About Hesperus Village
Our Vision
An ever-evolving model for life-fulfilling elderhood through aging in community and cultivating what is truly human.
Our Mission
To provide affordable, elder living in a beautiful environment where both individual and community flourish within a caring social, spiritual and cultural life.
Our Strategy and Finances
Hesperus Village is a registered charity. To learn more about our operations, please review:
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Our most recent strategic plan
Hesperus Village Video
Our History
Founded in August 1983, Hesperus Village has been an established residential community for seniors in Vaughan, Ontario for over four decades. Hesperus has provided rent-geared-to-income and supportive housing since the early 1990s and expanded in 2011 to offer affordable housing to low to moderate income seniors in York Region as well. With partnerships with CMHA York Region, Yellow Brick House and East Sandgate, Hesperus Village has grown to be known as a welcoming and inclusive community.
Despite people living longer and healthier lives now more than ever before, our seniors have never felt more isolated. Western society still struggles to recognize peoples’ value as they age, and few models exist for living the later stages of life to their full potential.
Hesperus Village strives to address this gap and serve as a transformative example of how older people can flourish and grow in community where they can continue to develop and embrace the beauty and challenges of the third phase of life.
Hesperus Village was founded to support the dignity of elderhood as an essential part of human development. Those who founded Hesperus Village were and are inspired by anthroposophy, a spiritual philosophy and lens for learning and growth throughout one’s life.
The concept of anthroposophy originated with Rudolf Steiner, who noted that the experience of truth, beauty, and goodness at every stage of life is important for the healthy evolution of each individual beyond any single lifetime.
Steiner’s work has inspired worldwide movements in continuing self-development, education, health, agriculture, economics, and the arts. His motto for a social ethic remains an inspiration for Hesperus:
"The healthy social life is found when in the mirror of each human soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the community the strength of each one is living."
- Rudolf Steiner
“Hesperus” comes from the Greek word for the “evening star,” also known as the planet Venus in the evening. Venus is notable for shining as brightly in the evening as it does in the morning – an apt metaphor for the vibrance of human life at all its stages.
Our Name
We cultivate and practice respect and reverence for every human being. We steward the land and place out of respect and reverence for nature. The qualities of truth, beauty and goodness matter in place, space and relationships.
Respect and Reverence
Creative life is an essential aspect of health and supports personal growth throughout the ageing process. Through social engagement and artistic activities in community, we make visible the wisdom of elder experience for lifelong learning and the benefit of all.
Continuing Creativity
The wellbeing of body soul, and spirit, in individuals and groups, is essential to the life of the community. This quality of caring comes from both the organization in its practices and is expected from community members with each other and throughout the whole community.
Quality of Caring
We are an intentionally multicultural community committed to accessibility, diversity, and inclusive social life. By living our community values we encourage the voice and value the perspective of each individual. Our community life arises out of personal interests and interest in each other, and is enriched through voluntary social engagement.
A Sense of Community
While maintaining a high and necessary regard for privacy, we strive to be as transparent as possible in our actions, finances, and decision-making so that trust is cultivated and sustained. Accountability accompanies transparency and is carried by community members with kindness, inclusion and invitation to participate in the practices of our community values.
Transparency
