 Over sixty years ago, Viola Kambly moved to Battle Creek from Ann Arbor and founded a
private boarding school; 2009 marked the Kambly Living Center's
60th Anniversary. Known originally as the Battle Creek School
for Exceptional Children, Mrs. Kambly turned a huge home north
of downtown into a safe and secure environment for children with
developmentally disabilities. "The youngsters came mainly from
the Detroit area; a few from Indiana, Illinois, and Florida,"
said Jack Holtman, former executive director of the Kambly
Living Center. "There were not a lot of programs back then for
children with disabilities, so when word got out about what Mrs.
Kambly was doing, requests began to filter in." There are 30
residents at Kambly, ten have lived there for over thirty
years.  Mrs. Kambly and her dedicated staff provided the educational
foundation for the residents until her death
in 1959. Jeanne McDaniel, a registered nurse, assumed the duties
of director from her mother and reorganized the center into a
nonprofit and renamed it The Kambly School for Retarded
Children. By the 1970s, regulations from the state said that
state-supported children could stay at Kambly until they turned
18, but then they had to return to their families or placed into
foster care programs. Individuals who were privately supported
could stay indefinitely. Because of those requirements, the Kambly board changed the direction of the organization and
reclassified the facility from a school to a licensed adult
foster care home.That decision was based upon concern for the students." said Holtman. "Many of them had been in our school since they were youngsters; this was their home." The shift was made because the board felt that changing the environment of the children would be a devastating disruption in their lives, especially since many of them had no other families. So Kambly became a long-term care facility. |
 Kambly Living Center 1003 North Avenue Battle Creek Mi. 49017 Phone: 269-965-5539 Fax: 269-965-1469  Kambly Wish List is a list of everyday items that would benefit the residents at Kambly. Please click here to see our Wish List.  Kambly is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, allowing you to take a tax-deduction for any contributions. More important we need your support! To find out more click here. Your Donations are Tax Deductable |