Garden Center Services, which is based in Burbank, serves 144 adults with developmental disabilities at two vocational centers.
Several weeks ago, according to Gerald Beagles, executive director for the agency, vandals turned on water faucets and clogged all the drains at a former convent where Garden Center offered training programs for its clients.
“So much water poured into the building that it was seeping out through the mortar between the bricks on the outside,” Beagles said.
St. Albert’s Parish in Burbank rented space to the Garden Center for its vocational programs and staff offices. In addition to losing its space for the workshops, Garden Center had nine computers and office supplies stolen and damaged.
The state of Illinois has cut the budget for programs for the developmentally disabled, and donations to social service agencies are down throughout the country due to the economic recession. In addition, the state’s reimbursements to social service programs are running six months to a year late.
Beagles said his organization was fortunate to locate new space in an old medical building on Kedzie Avenue in Merrionette Park.
“But we didn’t allocate money in our budget for moving expenses or rehabbing the new building, replacing the stolen supplies and equipping the new place,” Beagles said. “Insurance will cover some of the cost, but not all of it. And right now, as you know, organizations such as ours are facing some financial struggles. It’s a very difficult time for us.”Beagles called me, hoping that readers might raise some money to help Garden Center Services in its time of need.
Garden Center School for the Handicapped was originally established in 1956 by parents who felt their children deserved more than Illinois institutions had to offer. The organization today provides community housing for 77 adults in 14 homes throughout the Chicago area.
It provides community-based educational programs to the disabled so they can become somewhat self-sufficient and live productive lives.
One of its training programs has adults working as volunteers one day a week to provide baked goods to the Ronald McDonald House.
“We try to give our people training that will help in their daily lives,” Beagles said. “We work on functional living skills that will help them to live more independent and fulfilling lives.”
Local businesses outsource certain tasks such as packaging, light assembly and sorting to the center’s clients.
“This creates a win-win situation,” Beagles said, “because the company saves on the costs of the work, and our clients are given a chance to enhance their vocational skills and to earn some income.”
Persons suffering from developmental disabilities may include those with cerebral palsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, Down syndrome, autism and other disorders that appeared early in childhood or at birth.
I’ve visited a few workshops for the developmentally disabled as a newspaper reporter, and these are places of pure joy for the clients. It provides them with a sense of normalcy, community, socialization and self-respect.
It’s the joy of having productive labor, a feeling most of us lose soon after we get our first job.
I asked Beagles for an estimate of the type of money he would need to help Garden Center Services move into its new home. He declined to give me one.
“I want to do some computations before I give you a number because I just think it should be a justifiable figure and not a number I just tossed out there,” he said.
He telephoned about an hour later with a figure of $44,000.
I like the fact that he didn’t want to just ask for a pile of cash without a good reason.
And a target like $44,000 should be reachable if readers can spread the word through the Internet and their circle of friends.
This is an organization that helps taxpayers save money because it provides these programs at a lower cost than government could.
But more important, it helps people who are less fortunate than the rest of us lead more productive lives.
To make a donation, you can write a check to Garden Center Services, 8333 Austin Ave., Burbank, IL 60459, or go to its website, gardencenterservices.org, and click on the “donate” button at the top of the screen. For more information on how you can help, call (708) 398-6502.
Far too often, society turns its back on people with developmental disabilities. This is a chance for you to make a difference in their lives.
Article by Phil Kadner pkadner@southtownstar.com
southtownstar.suntimes.com
# http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/news/kadner/11940872-452/group-that-helps-disabledsuffers-from-vandalism.html
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