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Beginning this month, a few post-retirement age people will move into a new home that has a lake view never before enjoyed from a livingroom window. The six-story Overlook at C.C. Young offers units with big windows opening to White Rock (not to mention spacious quarters, restaurants, parks and a beauty shop that will also be opened to the public). The newly appointed C.C. Young president Ken T Shield S, father of three and grandfather of six, took us on a brief tour. he filled us in on the bumpy journey to completion of the multi-million dollar project, and the role C.C. Young, the nonprofit organization where he has worked for 16 years, plays in the White Rock neighborhood.

How did you make your way to the White Rock area 16 years ago?

After serving 25 years in the Air Force, I came to Dallas from San Antonio to make my fortune, and that’s when recession hit. My father was in his 80s, and I became interested in the issues that surrounded aging. I learned that University of North Texas had one of the premiere aging programs, so I went back to school. I had to do an internship, and that’s when I arrived at C.C. Young.

Physically the campus has developed since then. Aside from that, what are the significant changes you’ve seen?

Since I started, the focus has changed from nursing home to a focus on living, health and hospice, services we can take into the community.

WHEN THE OVERLOOK AT C.C. YOUNG WAS ANNOUNCED, NOT EVERYONE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODWAS EXCITED ABOUT IT. DOYOU RECALL?

Oh, yes. I was the operations manager at the time. When we started getting serious, we knew people would be concerned about how it would affect the lake and the park. A tall building, eight stories was first proposed, was unprecedented in the area, and a few of our neighbors were concerned that if we were approved, high rises would start popping up. Like those people, we are concerned about the lake and the park. We decided that, really, the answer was to improve communication. C.C. Young, we told people, has been in Dallas since 1922; we’ve been at this location since 1963. We are invested in this neighborhood and don’t want to build anything that would detract from it. However, most of the community supported the project — you have to remember, 80 percent of our residents are from the Lakewood and Lake Highlands areas. They want to be here because this is home. In fact, we feel we are obligated to build a place for these residents to live. And the support from the existing residents for the project was overwhelming. When the city council held the zoning hearing, so many of our residents wanted to attend that we chartered three busses. They filled that little room! In the end, it was approved for six stories rather than eight.

AND HAVE YOU HEARD FROM ANYOF THE NAYSAYERS SINCE?

I am happy to report that some of those who were most concerned are now some of our biggest supporters. In fact one of the women who voiced the most concern, has reserved a spot for her own parent at the Overlook.

SOYOU RECENTLYWERE PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT AND CEOOF C.C. YOUNG. WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING THE HEAD HONCHO?

Well I’ve been interim president for about a year, so though it became official last week, I have had a little time to adjust. C.C. Young is kind of like a little town. I spend most of my time thinking about our residents. There are the day-to-day concerns you deal with in any community or business, but we are able to serve people, in great thanks to our supporters in the community. We are a nonprofit, so we get contributions from churches and individuals in the community. One woman donated the funds to build a meditation labyrinth in the park that we are currently building (it will be done by the end of August), for example. Every year, we offer hundreds of thousands of dollars in benevolence for example, a resident comes to us and says his or her savings has run out, and we work with them. Unfortunately not everyone, but many, we are able to help.

—CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

CALL OUT: LEARN MORE about the Overlook and other residences and services at C.C. Young at CCYoung.org, or call the residential living department at 214.874.7474.

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Small ways that you can make a big difference for neighborhood nonprofits

PLAY AT NORTHPARK ...

The 15th annual ORIX Parade of Playhouses at NorthPark Center benefiting Dallas CASA is set for Aug. 5-21. This year’s event will feature 19 custom-designed children’s playhouses. The playhouses include an artists’ house, a pint-sized bed and breakfast, a train engine, an airplane and a Dallas Mavericks-themed house. One very special playhouse will be auctioned to raise additional funds bid on it online at dallascasa.org or at NorthPark Center. Raffle tickets for other playhouses are $5 or $20 for five. Winners will be announced during the closing ceremony at NorthPark at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21. Winners do not need to be present to win. On any day in Dallas County, 2,000 children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect are living in foster care waiting for the courts to decide where they may safely live. Dallas CASA is an organization of volunteers who serve as voices in court for these victims. Sadly, Dallas CASA currently serves less than one-third of the children in protective care in Dallas County. “Parade of Playhouses is an important opportunity not only to give children a chance to win an amazing playhouse,” ORIX USA President and CEO Jim Thompson says, “but also to help connect abused children in our community to the safe, loving homes they deserve.”

KNOW OF WAYS that neighbors can spend time, attend an event, or purchase or donate something to benefit a neighborhood nonprofit? Email your suggestion to launch@advocatemag.com.

LAUNCHgrab-bag play ball

When Dallasites think of Grand Prairie, Texas, a few things likely spring to mind: horse races at Lone Star Park, boating at Joe Pool Lake or concertgoing at Verizon (formerly Nokia) Theater. But for Lake Highlands residents, attorneys Scott Berry and Gary Elliston, Grand Prairie means baseball. Specifically, it means Grand Prairie AirHogs American Association of Independent Professional Baseball baseball. Berry and Elliston, president and chairman of the board, respectively, of Southern Independent Baseball, L.L.C, in April purchased the Grand Prairie AirHogs and are now working to promote the sport as a “fun and affordable form of family entertainment,” Berry says. The men already owned baseball teams — the Shreveport-Bossier Captains and the Amarillo Sox — but they say having a team close to home is especially exhilarating. “Gary and I love the fact that we have a team right in our own backyard,” says Berry, a father of four, his youngest at Lake Highlands High School. Berry and Elliston have plans for the AirHogs ballpark, Quik Trip Park, that include booking concerts and college baseball games. “We feel this is a diamond in the rough-type deal with plenty of opportunity for events and to make this area — near Lone Star Park and Verizon Theater — a hub of sports and entertainment for families.” The Grand Prairie mayor, Charles England, is excited to have two Dallas guys operating the team. “We are very proud of our minor league baseball team in Grand Prairie,” England says. “I think it’s very important that Gary and Scott are local guys. They live and work in Dallas County and that means a lot to us. I’ve talked to quite a few AirHogs fans, and they are really excited about the new ownership.” —Christina

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