Sixty-five years ago, Rev. Dr. John A. Scherzer, a pastor and member of the Lutheran Lay Fellowship of Metropolitan Washington, led the founding of Fellowship Square Foundation (FSF), in his tireless pursuit to bring together the community to support vulnerable seniors and assure they had access to safe and affordable housing. He, alongside an equally committed group of businessmen and professionals, eventually welcomed residents to the Lake Anne Fellowship House in 1971 and, just five years later, to the Lake Anne II Fellowship House in 1976. Around that time, Dr. C. David Hartmann joined the effort and served more than 50 years in a variety of roles, helping shepherd FSF through the opening of Hunters Woods (1979), Lake Ridge (1983), and Largo Landing (1984). We sat down with Dr. Hartmann for a chat about his long history with FSF.
Q: What inspired you to become so involved?
A: I was involved as a volunteer and leader in a number of church-related non-profit service organizations, and I looked around at new possibilities. I had met John Scherzer when he visited my church in Fairfax to talk about FSF and its ministry. I was impressed and after interviewing with John, I joined the FSF Corporate Membership. I soon began serving on the Board of Directors and later as John’s vice president. When John retired as Board chair, I served some years as president. Later, I spent a couple of years as secretary. While I have been “much more retired” in recent years, I still serve on the FSF Governance Committee and more recently have started serving on the Hunters Woods Elderly Development “House” Board.
I became and stayed involved, quite simply, because I thought it was worth doing. I was anxious to find an outlet where I could be useful and helpful to those who needed it.
Q: Why are properties and services like FSF needed?
A: There isn’t very much out there for the very poor, and seniors with limited means are at enormous risk. Availability of affordable housing is a critically serious problem for people of every age, but for seniors who lack financial backup or social and family support networks, it’s particularly difficult. Many of FSF’s residents could barely survive without some kind of government support, and they also need supportive services as they age and become less capable and mobile. It’s a compelling ministry that is worth our time and attention.
Eventually, more municipalities and individuals started realizing that affordable housing for seniors was a unique need, and supporting organizations like FSF needed priority attention. There are a lot of people over a lot of years who, like me, happily invested time and expertise to work through these kinds of issues and do what we can to improve seniors’ lives. Still, there is a lot more to be done.
Q: What are you most proud of?
A: We cared and we prevailed. We had some ups and downs, with some of the downs pretty significant. But we stuck with it and found ways to do things that hadn’t been done before. It’s a dream come true to see the sheer number of people working at the problem, over the course of so many years, for the simple reason that our community’s seniors need help.
Looking forward, the need for additional affordable housing is a must. But it’s more than that; there are other services needed to help the elderly and very poor, and, hopefully, more organizations are starting to look at that more systematically. We all have to keep looking for solutions and keep caring.