THIS MONTH’S ISSUE The View From My Chair
01
Garden Center Family Spotlight
02
GCS Potting Party 2012
03
Around GCS
04
THE LEAFLET ISSUE MAY YEAR 2012
The View From My Chair a message from our Executive director
OUR MISSION Garden Center Services is committed to supporting and empowering persons with developmental disabilities through innovative and person-centered services. Our commitment to the excellence of our programs is surpassed only by our devotion to the people we serve and the communities in which they live.
Boy, you can tell its spring by the amount The Garden Gallery & Studio continues of growth happening at Garden Center to develop before our eyes. All of the Services! I am so pleased to inform you landscaping has been completed recently, that we have closed on our new day and the site is a splendid addition to program and office building to replace the our agency, and the Tinley Park historic Wesbrook site which we were forced to business district. The studio portion of the vacate. The building is close to 104th & enterprise is active. Every day we have Kedzie and should provide us the space to eight consumers at the studio creating art support the individuals that were attending and helping take care of the building. As the Wesbrook location and offer services to we choose more local art for the gallery some new referrals. The deep cleaning and and finish setting up the café, we will set painting that we’ve already the date for our Grand done has really brightened Opening! I want to thank all “ up the place, and I believe the staff and consumers Finally, I wanted to this new location will be a wonderful representation of the Oak Lawn for the way they have mention Garden Center Services for living arrangement that handled the last two is now home to four years to come. that are supported months of working in women I want to thank all the staff by Garden Center. It’s and consumers for the very confined quarters good to have a Garden way they have handled the Center home located in and sharing common the Oak Lawn community, last two months of working in very confined quarters we have found our resources and supplies.” and and sharing common neighbors there to be very resources and supplies. I welcoming and friendly. am also grateful to those staff that have been working so hard to get the Kedzie Today, I am celebrating my 9th year location ready. For anybody that still has anniversary as the executive director of not heard about the problems we incurred GCS. It is a privilege and honor to have this at Wesbrook, there is a link on our website position, and it is one of the best things that to a wonderful article written by Phil Kadner has ever happened to me. of the Southtown Star. As a result of this article we have had a number of donations Thank you, to help us with the expenses we’ve experienced. Many donations have come from individuals that have not had a past relationship with our agency. A 5 0 1 ( c ) ( 3 ) N o n p r o fit organization
Garden Center Family Spotlight Karen is a treasured member of the Garden Center family. Her positive attitude and beaming smile light up every room she enters. One of the spaces Karen regularly lights up is the art program at our new studio/gallery in Tinley Park. Karen is blind, but paints by associating the colors with things she knows through her other senses like the way a yellow lemon smells and how brown chocolate tastes. Karen has sold her works in an art show at Lewis University and her painting, Fruit Salad, is featured on the cover of the 2012 Garden Center Studio & Gallery Calendar. Painting is not where Karen’s interest in art ends. She is also a regular participant in Garden Center music classes and is taking piano lessons with our music instructor, Stephanie Burrow. She is currently learning the piece, This Land is My Land.
KAREN McGEE
Karen recently moved from another Garden Center home into the new Oak Park house. Karen says she loves her new home’s accessible layout because, “I can get around better.” Karen is also looking forward to taking classes in braille at the Chicago Lighthouse sometime soon.
Rosa has been working at Garden Center for over two years. She works at the Burbank Manor Apartments (BMA) where she says she loves spending time with the people she supports. Rosa says the group is like family and she enjoys taking her Garden Center family out to dinner, shopping, to movies and just hanging out. Before coming to Garden Center, Rosa was supporting a person with a disability in their home when she saw an ad for Garden Center that fit in perfectly with her experience. She quickly applied and has been an essential part of lives at the Burbank Manor Apartments ever since.
ROSA LEDESMA Prepare Building for Occupancy GOAL 22,500
In her free time, Rosa loves to work out and is an avid video gamer.
CAMPAIGN TO RECOVER FROM VANDALISM/THEFT AT OUR WESBROOK PROGRAM As a result of the vandalism/theft at our Wesbrook site, GCS must raise $44,000 to offset the cost of moving our program. We have four specific goals:
$8,400
1. Prepare the new building for occupancy. 2. Replace destroyed and stolen equipment, furniture, and program supplies. 3. Set up communication and data systems. 4. Move into the new space and pay the storage costs for items salvaged from the building.
