Circle of Friends Crisis Forces Sale on Newly-Purchased Campus, Program Reduction

The Circle of Friends, a valued community-service program serving the Lake Wales area, has hit a crisis after expected grants failed to materialize, forcing the sale of a new campus acquired only last year.

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A group of Circle of Friends students and instructors gathered proudly in front of the school's new campus to invite supporters to a ribbon cutting ceremony only 16 months ago. The school is now being forced to sell the property after a shortfall in financial support.

The nonprofit Circle of Friends, founded in 2002, has relied on grants, sponsors, and donors to invest in the lives of special needs students who have aged out of regular school programs. A Tuesday night board meeting was attended by a group of parents and a wave of disappointment, anger, and recriminations after the school failed to open last week.

The school's former executive director, Crystal Higbee, is among those most disappointed by the loss of the campus and reduction of the program, portraying the situation as a betrayal of the faith she had placed in the organization's board of directors and leadership. "I think we all do," said Addie Odum, a long time teacher at the facility. "It's a mess."

The crisis brought an assertion by Higbee that she was misled and pressured into signing a personal note as guarantor of an $850,000 mortgage on the purchase of the current campus at the former Westside Baptist Church. The move from a downtown property came in 2023. That building was sold for $320,000.

"We're all in this boat together," Vice-Chairman Scott Thompson said. "It got swamped, now we have to bail it out and set sail again. We just don't have the funds this summer. Once we sell the property, we will end up with just what we had going in" to the expansion, he said, offering assurance that the much-needed program will continue.

Board Chairman Curtis Gibson told the Lake Wales News that "I told Crystal that 'if you want to go into this new facility, you're going to have to work your butt off'" to raise money.

When the organization failed to raise the funds to complete the purchase within the one-year rental-purchase option, the board discussed moving out to find less-costly housing, but no vote was taken, said board Chairman Curtis Gibson.

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Myrtice Kelly, co-founder of Circle of Friends, explained many of the challenges the group has overcome since its founding at the ribbon cutting for the present campus. That property is now being sold as the group struggles to overcome yet another challenge.

Higbee said that the budget submitted with the loan application was seriously inflated, but her objections were turned away. "The budget they submitted claimed we had 50 students," Higbee said. "It was unrealistic. We never had more than about 28, including part-time." Higbee says she told them that the mortgage payments would be too much for the small school to repay.

Higbee says that she was sent alone to the mortgage closing and broke down in tears when she realized the board had set her up to be the guarantor for the "nearly a million dollars" mortgage. Higbee says that she never signed a loan application or gave permission for her credit to be used.

Left sobbing for ten minutes at the closing and pressured to sign the documents, she called her husband, who replied that "either we have faith, or we don't." Her husband now regrets those words, she says.

In an hour-long interview with Lake Wales News, Thompson explained the complexities of providing for the served population, most of whom will never be able to live without assistance. Thompson acknowledged what Higbee went through. "Crystal called me from the closing table," Thompson said. "She did feel pressure and I can understand that," he said, but pointed out that she was the president and CEO of the organization so was required to sign as a guarantor.

"Crystal was a doing a fantastic job, and I wouldn't have done it for what she earned," Thompson said. "At that time I didn't understand that Crystal didn't have the business acumen" to understand the process.

"At that point we had two choices: close, or not," Thompson said. "If not, the church could kick us out and we could go find another place."

Thompson pointed out that "the loan is not in default, and not going into default," describing the current situation as the result of anticipated grant funds that were not received. The Circle of Friends primary property is now under contract to be sold, with a closing expected in November. Higbee expects that her name will then be completely off the financial obligations.

The organization still owns two adjacent vacant lots and a single house, which will also be sold to recover the balance of the original investment.

"We knew that the investment was secure," Thompson said, "because we bought it for less than market value." The proceeds of the sale of the former building on Stuart Avenue was used as the down payment.

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The interior of the current building offered plenty of room for expansion and client services. Finding a new space to accommodate the program is the challenge facing the Circle of Friends board.

Higbee described Thompson, a financial advisor, as the individual who controls most of the board's actions, even though Gibson took over as chairman earlier this year, replacing Unzueta. "Scott told me that I had to enforce a tuition rate of $700 a month when it had never been voted on" by the board, Higbee said. "I said I wouldn't do that."

"If you only have ten students paying $400, you know you're not making it." Gibson said. He said he recalled that the board discussed raising the tuition to $700, but admitted he couldn't recall any action. "Don't get me wrong, Crystal is a great program person," he added. He reiterated that although Higbee wasn't on the board, she was the designated president of Circle of Friends, and the right person to sign the note.

Higbee said that as money grew tight, the board stopped paying her in June, so she put another $3,000 dollars into the account to pay the school's other teachers, something Odum verified.

When Higbee informed Thompson of her intention to resign last week, "he just shrugged," she said. The other instructors heard of her resignation and refused to work as well.

Thompson acknowledged that Higbee is owed for "three pay cycles," and said that she would be receiving her back pay.

What founder Mertice Kelly started in one Sunday School classroom 22 years ago with the assistance of Pastor Buddy Collins at the First Assembly of God Church grew into a full-time program over the ensuing years. Kelly didn't like the fact that her daughter Connie and other children with special needs were pretty much ignored by the community.

The students enjoy instruction in music, visual, and culinary arts. They participate by running a snack shack and gift shop and learn to build reading and math skills through general education programs.

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Special needs clients and parents gathered in a classroom of the Circle of Friends' current facility on East Lime Avenue in Lake Wales following a ribbon0-cutting for the new campus.

Thompson explained that most of the students receive only $956 each month in SSI, or "supplemental security income" payments from the government. If they are able to work, the earned income reduces their SSI amount. "When they're students, the state's FTE (full time equivalent student funding) pays great. Once they turn 22, there's just nothing," he said. "There's a group with no financial support, and Circle is trying to fill that gap."

The new campus was expected to allow the school to house more "Medical waiver" students who receive a greater income, but the group was distressed to learn that "there's a 20-year wait list to get on it, " Thompson said, explaining that the funds are to provide for a caretaker, but are often given only after the death of an only parent.

"Did we out-grow that market?" Thompson asked rhetorically. "Maybe. But the only way to cross this gulf is with private donations."

The current situation "is really stressful for the kids," Odum told Lake Wales News. "They really miss each other." Odum is hoping to organize weekly or monthly get-togethers where the close-knit group of special needs clients she call "the kids" can be reunited.

The Lake Wales Care Center is providing some stop-gap services to a limited number of the students. "Rob Quam is doing a program three days a week and is helping search for a new director," Gibson said. We also voted to pay Crystal, so when we sell the house and the two lots, when that happens, she'll be ok."

Collins told Lake Wales News that he was willing to speak to his board about the possibility of housing the program at his current Bridge Central Church but could only offer limited space. "We sure don't want that ministry shutting down," he said.