Working with persons with developmental disabilities to create opportunities

Spring 2006

Around Melwood
G r o w i n g To g e t h e r

Extensively Renovated Temple Hills Facility Re-Opens with Modern Look and Features

Melwoods Temple Hills facility is 50 percent larger after a renovation that took eight months to complete. Consumers now attend classes and work in spacious, modern rooms. The ARC of Prince Georges County also has programs in the gleaming new building. Story, page 4.

U.S. Naval Academy Signs Five-Year Contract, Melwood to Handle All Custodial Work
The U.S. Naval Academy awarded a $30 million contract to Melwood to perform all custodial duties at the historic Annapolis institution. The award was made February 28 under the authority of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, and offers employment for 150 workers. Story, page 5 Near Bancroft Hall, the worlds largest dormitory: Lucila Prudencio, Glenda Jackson, Melwood President/CEO Earl Copus, Donald Key, Chief Operating Officer Mary Buszuwski, Ryan Smith.

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Melwood 5606 Dower House Road Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 (301) 599-8000 www.melwood.org

A message from the Board Chairman and from the President/CEO

Chairman of the Board of Directors D OUGLAS H. LEMMONDS Principal Mercuri Urval Consulting Services Vice Chair M. DOREEN CROSER Executive Director, American Association on Mental Retardation Immediate Past Chairman THOMAS J. LANTZ, SR., C.P.A. President HeimLantz Business & Tax Services Directors M. ROBERT ANDERSON JOHN BENISH, JR., C.P.A. JOHN BUCKMASTER F RANK COOMBS F RANK DEHART WILLIAM W. FRIEL, JR. JAY R. KERN D AVID E. LHEUREUX GEORGE MOORE J. ROBERT MOORE JOYCE MUIS-LOWERY F RANK A. NICOLAI L OUIS WELKER GORDON T. WELLS II President/CEO Earl Copus, Jr. Chief Operating Officer Mary Buszuwski Senior Vice Presidents RICHARD GALLAHER JOANNE M. MCDONALD Vice Presidents D ONNA DUKES D EBORAH GOINS D AVID GUTWALD RONALD H ANLEY D ONALD POLLOCK TOM ROBERTS Controller MICHAEL PFEIFFER Of Counsel GARY R. ALEXANDER Alexander & Cleaver

Your Support Brings New Facilities And Great Opportunities

Dear Readers, When Melwood was only a tent in 1963, a few miles away the South Gate Lions Club had just built a modern new building for training people with disabilities in Temple Hills. In the 1990s, that building became part of Melwood. The passage of time has amazed all of us. By 2002 that building was 40 years old, and in need of major renovation. Thanks to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and to the South Gate Clinton Lions, Spring 2006 sees our teams in a new building, nearly twice as large and with all the appointments of a new 21st-century facility. Meanwhile some of our first young Melwood consumers who pioneered our program as teenagers in the 1960s are now celebrating retirement, and Melwood continues to launch new programs to meet their changing needs. At the same time, more new workers than ever are going to their daily tasks, including 150 at our new custodial contract site, the U.S. Naval Academy. Once more, we offer our heartfelt gratitude to our donors, volunteers, staff, our Board and especially our dedicated and hard-working consumers for our continuing success stories. Sincerely,

A PUBLICATION OF THE MELWOOD COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Around Melwood
Editor KURT SALZIGER Writing and Layout JAY THOMAS

Douglas H. Lemmonds Melwood Board Chairman

Earl Copus, Jr. Melwood President/CEO

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Melwood Earns Prestigious NISH Certificate of Achievement

NISH has presented Melwood its Certificate of Achievement for 2005. This certificate represents recognition that Melwood has excelled in five areas, including accurately fulfilling contracting requirements in providing services for the Federal government under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program. This certificate reflects a job well done from NISH, and we are all proud of this award, said Melwood Chief Operating Officer Mary Buszuwski. Melwood has earned the certificate a number of times in past years as well.

Snow No Problem for Melwood Contract Workers

Monday morning, after the February 12 weekend snowstorm, a Melwood crew poses in front of the General Services Administration Building in Washington, D.C. The sidewalks were already clear and dry, because, like the other Melwood snow teams, this crew was hard at work on Saturday night. Back: Melvin Elder, Project Manager Deborah Moore, Elocadio Garcia Front: Gene Hunter, Alfreda McCrary, Aletha Jones, Edward Carberry.

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Renovated Temple Hills Facility: An Ideal Environment

Above, left to right, Melwood trainees Curtis Bratton, Joseph Jackson, Natasha Hamilton, Ericka Robinson and Brenda Graham outside the new building. Below, spacious new classrooms create an ideal setting to teach custodial, landscaping and other skills. Melwoods Temple Hills facility got a facelift and much more since last spring. The 44-year old buildings size jumped by 50 percent to 11,000 square feet. Floors, walls heating, air conditioning, furnishings and the roof are fresh and new. The ARC of Prince George's County leases a portion of the building for some of its programs. The open space and fresh new classrooms provide an ideal environment for learning, said Program Services Manager Effie Macklin. The ambience motivates. It makes such a difference for the students and the staff as well.