We will continue to keep you up-to-date on the progress of the campaign to restore our program. Thank you for your generous support!
Garden Center’s Annual Potting Party Blooms Again Garden Center Services held our Second Annual Potting party at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park on April 6th. The event was started last year, by now board member, Annmarie Caulfield, and we hope to make it an Garden Center spring tradition. Over 150 people joined us for dancing, open bar, full-buffet, fantastic raffles, and great music with DJ Loren Gent of Fun!Fun!Fun! The live art auction was a huge success with bidding wars on six large paintings created by Garden Center Studio artists.
Garden Center’s NEEDS List Coffee Shop Style Sofas and Chairs
Umbrellas Brother & sister duo, Jeremy (in blue) and Jena (in red) Zientek, celebrate with friends before showing off their auctioneering skills in the Potting Party’s live art auction
We are pleased to announce (for those who didn’t make it to the 11pm drawing) that our own Becca Burrow, pictured on the front page of this newsletter with Gerry, won the iPad raffle. The event was such a great time for all who attended that we started planning next year’s before we even made it to our cars! Thanks to all the volunteers and attendees who made the 2nd Annual Potting Party such a fantastic evening!
Bar-type stools
Free-standing shelf units Printer Phone
Office desk Microwave
Large coffee maker Books
Electronic keyboards (music)
Event tickets
Laptop computers Craft supplies
Frames for artwork Blank canvases X-Box games
Kristy Stacey, and Jamie show off the raffle tickets they sold at the event
Don’t Forget! You can bring used printer cartridges and small electronic items like cameras and cellphones to GCS for recycling. Help us earn $ and save the planet while you get rid of clutter!
The DeMarias show off two of the paintings they won in the live art auction am JUNE 2nd 10 Y, A D R TU SA enter at Garden C Burbank ve A in 8333 S. Aust line by GCS BULLETIN BOARD a pledge on u can make area on 12 20 This year yo ‘n Roll-a-Thon e a Pledge. k al W e th Mak visiting e and clicking ces.org vi our homepag er rS te en C www.Garden d 10am 2n E N JU Y, SATURDA enter at Garden C Burbank ve A in st 8333 S. Au e online by ake a pledg m n ca on u yo This year on 2012 area k ‘n Roll-a-Th . al ge W ed e Pl th a e ng visiti icking Mak cl d an e ag ces.org our homep CenterServi www.Garden on -Roll A Th
k-n 2012 Wal
If you have an item to donate, please email Anne McFerron at amcferron@gardencenterservices.org
Where we grow
AROUND GCS
dignity and
independence phone 708.636.0054 email info@gardencenterservices.org web www.gardencenterservices.org
Board of Directors President
Daniel Wenzler
1st Vice President
Scott Hardek
2nd Vice President
Doug Combs
Treasurer
R. Pat Ballis
Secretary
Annmarie Caulfield
Members:
John J. Kunkes
Tim tries his hand at rock wall climbing
Kathy receives a visit from Sunny, GCS’s Mascot
Bob strikes a pose on a recent trip to the zoo
Board members John Kunkes, Annmarie Caulfield, and Dan Wenzler at the 2012 Potting Party
Linda Stearns Linda Sherwood Sharon Duncan Jenny Wojcik
AVON FUNDRAISER FOR GCS
Impo rt ant Date s! MEETING GCS MEMBERSHIP ain Building May 18th, 7pm at M Everyone Welcome!
hon GCS Walk ‘n Roll-a-T June 2nd , 10am at nk , IL 8333 S. Austin Burba
http://gardencenterservices. wordpress.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/ gardencenterservices http://twitter.com/gardencentersrv
http://www.facebook.com/ gardencenterservices
ENDS MONDAY, MAY 7th
Marie Markowski, a GCS family member, has generously offered to donate 90% of her earnings until Monday, May 7th toward the relocation of our displaced Wesbrook program! Just visit her webpage, http://mmarkowski. avonrepresentative.com and click on the link "ONLINE EVENT" or pick up a flyer at the main building to shop and help GCS.
THANK YOU! We would like to thank everyone who has signed up with iGive. GCS has earned $267 through the program to date. If you’d like to sign up, just go to www.igive.com/GardenCenter to take advantage of this easy way to help Garden Center today!
SECOND CHANCE THRIFT SHOPPE SUPER SALE May 20th 12pm-4pm HALF OFF EVERYTHING IN THE STORE!
44 Stephen Street Lemont,