Signature Programs
A Welcoming Community
While our heritage is based in the Methodist Church, Asbury has no ties with the Church today and has intentionally evolved to become a community for all backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures. It is our intention that Asbury will be a place where everyone can enjoy and freely celebrate who they are. It is our pledge to treat everyone with fairness, understanding, warmth, and respect.
In 2018, Asbury Methodist Village became the first CCRC in Maryland to earn Platinum certification from SAGECare, an LGBTQ+ accrediting body which fosters welcoming cultures for lesbian, gay, and transgender people with its partner organizations. We continue to earn this certification by meeting SAGECare standards.
We are a diverse community with associates and residents from close to 100 nations. Our annual Celebration of Cultures has become a community highlight where we come together to sample food, crafts, music, and more from each other’s cultures.
An Oasis in an Urban Setting
There’s a reason that National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore called Asbury “a rural oasis in an urban setting” when he visited our campus. Residents and associates work together to put our beautiful campus to use for the greater good through projects like our Wildlife Preserve, stream restoration projects, tree plantings, recycling, and more. See what makes us a leader in environmental sustainability and how we cherish our natural spaces.
- Our 134-acre campus is certified as an arboretum with beautiful green spaces and thousands of mature trees, including 80 cherry trees.
- Our 17-acre Wildlife Preserve is a certified Wildlife at Work site with paths winding through woods, streams, and ponds and bluebird nesting boxes
- The preserve is home to large pollinator gardens managed by residents, and, coming soon, a wildflower meadow
- Asbury partners with a local company for a composting program that saved close to 156 tons of food waste in 2023
- Residents and associates collaborate on a campus-wide recycling program that collected 39,000 pounds of scrap metal and 57,000 pounds of paper for recycling in 2023
- Residents and associates planted 2,064 seedlings on campus in 2023
For close to 100 years, seniors living at Asbury Methodist Village have shaped the community through their professional skills, talents and interests, and passions. Thanks to their efforts and dedicated, innovative leaders, our campus is proud to offer some truly unique places, programs, and initiatives.
The Keese School of Continuing Education
The resident-run Keese School of Continuing Education features dozens of lectures and tours in history, science, art and music, and current events each semester, ensuring there is always something new and interesting to learn at Asbury.
Choose from daytime classes or evening lectures and performances.
Created more than 30 years ago, this program includes content developed and presented by residents under the guidance of a Dean and Curriculum, as well as local experts in their respective fields. Residents can view Keese lectures via Asbury’s own AVTV television station, as well as attend in-person. View the current Keese School catalog here.
In keeping with our spirit of giving back, class and material fees support scholarships for dining associates on campus.
Gaithersburg Beloved Community Initiative
Asbury Methodist Village is infused with a spirit of serving others that carries over from our faith-based heritage. Established in 2011, the Gaithersburg Beloved Community Initiative (GBCI) exemplifies this culture. GBCI is a collaboration of many community partners, including Gaithersburg City and Montgomery County Schools, and individuals committed to supporting youth and families and working toward a just and equitable greater Gaithersburg community.
- Run by residents of Asbury Methodist Village, GBCI has more than 100 resident and community volunteers, as well as two full-time staff members.
- Programs include: early literacy preschool reading program, literacy support and mentoring at Gaithersburg elementary and middle schools, civic advocacy support, on-campus learning and arts opportunities for students and families, and more.
- GBCI is proud to be one of six programs nationwide named a Program of Distinction by Generations United.
- Learn more at GaithersburgBelovedCommunity.org