BiG: Redefining What’s Possible for Adults with DisAbilities

Brookwood in Georgetown

By: Anne DeVries

The BiG Community, known as BiG, was founded to change the way the world views adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Its inspiration stemmed from a mother's love and commitment to find meaning in her daughter's life.

Gracie, the youngest of Erin and John Kiltz's three children, was born in 1992 with Down syndrome. At age two, she was diagnosed with leukemia, and a year into chemotherapy, contracted a triple bacterial infection that stopped her heart for 20 minutes.

She survived, but doctors warned she would never smile again. Her older brother and sister prayed each night that her smile would return, and it did. In 2010, Gracie was elected Homecoming Queen at Georgetown High School, a moment that made national headlines, and posed a question to her mother, Erin: "What's next for Gracie?"

In 2011, Erin Kiltz founded BiG to give her daughter a place to belong. The organization is modeled after the Brookwood Community outside Houston, a God-centered vocational and residential community for adults with disabilities. Visits by Erin provided the roadmap: a way to build a similar community for Gracie and her friends, teaching them skills, providing meaningful work, and generating income to sustain their future lives, support that cannot always come from parents they may outlive.

Gracie passed away on September 8, 2018, at age 26, but her legacy lives on. Today, BiG operates four campuses, including one in downtown Austin located in The University Avenue Church of Christ, and serves more than 100 Citizens, the term BiG uses for adults in its program. Citizens work in the BiG retail shop and attached cafe, create pottery and original art, or bake for the shop, online store, and Tomlinson’s in Austin, each participating in a vocational program built around their strengths.

BiG's mission, in Kiltz's words, is "to change the way the world views this population."

Kiltz, a former interior designer, is an extraordinary visionary. Though she credits BiG's growth to the surrounding community and staff, her high standards are the backbone of an undertaking that is now expanding to include a small events venue near the BiG Cafe. Each addition has a business focus, generating income for the Citizens' ongoing needs.

Kiltz and BiG's largest undertaking is a residential community 6 miles outside Georgetown, named Grace Place in her daughter's honor. On this 127-acre site, Citizens can reside in their own private tiny home if independence allows, or in a home with on-site supervision. At full capacity, Grace Place will permanently be a home to 80 Citizens and staff, addressing what Kiltz calls the greatest fear of any special-needs parent: what happens when they are no longer here to provide care.

BiG is now raising $12 million to add a chapel and events space to Grace Place, and is waiting to break ground until the full amount is raised.  Weddings booked at the chapel will help fund the residential community.

A drive into Grace Place is a joyful experience. Past the stone gate, the road is flanked by fields of sunflowers planted by local farmers, a symbol in BiG's branding of its acceptance of unique individuals. The grounds may eventually include a Pick-Your-Own Sunflower patch, a Modern-Day Drive-in Movie Theater, and more, all open to the community and functioning as work opportunities for Citizens.

Much of BiG's operating gap is closed each year through its golf benefit, held every Columbus Day, where nearly 100 Citizens, each captaining a fundraising team, ask friends and sponsors to help cover the $10,000 gap between tuition and actual cost.

BiG's other major fundraiser is its annual art auction, featuring more than 150 original works created by Citizens alongside professional artist-coaches, who contribute no more than 10% of the design expertise to any piece. Attendees have mistaken pieces for donated art, only to learn they were made entirely by a Citizen and coach.

In addition to the ongoing operations of the BiG Cafe and Shop, the online store, the events center, and the build-out of Grace Place, the staff at BiG is committed to sharing their model with other locations across the US.  They have helped found 11 other sites in 9 different states as part of their Replication program, led by Founder Erin Kitlz.

BiG's energy, loving atmosphere, and standard of excellence are best appreciated in person. Tours are offered weekly and can be scheduled at https://BiGtx.org/take-a-BiG-tour. As an alternative, stop by the BiG Cafe and Shop next time you travel north of Austin on Rt. 35 (exit 262 toward Williams Dr.). You'll be glad you did.