Lakeside’s humble beginnings officially launched in 1960. Our Founder, Bill Freeland, had spent most of his philanthropic life helping youth and inner-city children from Philadelphia find recreational, spiritual and therapeutic programs through a supportive collaboration with over 40 churches in our region. That networking had been going on for 12 years but was officially incorporated in 1960. The mission, movement and momentum had officially begun, and the journey and inspirational stories have been going on for 65 years! Let’s review a bit about this journey.
A beautiful rural 40-acre flag lot was purchased with a two-acre spring-fed lake in the middle of the property. Buildings were torn down, others were renovated, and some new ones were constructed to support the work of helping marginalized groups of children find a day camp that they could never have imagined attending. Groups in the city were given the privilege of coming to Lakeside’s woodsy property so that hundreds of children could enjoy a space that was unlike anything in their surrounding environments. Imagine the stories they told of discovering their first rabbit, fishing conquests and even finding a snake for the first time. In Lakeside’s first 10 years, hundreds of children came to Lakeside for support, fun and recreation.
As time went on many of the churches and groups turned their attention to hiring their own staff and providing different opportunities for their children and youth. Some continued to come to Lakeside for Summer Day Camp but Mr. Freeland decided that he wanted to expand the use of the Lakeside property to support marginalized students. He met with the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer of Montgomery County, Pa. who wanted to develop a place for delinquent youth to go for rehabilitation, education, and support rather than send them to a detention facility. With a mere handshake, Lakeside School was launched with only a few students that were referred from the Juvenile Probation Department. This school broadened its scope to include ungovernable students from the Office of Children and Youth of Montgomery County and eventually pregnant teenagers, which was the beginning of what is now called Lakeside Girls Academy.
As these two programs grew and developed, more staff were hired, contracts with Montgomery County were established, and these programs were utilized effectively to help students find new options for their lives and put them on a path to success. Other programs rose and fell based on community need and as Lakeside entered its 20th anniversary, Bill Freeland sensed his need for retirement and new leadership. That journey took another 5 years or so and on March 1, 1985, I was hired as the new Executive Director. Mr. Freeland’s journey was not over since he became the development officer and was effective to help Lakeside secure funding for its many growth projects.
Eventually county funding was reduced and the student numbers decreased substantially. The decision was made to contract directly with area school districts to help them support students who were unsuccessful in their district, which began the journey towards a new emergence of Lakeside across our region. Slowly but steadily, Lakeside School’s student enrollment grew.
Serving school district students brought many new challenges. The academic requirements, the therapeutic issues and the need for meeting special education requirements were all reframed, and specific program components were developed to meet those needs. The number of students requiring additional support in some districts was so significant that they asked Lakeside to establish programs within their geographic district. This was the beginning of the establishment of our Vantage Academy regional concept. Likewise, the need for counseling staff within some of our districts surfaced and Lakeside established an in-school counseling program as well as a community-based tutoring and counseling program for students who were in the gaps of counseling and education needs. These were the foundations of our current In-School Counselors program and our Mobile Support Program. Particularly in a post-COVID world these programs have expanded significantly.
In the early 2000’s Lakeside began a new training division in parenting, socio-emotional education, trauma and related topics. Later Lakeside established a Neurologic training for our schools which has been utilized in schools all over the world to bring neurological and brain-based perspectives on supporting students. To round out our training division we recently developed and are managing an organizational trauma certification program called Creating PRESENCE which is being utilized in caregiving and healthcare organizations to create trauma responsive systems of care.
In these 65 years Lakeside has provided academic and counseling support to thousands of students and now works with over 8,000 students per year. We have provided trauma training to over 70,000 professionals in over 4,200 organizations. We have provided Neurologic training to over 22,000 educators from over 200 schools, which has impacted almost 700,000 students. We have provided organizational trauma training to over 30 organizations and over 9,000 employees of those organizations.
From a small day camp to a thriving organization of 380 staff reaching students, organizations, schools, teachers, and professionals regionally, nationally and in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, Norway, Canada, Israel and others, Lakeside has become a leader in providing many forms of help, guidance and support to students and systems of care as their resource organization for training and support.
65 years of this type of support has yielded a myriad of life stories. The highs, the lows, the challenges and the victories have all been part of the journey for us all. We have brought hope, help and transformation through the care and support of a caring, grace-filled, professional staff who have given their lives to this inspirational work, day in and day out. I am so grateful to have been a part of this movement of dynamic compassion. We are thankful to God for all the substantial provision we have received through these 65 years. We appreciate all those who have been such a vital part of this movement of care including our valuable staff, funders, partners, schools, students, their parents, our contributors, our clients, our vendors, our Board of Directors and all who have stood with us through each growth step. It is because of their efforts that we have had the privilege of creating inspirational stories of healing, success and hope for these 65 years.
We are not yet done, for there is much more to do. We are striving to embrace the future in new ways and expand our impact as we continue to contextualize our knowledge, skills and resources to make a much better world for youth, their families and our society. In so doing we can create even more stories of new ways to care for those who are striving to overcome life obstacles and create opportunities for success and growth! What a great legacy and anticipation for us all!
Gerry Vassar
President/CEO
One Comment
Fantastic summary Gerry! We need more of Lakeside in churches too!