We were lucky to catch up with Laurie Labie recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Laurie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

In 2016 I took a huge risk in moving myself and my daughter from Chicago to Grand Rapids in hopes of starting a business. After a lot of grueling work Enriched Living’s first home was licensed by the State of Michigan as an Adult Foster Care (AFC) home in February 2017. My brother Jeff and I were the only employees. Our very first resident required a lot of hands-on care. When she first moved in she was mute. In the following months we were so privileged to watch her transform from someone who was very weak and timid to a smiling, content woman. These early experiences have given us the courage to take many more risks in building the organization—we opened more homes and took more residents that had great struggles. We decided we weren’t in business of providing basic necessities—we really wanted to change lives.
While it has not always been easy it has been so rewarding to watch our residents blossom and grow. Today we continue to take individuals with high behavioral needs and have a home dedicated to those with high medical needs.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In 2017 Enriched Living was founded for adults with physical and/or developmental disabilities and those with persistent mental illness. Enriched Living is a 501c3 non-profit. We operate four Adult Foster Care (AFC) homes and have a partner business Barso Acres AFC home. We have been home to over 80 residents throughout the years.

My passion for the community we serve began when I was attending Central Michigan University. I graduated with a degree in Special Education and Physical Education. After graduation I began working with group homes in Chicago. I was inspired. I wanted to offer homes that gave residents full lives–giving opportunities for growth and maximized their own potential. The goal was to elevate the AFC experience and have residents living their best lives!
We have set up homes in beautiful neighborhoods where we offer premium care. Our homes have all the modern amenities and some unique elements too (a pool at one, home gyms, acres of land). Our headquarters are in Walker, MI with homes throughout West Michigan. At this time Enriched Living has 37 employees.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Enriched Living was co-founded with my brother Jeff Labie. Jeff and I have always been close. We were raised with same work ethic, morals and have implicit trust between each other. We both wanted to make a difference in the world and with our separate skill sets we knew building this business was our calling. Jeff has a background in home construction and each home we open requires a lot of specific construction to get licensed as well as a huge amount of maintenance year to year. Jeff is a hands-on, do it all partner. We feel very blessed to have our business family run.

Our mother Maria serves on the Enriched Living board and oversees the company finances. Her expertise and passion has given the Enriched Living dream fuel to succeed. My husband Joe came on as a co-Executive Director in 2021. Joe’s business sense is second to none. Mine and Joe’s children someday hope to lead the business. We are so proud.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Each of our homes are licensed by the State of Michigan. The homes have routine audits from State and county agencies. In 2023 our homes had 25 positive licensing reviews. Having open and quality relationships with the case managers and licensing experts has been really important to our success. At this time Enriched Living is nominated for the Montcalm Care Network Community Excellence Award for 2023.

In addition, our entire West Michigan community is incredibly important to us. We are very diligent in building community bonds with other businesses and non-profits. Our community partners include local businesses, schools, foundations and many other non-profits.
Not only are we-as a business-engaged with the partners but our residents are as well. Residents enjoy volunteering, participating in events and getting out and about seeing all our community has to offer. Part of our mission is to be advocates in this way–breaking down barriers for our residents and showing how incredibly vital it is for communities to have inclusive spaces.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.enrichedlivingmichigan.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/enrichedlivingmichigan
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/enrichedlivingmichigan
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/enriched-living-of-michigan