The nonprofit Bridgewood Farms is beginning to plan multiple long-term projects to upgrade its facilities and better serve adults with disabilities. These initiatives are spearheaded by Executive Director Randy Doleman, who said he has years of nonprofit experience and hopes to take Bridgewood into the future with multiple new facility upgrades.
Some context
Doleman was hired by Bridgewood in 2023. He said his interest in the organization was not only because of his past work in the nonprofit sector, but also his personal experience working with adults with disabilities. Doleman’s younger brother lives with cerebral palsy, and he said he and his family have been supporting him for most of his life.
“I’ve always had a heart to help people and advocate for them, but even more so for those with special needs, truly needing someone to speak up for them,” Doleman said.
The details
The four main projects Bridgewood Farms has in the works include:
New campus facility to help teach classes on Bridgewood Farms’ campusEstimated completion: summer 2027New food pantry in partnership with Montgomery County Food BankEstimated completion: 2026New homes to create a neighborhood for adults with disabilitiesEstimated completion: 2030Expansion of the Grove program, which teaches adults with disabilities life skills, to allow for more participantsEstimated completion: April 2026According to its website, Bridgewood Farms currently owns and operates four homes for 12 clients, fully furnished with caregivers and continuous community support. Doleman said the organization wants to build more homes to eventually create a neighborhood.
Meanwhile, the food pantry is a planned partnership between the Montgomery County Food Bank and Bridgewood Farms to help support locals who may be struggling with food insecurity, Doleman said.
Doleman said the nonprofit estimated the cost for the projects to be around $1.5 million. To raise these funds, Bridgewood Farms hosted a charity drive and raised $350,000. While they haven’t reached their goal, Doleman said he believes Bridgewood now has a lot of momentum going into the new year.
“There’s kind of this feeling of once we break ground, and people see that it’s actually happening, there’s a whole lot more people that want to be involved and support it financially,” said Doleman.
The timeline
The Grove program upgrades are already well underway, Doleman said, and he expects them to be completed by April of this year. The program currently hosts one “Grove group” consisting of four clients and one teacher. With the facility upgrades, Bridgewood hopes to add four more groups by the end of the year.
The campus is one of the larger projects the organization has to complete, but progress is well underway. Doleman said local architect Kevin Young will be heading the project, and construction equipment was donated by Quest Engineering. They hope to break ground on the project in the next few months, with construction estimated to last around 16-18 months and be completed by 2027.
Bridgewood is also planning on using the rest of its 60 acres of land to build the new neighborhood, which Doleman said he believes will be underway until 2030.
The food pantry partnership is still in the beginning stages, but the organization hopes to have an on-site food bank open soon, Doleman said.
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