Brethren Village has thrown open the doors to 120 new, private rooms in a cozy, home-like environment.

"The backhoes are gone. The painters have brushed their final coats. The electricians have wired for power and sound. The computers are on. The staff is ready and willing. The doors are open," Craig Smith, district executive for the Atlantic Northeast Church of the Brethren, said Sunday.

"Well done. You have built something truly wonderful for tomorrow."

Smith was the keynote speaker for Sunday's dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for The Courtyards and Welcome Center, two new features of the residential campus at Brethren Village, 3001 Lititz Pike.

"What a great day," Smith said.

The new facilities, he said, "bring together the promise of yesterday, the reality of today and the assurance of tomorrow."

The Courtyards, Brethren Village's new health care facility, has private beds and bathrooms for 120 residents requiring skilled nursing care. The three-story building is divided into six "households" of 20 units each, president Gary N. Clouser explained.

Each household, decorated in cheery autumn colors, has an eat-in country kitchen, living room, parlor and courtyard for the residents' use, he said. Each floor has a medical suite, barber and salon, spa and other amenities.

"This is more than bricks and mortar, but an extension of our ministry," Clouser said. "The Courtyards is a place of warmth, a place of family and home."

Residents moved from their former rooms to The Courtyards on Oct. 7, Clouser said. He recalled helping one woman, about 90 years old, to settle into her new room, at which point she started to cry.

"It turned out they were tears of joy," Clouser said. "She shared with me that this was the first time in her life that she had a room to herself."

The former healthcare facilities will be gutted, leaving "only a shell of a building," he added. Over the next year, the building will be converted into a 61-bed facility for assisted-living care.

The multipurpose Welcome Center, which opened in July, includes administrative offices and the 225-seat Wolfe Auditorium.

Clouser said the capital campaign to fund the new additions has topped $5.1 million, just $1.1 million shy of its goal.

That total, he said, includes gifts from 265 individuals, businesses, foundations and various congregations of the Brethren Church.

Earl Ziegler, a Brethren Village resident and member of the development steering committee, lauded the "many unselfish, caring and sharing people" who made the expansion possible.

The additions, he said, "will transform Brethren Village to serve our residents as God intended, with tenderness, with love and with compassion."

Brethren Village, which first opened as a "home for the homeless" in 1897, now covers 154 acres and includes cottages and apartments for independent living as well as facilities for assisted living, personal care and skilled nursing. The complex has 900 residents.

tknapp@lnpnews.com