Lighted Way in La Salle finds new home

New facility allows for more programming, activities

Teachers Stephanie Skul and Rachel Corsale interact with students in the preschool and kindergarten room on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at Lighted Way in La Salle.

Lighted Way Executive Director Jessica Kreiser was excited the day she learned the children’s development center had secured a new home at the former Heritage Manor in La Salle, allowing the school to reach more students and further its mission.

Kreiser handed each of her staff members a small piece of paper with their new address on it and asked them to meet her at that address later in the day for a surprise.

When they arrived, she asked them how it felt to park in the same lot. At their current location, the staff of 50 use off street parking in a residential area at 941 Sixth St., La Salle.

A small closet containing every day items is packed full at in the current facility on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at Lighted Way in La Salle.

The staff was excited about the improvement in parking, but, of course, the benefits to moving the children’s development center are far greater than parking.

“I was so pleased to be able to share with them that our board cares so much about what they do that we’re going to expand,” Kreiser said. “Until you have worked with one of these kids hand over hand and you have helped them be able to accomplish something that an age-appropriate peer might be able to do independently in their home district — I call it the sights and sounds of Lighted Way because I can’t explain that.”

Lighted Way has announced it will occupy a new location on Wednesday, April 20, 2022  in La Salle. The children's developmental center will move into the former Heritage Health nursing home located at 1445 Charters Street in La Salle beginning in the fall of 2023.

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

The school serves 43 students, ranging in age from 3 to the end of the school year they turn 22, who have developmental disabilities. The students come from 18 school districts, so it was important to find a new home in the same vicinity to continue to serve those schools districts and also for staff retention. The former nursing home is ADA compliant and one level, which also is essential for the new home.

Lighted Way has announced it will occupy a new location on Wednesday, April 20, 2022  in La Salle. Here, most of the classrooms in the current building is small and outdated. The children's developmental center will move into the former Heritage Health nursing home located at 1445 Charters Street in La Salle beginning in the fall of 2023.

In 1963, Lighted Ways current home started as a two-story house with a detached garage and has since undergone five building additions. The extra space will allow for less shared space.

One room is called the cafegymatorium, because of its multiple uses. The school has only five changing tables for 22 students who are in diapers ranging in age from 3 to 14. The building has one sensory room for five classrooms to share, which creates a scheduling challenge especially for children with high sensory needs.

“In the new building, we’ll have one sensory room per wing,” Kreiser said. “We’ll have many more opportunities to provide students with the sensory input they need throughout the day.”

Jessica Kreiser, executive director of Lighted Way in La Salle, plays with student Kobey in a sensory room on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at Lighted Way in La Salle. Lighted Way will be moving to a new location beginning the fall of 2023. The developmental center will occupy the former Heritage Health nursing home at 1445 Charters Street in La Salle.

If they didn’t move to a new location or add another addition, Kreiser said capping student enrollment would have become a possibility.

Having children on a waiting list is not ideal, since for most of them Lighted Way would be their perfect placement, Kreiser said.

“For the students we have that’s exactly how we feel. This place is their home. This is their haven,” she said. “We are not by any stretch of the imagination a typical school. We have the best staff on the planet who come to school everyday with one thought in mind and that is to change the life of a child.”

Here, a small sensory room can only hold a couple of children on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at Lighted Way in La Salle. The new facility will nearly triple the space that they are currently using.

One reason Kreiser and the board wanted to stay close to their current location was because of the support of the La Salle-Peru communities. Kreiser said the Lighted Way works with the La Salle Business Association to volunteer for beautification projects and have visited Walmart, Target and HyVee for shopping and scavenger hunts.

“It might sound like a small, very unimportant piece but it’s huge,” she said. “That’s one of the important pieces of helping the community to better understand our student population.”

Lighted Way receives no state or federal funding. It receives a daily rate from the school districts it serves and public donations.

A fundraising campaign will be launched in the future to help fund the new building. Kreiser hopes they can open in the new location in August 2023.

Lighted Way has announced it will occupy a new location on Wednesday, April 20, 2022  in La Salle. Here, most of the classrooms in the current building is small and outdated. The children's developmental center will move into the former Heritage Health nursing home located at 1445 Charters Street in La Salle beginning in the fall of 2023.

Want to help?

Lighted Way’s annual spaghetti dinner is 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, at Uptown Grill, 601 First St., La Salle. Dine-in, drive-thru and carry out will be available. A meal is $12, raffle tickets are $5 and raffle ticket baskets are $1.

For questions about the fundraiser, call Lighted Way at 815-224-1345 or email jkreiser@lway1.org.