said Mary Mayhew, commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, shortly before donning a hardhat for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

“We understand that our partnership does not end today,” Mayhew added. “We are absolutely committed to being actively engaged in your mission and in assisting you in any way we can.”

Officials break ground on a new $6.2 million home for individuals with intellectual disabilities at the Casa Inc. site on Gorham Road in Scarborough Friday.

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