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U.S. Naval Academy Signs Five-Year Contract

Some of Melwoods 150 crew members pause on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Melwood will perform all custodial duties for the next five years at the historic U.S. Naval Academy with the award of a contract totalling $30 million. The contract was signed February 28 under the authority of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, and offers employment for 150 workers.

Business Operations, oversees the contract. Mr. Tucker joined Melwood in August 2005, and is a former president of the Capitol Association of Building Service Contractors with 17 years experience as an executive in the cleaning industry.

The contract continues a tradition of close ties with This is a proud occasion for our fine workers, the Navy. Melwood has more than 200 employees said Melwood Business Operations Division Senior working at the Navy Yard and the Naval Research Lab Vice President, Richard Gallaher. We are happy to in Washington, DC. see their good work rewarded at this prestigious site with one of Melwood's largest contracts ever, and The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act of 1971 requires fedour workers will do everything necessary to contin- eral contractors to provide employment to qualified ue to earn the respect of the demanding people who individuals with disabilities. This legislation has run the Naval Academy. enabled thousands of people to become employed taxpayers, providing valuable services in their comRobert Tucker, Melwood's General Manager of munities.

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Equestrian Arena Gets Artistic Enhancement From Major Benefactor, Alfred H. Smith, Junior

Equestrian Manager Doria Fleisher (left) and Recreational Services Director Heidi Aldous-Fick with the still-wrapped painting in the Equestrian Arena viewing room. Melwoods modern Alfred H. Smith, Junior Equestrian Arena is getting finishing touches in the form of a reproduction of a very attractive and appropriate painting. The artwork portrays benefactor Alfred Smith, Junior on horseback during a fox hunt, surrounded by the famed Marlborough Hounds. The setting is his own 750-acre farm in Prince Georges County, where Mr. Smith served as Master of Foxhounds for eight years as a member of the Marlboro Hunt. Mr. Smith took part in more than one thousand hunts on farms and fields across Southern Maryland. A narrative that accompanies the painting advises young riding fans, Most masters work very hard at attracting young riders, and want them to know there's a place for them in the future of the sport. Fox chasing has generally replaced fox hunting in Maryland and much of the riding world. Humane considerations have led fox hunters to leave their cornered quarry unharmed to try to outwit them another day.

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New at Kamp A-Kom-Plish This Summer: Day Camp for Children Ages 6 to 12
Kamp A-Kom-Plish this summer adds daytime camp adventures to its highly successful sleepaway camp for children. The new Day Camp offers five eight-hour days of fun at the 108-acre camp packed with exciting attractions, including horseback riding, ropes course, climbing wall, hiking, archery and games. Transportation will be provided daily from pickup points in Waldorf and La Plata. The price is $160 for five days, plus a $25 registration fee. For information call (301) 870-3226 or go to www.kampakomplish.org

Melwood Equestrian Manager Certified in Therapeutic Riding

The North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) in December certified Melwoods Equestrian Manager Doria Fleisher as a Registered Therapeutic Riding Instructor. Therapeutic Riding, as the name implies, is obtaining physical and mental benefits from riding, and first became an organized practice in Denmark, where a former polio patient named Liz Hartel left her wheelchair to ride her horse to a silver medal in Dressage at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The certification shows Doria not only has excellent riding skills herself, but can also teach those skills to students on the trails of the 108-acre camp and in the new Alfred H. Smith Equestrian Arena in Nanjemoy, Maryland.

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Building Permit Granted for New Melwood Jobs Center

Melwood now has the official green light to start work on its new Job Training and Employment Center on donated land at Melwood headquarters in Upper Marlboro. The 40,000 square foot building is scheduled for completion in early 2007. Project Manager Morley Krieger, Melwood Director of Facilities said, This project will add much-needed space, adding modern facilities for vehicle donations activities and landscape services at our Dower House Road campus, in addition to the main goal of providing job training for consumers.

Melwood Pleases Crowds and Judges at Garden Show

Melwoods Residential Landscape Consultation and Design Division won first place for Best Use of Color in its garden at the Washington Home & Garden Show, February 9, at the Washington Convention Center. The display, entitled My Secret Garden, competed with more than two dozen fully landscaped displays by area firms. The garden was designed by Lesley Riddle and assembled by the Residential Landscape division. It was Melwoods first appearance in the Washington Home & Garden Show. The award earned Lesley an invitation to be featured guest in the Garden Gurus radio program February 25 on 1160 AM.

Sue Zwicker and her daughter Abby relax in Melwoods My Secret Garden at the DC Home and Garden Show at the Washington Convention Center.

