Around 50 civic and faith leaders gathered under the tent in the freshly turned dirt Ocf. 20.
Outstretched feet away lay a yellow tarp covering the future foundation of the medical clinic at Providence Park, a nonprofit 20 minutes south of downtown Little Rock in Mabelvale.
The nonprofit’s executive director, Errin Stanger, a 1994 graduate of Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, welcomed guests to the foundation blessing.
“It’s been a big dream of mine to create Providence Park, and one of the many exciting things is having this medical clinic,” she said as she stood in front of the construction area. “The research shows that this clinic needs to be here on site to provide the medical care and the mental health care and the dental care that’s going to be provided on site for our neighbors.”
Stanger said dental students from Lyon College in Batesville would provide dental care in a dental school on site, the staff of Divine Mercy Health Center in Little Rock would help provide medical care and mental health professionals had volunteered to provide counseling as well.
Inspired by the successful Austin, Texas, nonprofit Community First! Village, Providence Park serves as a long-term solution for homeless people in Central Arkansas. Residents will live in tiny homes and pay rent each month. The community offers several opportunities for residents, referred to as “neighbors,” to earn income, such as a community works program, plus a car care center, hair salon and community garden.
The solar-powered homes will come with various floor plans. Some units will have bathrooms, while others will be near buildings with private toilets and showers. Communal kitchens will encourage residents to develop relationships and a community with one another.
“When I was a little girl, I thought I was going to go to medical school. But God had a different plan,” Stanger said. “So instead of going to medical school and becoming a doctor, God needed me to build a medical clinic to care for some of our most vulnerable citizens in our county.”
Arkansas Catholic reported on Providence Park in June 2024. At that time, Providence Park was beginning Phase 1 of construction, which consisted of 68 small units and 32 large units. Phase 1 also includes constructing an administrative building, health services buildings, work opportunities for community members, a garden, a community kitchen, a bus stop and a store.
In future construction phases, Stanger hopes to build an additional 250 small units and 124 large units. She hopes to eventually house up to 400 people.
Soon, construction of the medical clinic will begin, and Stanger plans to have the first 10 homes ready before winter.
Stanger encouraged attendees to leave religious items, medals, notes and rocks covered in handwritten Scripture on the tarp, where Nabholz construction workers in hard hats and reflective vests waited to pour concrete, permanently sealing the prayers and blessings into the foundation of Providence Park.
Steven Morris, director of spiritual life at Providence Park, was raised Catholic. He offered a reflection during the ceremony rooted in Catholic tradition.
“About 800 years ago, a small child ran outside in a small town in Italy. She grabbed a handful of stones and took them with her to her bedroom,” he said. “She kneeled down and she started to pray. And every time she prayed, she would lay down one of the stones. And she continued to do that until her little hands cramped.
“She made this a regular practice every night. When she was a teenager, a monk came through her town, preaching. And when she heard his message about care and sacrifice for people who needed it most, she felt her calling from God.”
The girl would go on to found a sisterhood dedicated to the poor.
“St. Clare (of Assisi) started this tradition of prayer stones as something private for herself,” Morris said. “… It’s one of those synchronicities that just felt like it really matched what we’re doing here today. It’s a practice that’s come to mean something very deep to us.”
The tradition of burying religious relics or icons in the foundation of important buildings and structures for prosperity and protection dates back at least 5,000 years in the Americas. The Great Basin people, for example, carved prayers into rocks before pressing them into the clay foundations of their structures.
“Here, we’re establishing homes for people who have wandered long without them,” Morris said, gesturing to the construction site as a backhoe chirps in the background. “We’re founding a place of healing. … And we want this clinic to be literally founded on prayer.”
“It is such a privilege to be a part of this blessing ceremony for the new health clinic at Providence Park,” said Lori Wilbur, wife of Providence Park board member Dr. Lee Wilbur and the co-founder of Divine Mercy Health Center. “We are so excited for this community and these much-needed services that will be available. For many of us, we take access to health care for granted, not realizing all the challenges others face. Having all of these medical, dental and mental health services in one place is so important, and I can’t wait to see the impact it will have on the health of those who will live here.”
As for Stanger, she’s felt a sense of blessing over the whole project for a long time before Oct. 20.
“It’s just amazing what God can do,” she said. “Sometimes you have one idea, and then he takes it and makes it a whole lot bigger. And that’s been pretty constant and true for my life here with this project — it just keeps getting better and better.”
