Collington Episcopal Life Care Community, which has served D.C.-area seniors since 1988, on June 2 became an affiliate of The Kendal Corporation, a nationally recognized nonprofit that has developed senior living communities in eight states.

The decision to merge the two entities was made in late April by both boards following an intensive 18-month process. The affiliation was approved in early June by the Maryland Department of Aging and was celebrated at Collington on June 10.

As a Kendal affiliate, Collington will continue as an independently owned and operated nonprofit governed by its own volunteer board of directors. Kendal will provide support services to Collington in the areas of operations, finances, technology, planning and marketing.

“This affiliation brings together two organizations that are soul mates,” said Paul Cooney, the Diocese of Washington’s canon to the ordinary and chairman of Collington’s board of directors. “In a way we’ve come full circle because Collington was designed very much on the inspiration of Kendal’s communities. Together with our friends at Kendal, we believe great things are in store for Collington.”

“Collington’s affiliation with Kendal grew out of the natural affinity between the cultures, missions, visions and values of the two organizations,” said John Diffey, Kendal’s president and chief executive officer. “As a Kendal affiliate, Collington will enjoy the extra measures of strength that come with being a part of the Kendal System. Of equal importance, it will be wonderful for Kendal to have a strong presence through Collington in the Washington metropolitan area.”

Collington is located on a rolling 125-acre estate in the geographic center of Prince George’s County, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C., and Annapolis, Md. It currently serves more than 400 residents and employs a staff of more than 250 people.

Its 361 independent living residences include cluster cottages and a three-story apartment building. The community’s health and wellness center provides 65 accommodations licensed for assisted living and 44 licensed for skilled nursing care. Other amenities include restaurant-style dining, an auditorium, fitness and therapy center, library, barber/beauty shop, interfaith chapel, two miles of wooded and lakeside paths and an indoor swimming pool.

Collington’s story began in 1980, when Homer Gudelsky, a prominent local real estate developer, asked Bishop John T. Walker if the diocese would consider accepting a gift of 125 acres for the development of a retirement community.

The Diocesan Council approved a preliminary feasibility study, by-laws and articles of incorporation were drawn, a board was appointed, and Collington Episcopal Life Care Community, Inc. received its corporate charter in 1982.

Six parishes of the diocese – Trinity, Upper Marlboro, Holy Trinity, Collington, St. Christopher's, New Carrollton, Epiphany, Forestville, St. Barnabas', Leeland and St. George’s, Glenn Dale – provided seed money for the project. (Although Collington is legally independent of the diocese, seven of the 15 members of its board of directors are drawn from the nominations of the six congregations and the bishop.)

Groundbreaking took place in 1986, the cornerstone was laid in 1987, and in 1988 the first residents moved into the new facilities at 10450 Lottsford Road.

In 2003, Collington completed a $48 million, three-year expansion project, which added 55 new cottages, 28 apartments, a facility for Alzheimer’s patients and a renovated community center that houses a library, auditorium, dining room, meeting rooms and country store.

Collington’s Health Center is named for  Bishop William F. Creighton, who was concerned with providing health care to  residents of retirement communities; and in 2005 Bishop John Bryson Chane dedicated Collington’s Interfaith Chapel in honor of Bishop John T. Walker.

Kendal operates under a federal-type governance system based on Quaker values that blends autonomy with shared strengths. Over its 40-year history, just three previously established communities have become Kendal family members: Barclay Friends in West Chester, Pa., in 1994; the Lathrop Community in Northhampton and Easthampton, Mass., in 2004; and The Admiral at the Lake in Chicago in 2009. Kendal communities also are located in Hanover, N.H.; Ithaca and Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.; Oberlin, Granville and Cleveland, Ohio; Lexington, Va.; and Kennett Square, Pa.