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Deal To Reduce Landfilled Paper

Midland Issues Volume 9, Number 8 August 2008

Hundreds of tons of office paper will be diverted from the city landfill annually if a deal between Dow Chemical Co. and Arnold Center reaches its potential

The two announced an agreement in July for the center to sort trash from Dow and recycle up to a million pounds of office paper.  Dow project leader Jim Hummel said only about a third of that is recycled now, through Brady News and Recycling.

Mike Shea, Arnold Center president, told Midland Issues the deal will create 15 to 26 new jobs and could lead to a building addition.

The center, 400 Wexford Ave., is a non-profit that develops jobs for people with disabilities.  It has recycled paper from Dow Corning Corp. for 20 years and also recycles from Delphi Corp.  The Dow contract will double the center's recycling volume, Shea said.

Arnold Center workers will pick up and sort Dow material including sticky notes, business cards, colored and white paper, envelopes, file folders, newspapers, ring and spiral binders, fax paper and catalogs.  The center will shred and sell paper to mills for recycling as towels and similar products.  Dow will pay  any of Arnold Center's uncovered expenses.

Hummel said Dow benefits because more office waste will be recycled and the company will reduce landfill costs by 30 percent. Prior recycling efforts fell short because sorting was inconvenient for Dow employees, he said

"It's a triple bottom line," Hummel said, "good for the environment, good for the community by breaking through the jobs and employment barrier, and we save money."

--JP

 

Grand Marshall Queen

Published: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:48 PM CDT
Jill Trost who attends GCI, was Grand Marshall queen of the Beaverton 4th of July parade. Gladwin County Industries is a program sponsored by The Arnold Center, Community Mental Health, and United Way. Riding in back is her mother, Janet Gardner.
 

 

Frankenmuth covered with colored plastic eggs to help celebrate spring

Posted by Rhiannon Thomas | The Saginaw News March 21, 2008 06:10AM

Frankenmuth residents have covered the city with colored eggs in a plan to beat the winter blahs and celebrate spring.

"People love it," Sheila G. Stamiris, executive director of the Frankenmuth Downtown Development Authority, said of the Easter festivities.

"We've had such a long, dreary winter that this little announcement of spring has been really nice."

The Department of Public Works and Frankenmuth business owners have decorated the city with strings of thousands of multi-colored plastic eggs.

Just how many is a secret, as the Chamber of Commerce is conducting a contest to guess the number.

The event is rooted in the Bavarian tradition of Osterbrunnen, which means "Easter wells." In ancient times, Stamiris said, families would decorate wells in spring to celebrate the gift of water. As Christianity came to Germany, Christians incorporated the spring tradition into Easter celebrations and began decorating with eggs to symbolize new life.

Judy Zehnder Keller, president and owner of the Bavarian Inn Lodge, said she learned about the Osterbrunnen celebration after her father, Bavarian Inn founder William "Tiny" Zehnder, died almost two years ago. Zehnder Keller found a book about Osterbrunnen in her father's desk and was intrigued by the tradition. She traveled to Germany, where she saw the celebration in about 30 towns and villages.

"I thought, 'This is a custom that has a very good emotional meaning,' " Zehnder Keller said. She brought the idea back to Frankenmuth and presented it to the Chamber of Commerce.

Organizers from the chamber, the Downtown Development Authority and the City Beautification Committee ordered thousands of plastic eggs, then contacted Do-All Inc. of Bay City and Arnold Center Inc. of Midland. The two organizations provide employment and support for people with significant disabilities, and their workers strung the eggs into 12- and 24-foot lengths.

The Chamber of Commerce then sold the eggs to businesses and used them in its own decorations, while the City Beautification Committee and the authority paid the Frankenmuth Department of Public Works to string the eggs in parks and on bridges.

Organizers also planted thousands of daffodils, which should bloom in May. The eggs will come down April 12.

"We encourage everybody to come over and visit us," Stamiris said. "It really is special in these gray, dark days of March to have all this color out."

