Julia Healey, President and CEO, United Charitable. Julia shares stories of donors whose values and choices are shaping lasting charitable impact.
Jill’s House Was Built for Children With Intellectual Disabilities. The Whole Family Needed It Too.
The first weekend Fred Baerenz’s colleague left his child in Jill’s House care, his wife walked back to the car and sat there for three hours.
Not because anything was wrong. Because something was finally right.
For the first time in years, the weight of constant caregiving had somewhere else to go. They went home. They had a family movie night. They focused on their other children. On Sunday, they came back happy to pick up their child.
That is the gift Jill’s House is built to give. And for Fred, being part of making that gift possible is something he does not take lightly.
What Is Jill’s House?
Jill’s House, located at 9011 Leesburg Pike in Vienna, Virginia, is a place designed specifically for families raising children and adults with intellectual disabilities. It was founded by Lon and Brenda Solomon, whose daughter Jill gave them a firsthand understanding of what families in this situation need most: not just care for their child, but real support for everyone around that child.
From the very beginning, Jill’s House was built with the whole family in mind.
The organization provides overnight respite care, giving families a full weekend of support with trained staff and medical personnel caring for their child around the clock. It also offers marriage retreats, family retreats, support groups, typical sibling programming, and men’s and women’s groups. All holistic support services are provided at no cost to participating families.
“The goal is for every child and adult who comes through our doors to feel completely engaged, welcomed, loved, seen, and known from the moment they walk in,” said Dana Hecht, President and CEO of Jill’s House, who stepped into the role about nine months ago after 15 years with the organization.
Jill’s House serves families of every background. About 80 percent of the families who walk through the door are not affiliated with a church. While the organization has deep roots at McLean Bible Church and brings a Christian faith lens to its programming, it welcomes everyone. Medicaid waivers help cover the cost of respite for qualifying families, though the waitlist in Virginia can run seven to ten years. A sliding scale based on income applies, and donated dollars fill the gap for families who cannot afford the full private pay rate.
Why the Whole Family Is Part of the Mission
Most disability services focus on the child. Jill’s House was built to look at the whole picture.
“Behind every individual with this kind of disability stands a mom or a dad or another loved one who is supporting them and advocating for them and finding all of these resources for them,” Dana said. “And that can be an exhausting thing to do.”
Fred understood that before he ever heard of Jill’s House. It is why, when he found it, it did not feel like just another nonprofit. It felt like a place that understood something his family had lived.
The colleague he connected with the organization had adopted two children in addition to four of his own. The youngest has severe disabilities. Fred helped introduce the family after joining the board, and what happened that first weekend became a story Fred carries with him.
The wife in the car. The family movie night. The Sunday pickup. The ordinary moments a family had not been able to reach for years.
Why Fred Gives, and Has for Nearly 30 Years
Fred Baerenz does not describe his giving as a burden. He describes it as a privilege.
He has contributed to Jill’s House for almost 30 years, starting through the community ministry that preceded the organization and staying through every phase of its growth. His earliest gifts were modest. As his capacity to give grew, so did his commitment. He recently joined the board of directors and recommends grants to the organization through his Donor Advised Fund at United Charitable, a deliberate act that lets him give with intention every time.
His giving has never been random generosity. It is deeply personal.
Fred’s older brother David had Down syndrome. The two of them spent their childhood getting into the kind of gentle mischief that only a younger brother who could think of the ideas and an older brother who was big enough to carry them out could manage. One of Fred’s earliest memories is getting accidentally kicked in the head by his toddler brother. David, who would never intentionally hurt anyone, was devastated. He refused to wear those shoes again.
“David was the best thing that ever happened to us,” Fred said. “What a privilege to be around somebody who is 100 percent love.”
David died when Fred was seven years old. David was ten. That loss, and everything it taught Fred about what it means to love and care for someone with a disability, never left him.
Jill’s House gave that experience somewhere to go.
For Fred, supporting Jill’s House is a way to turn memory into service, gratitude into action, and love for his brother into relief for families who need it now.
“Partly I honor my mom and my brother,” he said. “And partly I’m just doing what God has called me to do.”
What the Privilege of Giving Makes Possible
Dana Hecht did not hesitate when asked what recurring giving does for an organization like Jill’s House.
“It opens the doors to dreaming and dreaming bigger,” she said.
When an organization can count on foundational giving, it can plan rather than react. For Jill’s House, which funds its entire holistic family support program through donations, that steadiness is what makes the difference between maintaining what exists and building what could be.
A gift of $5,000 would cover an entire year of respite care for one family, and then some. Every dollar that goes toward the retreats, the support groups, and the sibling nights comes from donors who believe the whole family deserves care.
Fred’s story shows why giving can feel so meaningful when it is tied to lived experience. The gift does not only support an organization. It keeps a memory alive, strengthens families who are carrying something heavy, and gives the donor a way to participate in work that feels deeply personal.
“These are families that have so much need that they don’t even know how much they need,” Fred said. “And they don’t have time to think about it.”
For Fred, being able to help carry that weight is not an obligation. It is something he is grateful for every time he gives.
Where Jill’s House Is Going
After 15 years of overnight respite in Vienna, Virginia, Jill’s House is thinking about what comes next. Dana’s vision includes new locations across Virginia and a daytime adult support program for individuals who age out of special education services at 22, when much of the existing support system disappears.
Each fall, Jill’s House also brings together community supporters through its annual golf tournament, held the second Monday of September.
The organization that began with one family’s understanding of what other families needed has grown into something that reaches hundreds of families a year. For donors like Fred, that growth is not just an organizational milestone. It is proof that showing up, year after year, adds up to something lasting.
If a story like Fred’s reflects how you want your own giving to feel, United Charitable can help you build a giving approach that fits your life and your values. Subscribe to our newsletter to follow organizations like Jill’s House and stay connected to the giving happening across our network.
