NOVEMBER
2013
T
Garden Center Services
HE LEAFLET
The View From My Chair A MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Nancy and Gerry
INSIDE THIS ISSUE THE VIEW FROM MY CHAIR Page 1 HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE Page 2 GCS ON THE ROAD Page 3 AROUND GCS Page 4
Yesterday, quietly, a momentous occasion occurred for me, for our agency, and for the incredible persons that we are honored to support and interact with every day. I sat at realty offices located on west 151st. Street on a dreary, misting Wednesday afternoon, and representing our committed Board of Directors, closed on a nice house in the village of Worth that in the next few months will become home to six individuals we serve. Obviously, over the last ten years I’ve been involved in a number of these closings as more adults with developmental disabilities needed and wanted to make their home in small, community-integrated living arrangements like yours and mine. So what made this closing different? I’ve been involved with supporting and
advocating for this population for over forty years now. For twenty of those years, I was employed at the Illinois Department of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities when we were beginning to move individuals out of large, institutionalized settings into smaller communitybased alternatives. I vividly remember speaking to large groups of home and business owners in those communities where we were first establishing these group homes to address their questions and concerns, and literally being screamed and cursed at for how this movement was going to negatively impact their lives, their incomes, and their peace of mind!
“I vividly remember ... literally being screamed and cursed at for how this movement was going to negatively impact their lives, their incomes, and their peace of mind!” The house we closed on yesterday has a shared driveway with the mayor of Worth, Mary Werner. She personally made me aware that this house was for sale and encouraged me to consider it
as the site for our next group home. I was met with the same enthusiastic reception by Bonnie Price, the Village Clerk, and Chief of Police, Marty Knolmayer. There have already been commitments from neighbors to help out with yard and house maintenance, as well as references to plates of warm cookies that will be showing up at the front door once we move in! I am awed and grateful for the welcoming spirit and compassionate leadership we are experiencing in this situation. I am so thankful to intimately witness the growth in the understanding, acceptance, and support being widely expressed for persons with intellectual and physical disabilities. These individuals have the same rights to freely experience the fullness of their personhood and to be contributing members of our society. We’re not there yet, but we are certainly moving in the right direction. If you want to truly participate in the next really important rights movement in our nation, find a way to support our agency. Donate, volunteer, attend events, speak out! Sense the urgency.