Thanks for the assist  5/5/07

To the editor:
    I would like to thank the following businesses and/or employers for providing and/or assisting our cognitively impaired students with vocational experiences during the 2006 - 2007 school year.
    These students were able to experience realistic job expectations such as appropriate work attitudes and behaviors, job responsibilities, job dependability and specific skills needed for certain vocations. Thanks to these businesses and/or individuals for their time, cooperation, and patience in helping our students maximize their independence and participate in our community:
    Arby’s/South, Dawn Salazar & Kelly Walker; Arby’s/North, Scott Drake; Arnold Center, Spring Schafer; Bennigan’s, Will Gum and Alan Vance; Big Apple Bagels, April Cobb; Big Boy Restaurant, Carolyn Popp, Bob Evans, Shantelle Struthers and Dave Banker; Bullock Creek Transportation, Deb Waskevich; Coleman Public Schools Transportation, Mike Huss; D.A.R.T., Paula Draves; Dollar Daze, Michele Townsend, Sharmane Penner, Janie Thomas and James Cox; Hollywood Videos, Martin Brunner; Home Depot, Kim Burton and Jeff Brothers; K-Mart, Kevin Wale and Kathy Garbulinski; Kroger’s, Lowell Morris, Wayne Buzzbee and Wendy McTaggert; Lil’ Chef, Frank Nole; Long John Silver, Roland Brink; Meijer’s, Kurt Howard and Lynn Tyrrell; Midland Community Center, Ruth Reminder; Mid-Michigan Regional Medical Center, Mary Jane Hoshaw and Vicki Turskey; Midland Motor Inn, Barry and Falguni Patel; Midland Public Schools Bus Garage, Pat Chritz, Vicki Finney, and Jim Valliere; MidMichigan Stratford Village Nursing Center, Audrey Hammond and Sarah Histed; Northwood University Dishroom, Carol Zerembra and Burt McAtee; Northwood Bennett Center, Scott Fisher, Mike Sullivan, Peg Tacey and Jill Brandt; Paper Jems, Mary Sodini; Recordings for Recovery, Mike Hoy; Roll-Arena, Ann Behan; Sanford-Meridian Public Schools Transportation, Henry Mashue; Sodexho Corporate Services, Kriss Salva; Taco Bell, Paul O’Laughlin; Tim Horton’s, Bonita Dan; Valley Lanes, Sue Tice and Wal-Greens, Joe Fish and Steve Conarty.
    Dan Simonds
    Work Experience Consultant
    Midland Public Schools

  

 4/23/07

For one special "Night to Remember," differences between people with disabilities and those without them seem less obvious.
    The festive dance, which occurred Saturday, has become a yearly tradition, organized so people with disabilities can meet and enjoy music, dinner and each other’s company. Organizers – volunteers from the hosting Midland Evangelical Free Church and groups that help disabled people – take into account the circumstances with which those people deal every day. Wheelchair dancers are expected, and the festivities conclude at 8 p.m. so people can get home on Dial-A-Ride Transportation.
    One of those wheelchair dancers is Regina Jackson, 50. She likes to dance fast, and said she was prepared to dance the time away, using her electric wheelchair’s joystick to move to the music.
 

    Heather Naessens, 28, invited a guy friend to join her and dressed for the occasion in a green chiffon dress with white polka dots.
    Naessens said she likes the social atmosphere. "I like all the people that come," she said.
    Without the dance, "it would be a bummer because then you would not have social activity, and we need social activity to live," she said.
    The dance, called "A Night to Remember," was nine months in planning – right down to the flower-covered arch that marked the entrance to festivities, plus the dinner, tickets and posters, said Debbie Lichtman, who works for Personal Assistance Options and served on the planning committee. At least 270 tickets were sold.

 


Violet Arold, left, and her date Steve Balcirak, both of Sanford, wait to have a souvenir photo taken during A Night to Remember Saturday at the Midland Evangelical Free Church. The evening also featured dinner and dancing.

    Attendees lined up to pose for pictures, donated by a company called Dancing Ham. TCBY donated frozen yogurt and church members donated cakes and cookies.
    Shelley Smith, who also works for PAO, invited three women to her house so she could do their hair, makeup and nails. She changed one woman’s pigtails into a French twist and gave the other two curly coifs with the help of mousse and spray.
    "We had the music on and we had a good time," she said.

 


Jim Warner, center, of Midland, shares a laugh with Nancy Corneil, left, and Spring Schafer as Warner picks up his souvenir photo at A Night to Remember.

Photos taken by Daily News photographers are available as reprints. Order online as a "special request" or contact our librarian.

 

