Breckenridge Village celebrates opening of Douglas R. Mehling II activity center

Published 5:40 am Tuesday, August 20, 2024

The Breckenridge Village community and donors and supporters of the nonprofit celebrated the opening of the new Douglas R. Mehling II Center on Friday.

Breckenridge Village is a community that caters to helping adults with intellectual and development disabilities. The Douglas R. Mehling II Center, 15062 CR 1145 in Tyler, is a multi-purpose facility that will provide space for residential programming and bring new opportunities for future events for Breckenridge Village, which houses dozens of adults with disabilities. In addition to space for programming and activities for residents of Breckenridge Village, the center will also be available for events for the Tyler community.

“We’re in our 26th year of operation,” said Melissa Perkins, Executive Director. “… We have about 58 residents who live here on-site, and then we have 30 that come in from the community that don’t live here but they come every day for different programs.”

Perkins explained the expansion of a new event center includes a wing with eight classrooms, making it a “pretty major investment for Breckenridge.”

“Our hope is to to use the classrooms for our residents and our day program participants, and we will also utilize that space for other community nonprofits and anyone that needs the space,” she said.

Perkins expressed appreciation to supporters and donors who helped make this dream a reality, as the center was made possible by generous donors who raised $5 million in 2020 to construct the building. The largest single donation of $2.4 million came from Doug and Patti Mehling of Tyler, in honor of their late son and namesake of the center, Douglas R. Mehling II, who was diagnosed at an early age with Muscular Dystrophy and passed away in 2016.

The Douglas R. Mehling II Center features a grand hall for special events and also including breakout rooms, A/V, a catering kitchen, as well as a green room. The grand opening of the center held a dinner that was followed by a concert from country singer Lee Greenwood.

The initial construction for the Douglas R. Mehling II Center began after it reached its $5 million goal in December 2020 and was set to complete sometime in 2022 but unfortunately the project met some setbacks, namely due to effects of the COVID pandemic.

However, thanks to $4.5 million received in May 2023 from FirstDay Foundation, they were able to continue with construction. This donation marked the second time FirstDay contributed toward this project, as they provided an $800,000 grant for a much-needed installation of a water main back in December 2022. FirstDay Foundation is a charitable foundation based in San Antonio that provides philanthropic grants and management and governance services to nonprofit organizations in Texas and beyond.

The new, multipurpose building will provide residents with state-of-the-art classroom space and a larger gathering area for special occasions and fundraisers. The community broke ground on the facility in April 2021.

Robert and Jean Breckenridge founded Breckenridge Village when they found out their youngest son had Down syndrome. They purchased land in order to create a future residential community.

The organization has grown to have nine houses. Still, they are at capacity.

“My goal would be to continue to expand as long as we can, and to have campuses all over if we could,” said Perkins. “We stay pretty full and we hardly ever have vacancy. Because the service and the standard at Breckenridge is so high, we have people who move in and they just never want to move out. Our goal is to expand and we would love to have some additional campuses at some point.”

Perkins said the facility receives 10 to 20 inquiries a week. People can reach out to the facility by phone at (903) 596-8100, or email at BVT@BreckenridgeVillage.net. The physical address is 15062 County Road 1145 in Tyler.

Donors like the Baugh family have financially supported Breckenridge Village for several years. Babs Baugh donated to the foundation for over 20 years. Breckenridge Village brought her joy when she went to visit, as her connection is “deeply personal.”

“The very first time my mom came to Breckenridge Village she fell in love with the residents and the staff and the mission,” said Jackie Baugh Moore, President of the Eula and John Baugh Foundation. “She had a tender spot for Breckenridge Village, it was just one of her favorite organizations. She didn’t miss a chance to come here.”

Officials and supporters hope the community continues to receive support, and they hope to continue giving back as well.

“Breckenridge has been supported by Tyler for 26 years, so our hope, especially with this new expansion, is to give back and to serve,” said Perkins. “We want to grow the space where we are already serving our residents and the participants who come from the community. But our hope is just to continue to grow that. We want to be a service and we want to be able to give back, and offer this space to anyone who needs it. The possibilities are endless. That’s really the impact that we’re looking to make is that we really want to be a place where it’s a safe space, it’s a comfortable space and we want to be able to host as many folks as we can here.”