Our Mission
Innisfree, a voluntary community with adults with mental disabilities, is dedicated to providing a life-sharing home and work environment in an atmosphere of beauty, warmth, and respectfulness.  All community members are valued, and all are encouraged to explore a meaningful and challenging life. 

Innisfree shall -----

1.          Be a model therapeutic environment with people with mental disabilities, emphasizing empowerment, interdependence, and mutual respect of all community members. 

2.         Evolve with the changing needs of the individuals with mental disabilities within the Village community and beyond. 

3.         Value work and foster creativity through artistic crafts, stewardship of the land, and daily community life. 

4.         Promote efforts in the stewardship of our land to acknowledge the reciprocal relationship between our human health and our natural environment.          

5.         Encourage the integration of our community members into the larger society through participation in cultural, educational, recreational, religious, and volunteer programs. 

6.         Rely for its financial resources upon family support, the spirit of volunteerism, and private funding. 

7.         Support and encourage the talents and individuality of community members from diverse educational, national, ethnic and social backgrounds. 

Innisfree, incorporated in 1971, is a nonprofit corporation governed by a Board of Directors.  While the business of the corporation and its finances shall be dealt with exclusively by the Board of the Corporation, the desires and opinions of the Village community shall be solicited, expressed and represented by participation on the Board and Board Committees.  Flexibility in the manner of control and direction by the Board should be the norm.  Open communication shall be maintained among all those responsible for the administration of the Village and its everyday life.

 Things We Make
At Innisfree, coworkers and volunteers participate side by side in a variety of workstations. We are proud of the beautiful, delicious, or practical results of our hard work. Our gardens produce vegetables, fruit, flowers, and herbs for the entire community as well as for sale at local farmers markets. In our bakery you'll find loaves of fresh bread (sesame oat, onion dill, cinnamon raisin, and honey whole wheat) as well as cookies, scones, and our famous granola, that is for sale at many local stores. Our most popular items in the weavery are our placemats, baby blankets and chenille scarves. In the woodshop we make cutting boards, end tables and decorative boxes. The  weavery and woodshop items are sold in our store and at various local retail shops. We have a pottery studio where coworkers and volunteers can tap into their artistic energies. In the community center kitchen, we prepare a wholesome lunch for the entire village (about 60 people). ^ BACK TO TOP

World Artisans Store
Innisfree World Artisans is a fair-trade store founded in May 1998 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Fair-trade stores sell products made only by people working under safe, equitable conditions. The store is a project of Innisfree Village, a non-profit community with adults with mental disabilities. All proceeds from the store benefit Innisfree Village. Innisfree World Artisans sells handcrafted items from Innisfree Village’s weavery, woodshop, and bakery, as well as self-help crafts from low-income artisans around the world. The store maintains a commitment to provide fair wages and employment opportunities for disadvantaged peoples. ^ BACK TO TOP 

2008 Board Meetings
March 15th @ 10:30 am
June 8th @ 10:30 am
October 14th @ 10:30 am
December 13th @ 10:30 am
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Staff

Carolyn Ohle, Executive Director, first came to Innisfree in 1976 as a volunteer. She has a bachelor's degree in special education and psychology from Ohio University. After years as the head of the weavery, she became the community coordinator and later the Executive Director. In 1996 she returned to graduate school for a Master's degree in Genetic Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia. She returned to the village in December 2004 from her position as a Genetic Counselor at the University of Virginia to become the Executive Director for a second term.

Wes Andrews, Assistant Director,  first came to Innisfree in 1985 as a volunteer. He was born in Burma (now Myanmar), but was raised in England. He had worked as a psychiatric nurse in England, in various facilities. His second year as a volunteer at Innisfree was in 1988. In 1994 he returned to Innisfree, this time with a family: Megan, born in 1989, and Aaron in 1991. They were lucky enough to win the “green card lottery” and are able to permanently live and work in the United States. He was trained as the financial officer in 1996 and moved into the position of assistant director in 2000, continuing in his financial work. Wes has a home in Afton and likes tennis and soccer.

Nancy Chappell came to Innisfree in 1992 as a volunteer. She and her son, Alex, lived in five houses in five years here in the village. Nancy was the U.S. Coordinator for SCI-International Voluntary Service from 1992 to 1995. This meant that she had house and village duties, but worked in the SCI office instead of the workstations. Nancy has been involved in international volunteer work most of her adult life, working in Chicago, Northern Ireland, and Sierra Leone. She earned a BA in geography from Temple University in Philadelphia. Nancy's responsibilities have  evolved over the years; now she recruits, trains, and guides volunteers, serves on the board and is House Manager. Nancy enjoys budget travel, and amateur singing and acting. She and her son Alex,  live in Magnolia, one of two Innisfree houses in Charlottesville.

Izrael "Iz" Zak came to Innisfree with his wife, Leigh Sato, in 1996. He has a BA in sociology from Rutgers University and is a certified Feldenkreis practitioner. Iz was born in USSR (now Uzbekistan), lived in France until he was 12 years old, and then moved to New York City. His work at Innisfree is twofold. One part is running a fitness program that includes coordinating Special Olympics events and working out with coworkers at the Fried gym. The other part is as a financial assistant, recording all incoming monies and maintaining various databases. Leigh and Iz are the busy parents of Gabriel and Ilo. Iz enjoys sports and reading.     ^ BACK TO TOP