Area nonprofits struggle with state budget uncertainty

By Angela E. Lackey

03/30/2007

    Several area agencies that work with people with disabilities face uncertainty as Michigan tries to solve its budget problems.
    "It’s moving all around," said Linda Kaufmann, Community Mental Health for Central Michigan executive director. CMHCM is a multicounty agency, and includes Midland and Gladwin. "We’re not sure what’s going to come out."
    Kaufmann said one state plan is to take back the 2 percent wage increase given to direct care workers – those working in group homes or assisting those in their own homes – this year. The increase would be retracted in 2008. She said the state would save an estimated $10.5 million if this goes through.
    Losing staff is a possibility, she said.
    She said another plan is a 1 percent across-the-board reduction in Medicaid provider payments.
    "For us, a large portion of our budget is Medicaid," Kaufmann said. That could mean a loss of about $550,000 for the agency if that reduction is approved.
    "They also keep talking about general fund reductions. The general fund would be an issue," she said. "That’s funding for the indigent, the dollars we use for people that don’t qualify for Medicaid, but are still needy.
    "We’re hopeful we won’t have to do anything immediately," she continued, but added the agency might have to cut services.
    Sara Kristal-Brandon, executive director of the Disability Network of Mid-Michigan, said her agency receives a federal/state match. That means if the state reduces funding, the federal government will, too. She said their 2007 budget has not yet been cut.
    But DN provides services through three different Community Mental Health agencies, in Midland County, Saginaw County and Bay/Arenac counties. One service they provide is home help care, in which staff help people with daily living skills, such as banking, cooking, showering and other skills.
    "With our contract in Bay/Arenac, we employ about 30 people. They would see a reduction in wages," Kristal-Brandon said.
    She said direct care staff wages were increased by only 1.3 percent for this year.
    "They were supposed to get it. It has not occurred yet," she said.
    Kristal-Brandon also is concerned about losing good staff.
    "There is a high turnover in this field as it is," she said. "One of the important things is consistency."
    Kristal-Brandon said she has heard other areas that affect people with disabilities also will be cut – transportation, long-term care and adult home help care, for example.
    "The number of people who are eligible to receive services could change," she said.
    Kathy Allen, Personal Assistance Options executive director, seemed unsure about how the state budget would affect her agency.
    "We’ve been getting some conflicting information," she said. "It is tough weathering those cuts."
    Mike Shea, executive director of The Arnold Center, was also unclear.
    "It could have a negative impact," he said. "But it’s a little premature to see where that’s going to affect us.
    "We’re bracing for the worst and hoping for the best," he said.
 

İMidland Daily News 2007
 

 

Doug Dean a familiar face around Midland County
By Kris Winterton
03/11/2007
 

   Midlander Doug Dean is a busy guy. Not one to sit at home, Dean makes himself useful by volunteering with a number of agencies.
    "Doug is very much a community person," said Jan Lampman, executive director of The ARC of Midland. "He's a great guy. He makes a lot of positive contributions in the community."
    Lampman has known Dean for 20 years, so she knows all about his work ethic. For 14 of those years, she has been employed at The ARC, and Dean has volunteered there steadily during her tenure.
    Along with other volunteers, he frequently helps with large mailings, Lampman said. The ARC has nine employees, most of whom work part-time, and a pool of five volunteers to call upon.
    The ARC of Midland is a United Way agency. Its mission is to promote the general welfare of people with developmental disabilities and foster their presence, participation and inclusion in the community. The ARC has 250 members, but a person doesn't need to be a member in order to be served, Lampman said.
    Dean, who is a member of The ARC, recently began a new duty in the agency's office: answering phones from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. He sits at the reception desk fielding calls and greeting people who come into the office.
    The ARC office is a busy place. The phone rings a lot, and folks come to pick up and drop things off, meet with personnel and ask questions.
    "The ARC, may I help you?" Dean said, answering another phone call during a recent session at the office. As people came in, he greeted them, some by name. He's been a Midland resident all his life and knows a lot of people through his longtime participation in community affairs.
    Dean, 54, attended Leiphart, Ashman and Patterson schools. His older brother, Tom Dean, is his legal guardian; their parents passed away several years ago. Mary Ross, a respite worker who cares for Dean when Tom is out of town, is a longtime friend of the Dean family.
    Jean and Al Ducham and their son, Eddie Ducham, 20, are friends of Dean's. They met him about three years ago, Jean said, at a Midland County Parks and Recreation event at Plymouth Park pool.
    "Doug came right up and introduced himself to Eddie, and we've become good friends," Jean recalled. "We really enjoy Doug. He has a kind spirit. We get together and go for walks or go shopping at the mall. Doug often comes over to our house for dinner or to spend an afternoon with Eddie."
    The Duchams enjoy Dean's upbeat personality. He and Eddie like many of the same activities and get along well despite their age difference, Jean said.
    On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Dean can be found at the Midland Cogeneration Venture, where he shreds paper. At the Creative Spirit Center, Linda Z. Smith puts him to work running the copy machine, folding papers, dusting and vacuuming.
    Dean's service at MidMichigan Stratford Village includes pushing residents' wheelchairs, bringing meals to them and delivering items. The Christmas season is exciting, as it brings opportunities to help with the Salvation Army's Christmas Closet. "I help put coats away, hang up pants and things," he said.
    Other places he volunteers include the Midland Community Center, Midland Community Tennis Center, Chippewa Nature Center, the Antique Festival at Midland County Fairgrounds, Midland County Animal Control and Midland Volunteers for Recycling.
    "I like to help people out," he said. "I look in the paper (at the volunteer column) and find things to do." He has helped with dances for People First, an advocacy group of The ARC. A Valentines Day dance was fresh on his mind. For that event he wrapped gifts, registered guests and helped Lampman purchase food.
    There's often a smile on Dean's face. He enjoys music, particularly country music. On summer days he meets with friends at Tunes by the Tridge, and he has played Special