Spring Meadow Resources

Take yourself back a hundred plus years. The Helena valley was enjoying a booming economy after gold was found in the 1860s; the railroads carried raw materials out of the area and brought in refined goods and more people. The Broadwater Hotel was built as a destination resort for those who wanted to partake of the warm healing waters found on the west end of the valley.

It was in this atmosphere that a man who worked in the local quarries built up a small ranch and his stone home on a 30+ acre property adjoining Ten Mile Creek. His gardens provided vegetables for the Broadwater’s kitchens, and it is said that he maintained the horses and carriages the hotel’s guests needed. Sometime after that, the pond found on the property was dug for gravel for the MacDonald Pass highway. One also finds broken brick along the northern edge of the property from the brick making days at the Archie Bray Brickworks. A medical professional built a two story log home and a garage on the land, adding landscaping to the front part of the parcel. The ranch remained in the family, and finally the new non-profit company bought the ranch from the family and the home.

Spring Meadow Resources, Inc., formerly known as Tri-County Developmental Disabilities, started providing services to individuals with developmental disabilities in the Helena area October 1, 1975. Soon, Spring Meadow Resources, Inc. replaced the Tri-County name. Not only did the name change, but the scope of services broadened to include supported living (independent living) services, which allowed people with developmental disabilities to live in their own homes and still receive assistance with such things as household chores, banking, medications administration, transportation to medical appointments, and other tasks.

Time passed, and Spring Meadow Resources grew to a company with five group homes. A one story log sided structure was added to the property for the senior day program and its activities. In 1995, Spring Meadow Resources built the Brass 7-unit apartment complex on Harris Street housing individuals with disabilities. Replacing an older home, a new senior group home, designed by CWG Architects for senior needs, was completed in October, 2001. Spring Meadow Resources’ newest capital project includes the education/training center just finished early in 2006, connecting administrative and day program buildings. The center offers classrooms and a large open plan basement for a variety of activities that include exercising with equipment, a computer lab, a beauty salon, training space, and art and woodworking projects.

In 2004, Spring Meadow Resources and Hauser Lake Home, Inc. collaborated to operate another 8 resident home for individuals with more intensive medical needs in a rural setting near Lakeside.

Through the years, as Spring Meadow Resources grew into the corporation it is today, the services provided grew to include recreational services, a major component of the service provision package Spring Meadow Resources offers. The Creative Activities Program, previously known as CAP that was developed for seniors with developmental disabilities, has now become a component of the Day Programs for all adults with disabilities, along with the blind/low vision component, the volunteers in the community component, and other components under development. In addition to recreational services and the day programs, Spring Meadow Resources offers supported living and residential services.

Spring Meadow Resources has been nationally accredited through CARF every three years since the early 1990s, a status still maintained today.

There are approximately 105 full time and part time employees with a payroll of $2.3 million annually. Some of the benefits enjoyed by Spring Meadow Resources employees include health and life insurance, cafeteria plans for dental and vision, free flu vaccinations, private recreational opportunities on the 30 acre park for themselves and their families, and a family oriented work environment.

As Spring Meadow Resources enters the next few years, the ten year Master Plan reveals planned growth in new residences, additional recreational opportunities in the park, and service provision to all individuals with disabilities.