Lighted Way moves to new La Salle location, with help from student movers

Lighted Way in La Salle will have a new home after nearly 60 years as it began its move Monday from 941 Sixth St. to Heritage Manor.

Executive Director Jessica Kreiser said the move has been “going great” thanks in large part to the more than 100 students, athletes and coaching staff.

“The L-P athletic director and principal and superintendent did an outstanding job of gathering their coaching staffs and their athletes to come out (Monday) to volunteer,” she said.

Last year, Lighted Way purchased Heritage Manor at 1445 Chartres St. in La Salle.

“It’s a really exciting project moving from an old location to a new one,” said Scott Schweickert, a Lighted Way board member. “They are making quick work of it with all of the volunteers from La Salle-Peru students.”

Once a previous nursing home, the manor offers more than 33,000 square feet of ADA-accessible space, ample parking and a location next to Peru’s Baker Lake Park.

Moving from its 10,000-square-foot center to a 33,000-square-foot center will allow for better programming, more activities and more students.

“We are very blessed to be able to add many of the students off of our waiting list onto our rosters for the fall and now we are down to just single digits on the waiting list at this point in time,” she said.

The school serves 47 students ages 3 to 22 from 23 school districts in the Illinois Valley with multiple disabilities.

“We educate the students that public schools struggle to be able to have the staff or the curriculum to accommodate the kids in their districts,” Kreiser said.

In May, the Schweickert Charitable Trust donated $1 million to be spilt between Peru and Lighted Way. Peru’s portion will be used to construct a brand new playground at Baker Lake located immediately north and adjacent to the manor.

The playground, Magical Park, will be handicapped-accessible and feature a multitude of inclusive equipment that will provide sensory-rich experiences for children with disabilities, according to a news release. Lighted Way consulted its occupational therapist, music therapist and speech-language therapist to assist in the design of the park.

A smaller version in the backyard of Lighted Way’s new building will be fenced in, but the playground equipment will be different, so the students have multiple opportunities to try new things.

The construction of the smaller playground has already begun with the concrete laid on Monday and the aggregate to follow. Kreiser said the school hopes to start putting the playground in the next seven to 10 days.

Lighted Way’s new location should be completed by the first week of August, in time for the 2023-24 school year.

La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove said he was excited to see Lighted Way grow into a new building in La Salle.

“What’s nice about the larger facility is it offers an opportunity to help more students and more families, which is the bottom line of what Lighted Way has been all about,” he said. “Very excited about their new home and the expanded benefits it will give to our local families and the families that have to travel for this nice school for the kids.”