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Horticultural Therapy Programs Attract Crowds

In celebration of National Horticultural Therapy Week, March 20-24, several hundred people took part in hands-on activities and learned how to incorporate the outdoors into education at a pair of events at Wheatons Brookside Gardens and the United States Botanic Garden. Horticultural therapy is the practice of growing and using plants to improve the quality of life and speed rehabilitation. There is so much everyone can learn from a garden, said Lana Dreyfuss, Melwood Director of Horticultural Therapy and the event coordinator. Schools and youth programs have the opportunity to imprint children with the basics of nature and how to appreciate all the outdoor world can offer. At Brookside Gardens, benefits from horticultural therapy programs were revealed in new programs for adults with disabilities as well as for youngsters in elementary schools. On March 23 at the United States Botanic Garden, Dr. Diane Relf spoke on the roles of horticultural therapy in public health, community building, preventive therapy and as a treatment tool. Dr. Relf, a widely recognized researcher and horticulture professor, founded the American Horticultural Therapy Association in the early 1970s, while directing HT activities at Melwood. She went on to direct HT studies at Virginia Tech University.

Dr. Diane Relf leads a hands-on horticultural therapy workshop March 23 at the US Botanic Garden.

Consumer David Majerkorth Passes Away

Melwood was saddened in January with the passing of longtime friend and consumer David Majerkorth. David came to Melwood through the Hope Center in 1995, and lived most of his remaining years in the comfort of the Brewster home in Waldorf with housemates Kathy Goodman and Mark Hinton. He was in Melwoods PEP program for many years. David was always smiling, said his counselor for eleven years, Tina Primrose. Even when he was sick he smiled. He enjoyed anything that had to do with nature, including fishing and especially horses, and often rode at Melwoods camp in Nanjemoy. David Majerkorth was 56.

David Majerkorth with Melwood Board Vice Chair Doreen Croser in 2004

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PEP Program Honors Volunteer Worker

Melwoods Personal Enrichment Program had a surprise in January for a person who has offered many hours of work as a volunteer. Angelika Fischer of Annapolis was presented with a certificate of appreciation and flowers during her day of volunteer work at the PEP building. This experience is very enriching and rewarding, and every individual has become a special friend to me, she said. I feel like a member of the staff, and it's a very positive feeling.

Flowers and a surprise certificate are presented to Angelika Fischer. (Left to right:)Melwood Horticultural Therapy Director Lana Dreyfuss, Ms. Fischer, PEP Prince Georges County Supervisor Erica Wingate.

Community Relations Director Jackie Hayes Goes to Higher Post

Jackie Hayes completed eleven years as Melwoods Community Relations Director in March, and moved on to what she calls her dream job: Communications Director for the National Shrine in Washington D.C. Jackie oversaw events, publications and website creation, as well as Melwoods highly successful advertising program. Her department won numerous local and national awards. Jackie has been a tremendous asset to Melwood, and we wish her well in her new position, said Melwood President/CEO Earl Copus at a tearful going-away gathering.

Melwood President/CEO Earl Copus presents a certificate of appreciation to Jackie Hayes.

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Melwood Alumni Group Tours Caverns on First Trip

Melwoods new Alumni group traveled to Luray Caverns in March for its first activity, and made plans for many more events to follow. The Melwood Alumni has long been a dream of President/CEO Earl Copus. We have people who trained with Melwood in their twenties, and are now approaching retirement age. Melwood needs to have a support system outside of work, for social activities. 14 went on the trip, and immediately started plans for an April event a dance. Interested Melwood alumni can contact Elaine Chamberlain at 301-599-4516, echamberlain@melwood.org.

(Foreground) Melwood alumnus and Board member Robert Moore (left) and President/CEO Earl Copus tour caverns with the Melwood Alumni group.

Melwood Grad Recalls the Old, Makes Plans for New

Walter Bartlett came back to Melwood for a visit in March, on the same grounds where he worked in the fabled tent in 1965, and got a big surprise. He took a look at Melwoods 40-year history book, and on the very first page was his photo, set over the picture of the tent that at one time made up the entire Melwood physical plant. Walter recalls the first days. There was a bus that came and picked up all seven of us. We worked chopping down trees to make room for the first building, and we burned those trees to stay warm in the winter. Walter finished his training in 1971, and went to work with Montgomery County Parks that year. He worked in landscaping and cleaning 34 years, and retired in April of 2005. The 55-year old is still active, working in the parks three days a week, and has been married to his Indonesian wife, Nani, for eight years. How is he going to celebrate retirement? We're not going to Disneyland we're going to spend two months in Indonesia! Walter and Nani make their home in Wheaton, Maryland.

Walter Bartlett made a surprising discovery at the Melwood campus in March his photo (plaid shirt, upper left) from 1967 on the first page of the Melwood 40-year History Book.

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Presenting New Gift Ideas From The Melwood Garden Center

Send a gift of the heart. Choose from living dish gardens and gift plants, grown and packed with care in the Melwood greenhouses.

www.melwoodgardencenter.com

Gerbera Daisy in Embossed Planter, $34.99

Melwood
5606 Dower House Road Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 (301) 599-8000

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit #10 La Plata, MD

www.melwood.org

Melwood and Prince Georges and Charles County Governments are committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1992