Jean Wootton, a long-time resident of Knowlton, recently resigned from the Board of Directors of Butters Homes Inc. for health reasons, after serving for a period of close to twenty years. In the photo, she is receiving a painting created by an intellectually disabled client of the public rehab establishment in intellectual deficiency, the CRDI Monteregie-Est, formerly called les Centres Butters. The painting is being presented by Bill Duke, Sr., (right) the outgoing and founding President of the non-profit property management company affiliated with the Butters Foundation. Butters Homes, Inc. has bought or built close to 40 homes for intellectually disabled adults in the Townships and beyond, over its 25 year history. It was instrumental in the deinstitutionalization of the original Austin campus of the Butters Centre. By 1990, the Butters Centre had relocated close to 250 clients into the towns and cities of the area, with the help of the Butters Foundation and its partner organization, Butters Homes, Inc.
Mrs. Wootton served on the Board of Directors of the Butters Centre before it merged with 3 other public establishments of the region in 1991. In 1889, she was asked to join the Board of Butters Homes as a representative of the disabled residents from the public establishment who rented lodging with the company. There she saw the non-profit company expand from an original 3 housing project for clients resigned to wheel-chairs, to a 35 house institution, providing residences, respite care homes, and the occasional workshop to intellectually disabled people living in the area.
Mrs. Wootton strongly believed that all disabled people deserved the chance to live in the community. This is the credo of the company and will remain a lasting legacy for her efforts and work as an advocate of intellectually and multi-handicapped people in the Townships.