SUNNYSIDE HISTORY AND PURPOSE

Sunnyside began as the dream of one woman, Mrs. A.H. Brooke. Mrs. Brooke saw the need for a place for the elderly citizens of Hastings and the surrounding area to end their lives in a healthy and safe environment. In the year 1912, Mrs. Brooke, a member of the Hastings Woman’s Club, convinced the club to use a $300 profit to begin funding an old people’s home. Other members, feeling the sum was insufficient to fund a home, organized teas and coffees and other fundraising efforts that included contacting businessmen to contribute to the cause.

On April 1, 1914, Sunnyside was opened in an eight-room house at the corner of Burlington Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Management was in the hands of a committee of five women under the auspices of the Hastings Woman’s Club. In those early days, Sunnyside was more of a hospital combined with a children’s home than an old people’s home. The first matron, Miss Margaret Kealy, had few conveniences and no assistance except a cook. She was on duty both day and night and provided care to the residents

It soon became apparent there was a great need for this service but to be economically feasible it had to be able to care for more people. This resulted in the purchase of a large brick house on the corner of Hastings Avenue and Fourteenth Street in 1914. Over the years, additional purchases were made giving Sunnyside access to the entire block between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets and between Lincoln and Hastings Avenues. It is worth noting that all of the building was accomplished through the efforts, vision, and dedication of a small group of women and the generosity of the community

To accommodate the purchase of the larger house in 1914 and to provide for the future, the Sunnyside Board formed a corporation to furnish a home for the old, the destitute, and the dependent. In 1927, the Sunnyside Association was formed, and Sunnyside became independent of the Woman’s Club.

Thomas and Claus Frahm generously provided an endowment in the form of farmland for the benefit of Sunnyside to be managed by the Mary Lanning Hospital Trust. In April 2001, the Sunnyside Board and the Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital Association joined together in an affiliation agreement to clarify the relationship between the Mary Lanning Hospital Trust and the Sunnyside Frahm endowment.

The needs of the community had changed over time and the needs of the elderly were being met by various support agencies. The clientele of Sunnyside had declined, and it was no longer economically feasible to operate the facility. An appraisal of the building was made, and in September 2003 the building was sold to Crossroads Center for use as a homeless shelter.

At that time, the mission of Sunnyside was changed to “Provide for the health, education, and social welfare need of the Adams County community including the elderly, through the distribution of grants derived from entrusted funds.” Since the inception of the grant program, Sunnyside has distributed more than 1.5 million dollars to local organizations and agencies to further the mission.