Due to a lack of affordable senior citizen housing in the local area, the Sisters sought funding to build affordable senior housing as part of their mission of service to others. Under the leadership of the founding Executive Director, Sister Ursula Joyce, the Sisters opened the 200-apartment independent living senior housing community known as Thorpe Village, named for Mother Catherine Antoninus Thorpe, founder of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill. Since welcoming its first residents in August 1981, Thorpe Village has provided a home to more than 1000 seniors, offering them social, recreational, and health maintenance programs as well as transportation to shopping and opportunities for community service.