DOWNSIZE FARM SUPPORT SERVICES
OUR MISSION
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Our mission is to enrich the quality of life of each program participant through a personalized, yet structured schedule that is well balanced. Downsize Farm is certified by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. Our staff is trained according to D.O.D.D. requirements. Small staff to client ratios enable daily activities to enhance positive friendships while flexing according to individual interest and ability. It's our desire to maintain a safe and positive social atmosphere at Downsize Farm. To do so, we affirm the dignity of each person in our program by honoring individual rights and personal responsibility to one another. Respectful behavior is expected, including positive words of expression and courteous group interaction. It's our worldview that every individual is created in the image of God and has inherent dignity, value and worth regardless of physical capability or intellectual function.
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"DOWNSIZE FARM IS A PATH AND A PARTNER OF HELP AND OF HOPE TO LIVE PURPOSEFUL AND PRODUCTIVE LIVES.
LIFE IS LOOKING UP AT DOWNSIZE FARM."
HISTORY OF THE FARM
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Downsize Farm, located on 2.5 acres in the gentle hills of eastern Champaign County, has been home to the Bob and Midge Custer family since April of 2001. The old farmhouse that has land marked the countryside since the early 1900’s had a welcome appeal of promise for their family. They had moved to the area from the dairylands of Wisconsin in 1989 to serve as pastor at Jenkins Chapel, bringing along a well cultivated desire to grow things. Two-thousand and one would prove to be an eventful year of transition for the Custer's as they responded to an inner desire to deepen their roots in the area and follow God’s direction to be more involved in the needs of individuals and families dealing with the special challenge of developmental disabilities.
Like other families that prayerfully appealed for answers to the unique demands of raising kids with developmental disabilities, Downsize Farm would be a great place for their two sons, Levi and Eric, to look at life through the distinct trademark eyes of Down Syndrome (Down’s-eyes). The Sower had planted the seeds of the hopeful and redemptive adventure “Life is Looking up at Downsize Farm” and it was ready to grow. |
At Downsize Farm, life is looking up because our help comes from the Lord” (Ps 121:1) As Levi grew, so did our hope. God had planted the seeds in our hearts of a calling to make a redemptive difference in the lives of people impacted by developmental disabilities (Jer 29:11, Ez 34:12). The gift of God’s grace not only gave us an eternal hope (Eph 2:8-9) but also a redemptive hope (Titus 2:11-14) and a living hope (I Peter 1:3) By God’s grace, we are His workmanship (Eph 2:10)…created, redeemed, called and equipped to make a redemptive difference in the lives of people. The essence of adventure is skillfully using all the resources available when navigating through the weather of life, day after day, season after season. The reality of adventure is that when looking back, it wasn’t so much skill as it was “but by the grace of God”. God’s help arrives by his grace and at times seems only “sufficient” and at other times “more than abundant”. Significant events of God’s hand at work in our lives include the adoption of Eric in 1999, our second Downy boy who was 4 at the time; the purchase of Downsize Farm in 2001; employment as a foster care case manager with Lifeway for Youth in 2001; the fostering of Randi M, a 11 year old girl with Cri du Chat in 2003; the death of our son Gabe in 2006, the establishment of our Agency in 2007; the remodeling of the barn in 2010; the summer storm of 2012; the purchase of Legacy Hills in 2013 and the start of the Job Center in Urbana in 2014. During each event, the names of people God put in our lives to help us and us to help have been written on our hearts.
--From Bobbi--
In the words of Bob Custer, “The Adventure Continues!” 2020 will forever be known as the year of a great pandemic and in this year we have seen so many people who we love face adversity. I have learned so many things over the years of watching my parents build their legacy in Downsize Farm—Storms come in yet they bring new life; Roadblocks are detours to a more creative path; The end of someone else’s story is only meant to be the beginning of a new chapter in our own.
As a child my dad used to sing a song…
Thank you thank you Lord above for smiling down on me,
I’m richer now than any man has any right to be.
Health and love and happiness, sweetens my coffee,
The richest man in all creation, surely in these me.
In the years that my dad sang this, I couldn’t comprehend that a song where my dad claimed to be rich had absolutely nothing to do with the riches our world clings to. I didn’t know about the struggles my parents were facing with the shock of having a child with a disability. I couldn’t understand that my parents moved 700 miles from their family and financial stability just to pastor to a congregation with less than 100 people. Little did they know God was priming our family for a wonderful adventure, and he was priming me with the sense that riches don’t come from money or success, they come from Him.
In 2020 I can certainly say that the Downsize Farm adventure continues! In August, my dad relinquished his CEO status and it is amazing to see the peace in his persona. My aim is to continue the family legacy at Downsize Farm. My growing heart for working with people with disabilities may not be built on being a parent, but being a sibling still strengthens my passion for my people.
There is a security that I miss in my dad leading me in our Organization, but I have also found a strength in trusting my heavenly father as we all work as a team to make daily decisions for this place. Through sickness, politics, economic changes, and all the other things our world brings, it is amazing to find solace in the fact that life is still looking up at Downsize Farm, and the opportunity to lead this Organization has truly made me the richest girl in the world.
As a child my dad used to sing a song…
Thank you thank you Lord above for smiling down on me,
I’m richer now than any man has any right to be.
Health and love and happiness, sweetens my coffee,
The richest man in all creation, surely in these me.
In the years that my dad sang this, I couldn’t comprehend that a song where my dad claimed to be rich had absolutely nothing to do with the riches our world clings to. I didn’t know about the struggles my parents were facing with the shock of having a child with a disability. I couldn’t understand that my parents moved 700 miles from their family and financial stability just to pastor to a congregation with less than 100 people. Little did they know God was priming our family for a wonderful adventure, and he was priming me with the sense that riches don’t come from money or success, they come from Him.
In 2020 I can certainly say that the Downsize Farm adventure continues! In August, my dad relinquished his CEO status and it is amazing to see the peace in his persona. My aim is to continue the family legacy at Downsize Farm. My growing heart for working with people with disabilities may not be built on being a parent, but being a sibling still strengthens my passion for my people.
There is a security that I miss in my dad leading me in our Organization, but I have also found a strength in trusting my heavenly father as we all work as a team to make daily decisions for this place. Through sickness, politics, economic changes, and all the other things our world brings, it is amazing to find solace in the fact that life is still looking up at Downsize Farm, and the opportunity to lead this Organization has truly made me the richest girl in the world.
