Harford County Council

District A Happenings
April 15, 2015

Volume 1, Issue 7

A Vessel of Support
Imagine it is 1950 and the doctor has just told you your child has a developmental delay or is mentally retarded (the old fashioned phrase for intellectual disability.) The standard recommendation at the time was
to place the child into an institution, so the family would not be burdened with taking care of the child.
In 1950, a small group of parents and other concerned individuals came together to act as voices for change.
At the time, little was known about the condition of intellectual disabilities. There were virtually no programs and activities in communities to assist in the development and care of children and adults with intellectual disabilities or to support their families. Emboldened by their collective desire to raise their children
in the home and their stubborn refusal to accept institutionalization was the only option, The Arcs founders
fought even harder.
Like every parent of any child, they wanted more for their children. They wanted their children to lead fulfilling lives out in the community and not shuttered away in dark institutions. It was in this spirit The Arc
was born.
At the outset, the organization was committed to altering perceptions of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to educate parents and others regarding the potential of people with these disabilities.
(Continued on page 2)

Council Office Contact

Information

Internet Caf
Tuesday through Friday
10 am - 2 pm
Free Wi-Fi Access
Loaner Computers Available
Faxing & Copying On-Site
Surf the internet, research, job search, and
connect with others

Office Phone: 410-638-3521

Cell Phone: 443-752-2598
Email: DistrictA@HarfordCountyCouncil.com
Come talk to me the Second Sunday of each
month at the Joppatowne Flea Market from
2 pm to 4 pm.
Legislative Aide
Donna Blasdell
Office Phone: 410-638-4109 x1813

A Vessel of Support (Cont.)

The Arc also worked to procure services for children
and adults who were denied an education, the opportunity to attend day care and preschools, and the opportunity to work. The Arc currently promotes and
protects the human rights of people with intellectual
and developmental disabilities and actively supports
their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes.

Inclusion: The belief everyone should have support to assist them to be involved in real life opportunities in places with others to the benefit of
all.

From this background, Harford County has The Arc

Northern Chesapeake Region (Arc NCR) in our community. The Arc NCR supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live lives that
mirror yours and mine: students attending neighborhood schools, adults going to work and living in their
own homes, and individuals enjoying the social and
recreational opportunities in their communities. They
are a private, non-profit local chapter of The Arc
Maryland and The Arc of the United States.

Community Building: Meet customers' needs

through new and existing community partnerships
and creative use of resources.

Responsiveness: Responding to internal and external customers, resource contributors, community and each other in a timely manner.

The Arc NCR currently offers the following services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families living in
Harford and Cecil Counties:

The Arc NCR mission revolves around The ARCs

five core values:

Respect: The belief all people have the right to be

and feel respected. We show honor and esteem to all
people we come with whom we come in contact. This
is done with appreciation and dedication to their right
and privilege to be treated as someone of worth.

Family Support Services to individuals (age 0

through 21) and their families;
Treatment Foster Care Services to children
and their families;
Supported Employment Services to adults;
and
Supported Living and Individual Support Services to adults.

Family Support Services (FSS)

Any Harford or Cecil family of a child with a
developmental disability between the ages of
birth to 21 is eligible for our services. FSS offers
families personalized services based on individual needs and preferences. FSS teaches families
how to advocate and to obtain community resources. FSS can offer resource information and
referrals. It provides sibling support programs
and family activities. Caring for a child with intellectual or physical disabilities is hard work and
often families have no support from others so
FSS provides respite care resources and funding.
In addition, it can offer the family assistance in
obtaining funding resources to care for their
child.

Self-Determination: Implement the principles of self

-determination: Freedom to make choices; Authority
over services & support; Responsibility for organizing resources; and Support necessary to live in the
community.

Edgewood Melting Pot

Neighborhood Clean Up
on Brookside Drive

Treatment Foster Care Services

Children served in this program have entered
foster care because of abuse and/or neglect and
are in need of a higher level of care than a child
in traditional foster care. After training, Treatment Foster Parents become part of a treatment
team with biological parents, social workers,
therapists, Department of Social Services staff,

April 25th
9:30 am-noon
Meet at 9 am in front of Big Lots
Go straight to Brookside Drive
Find more information at servefestmd.org

(Continued on page 3)

A Vessel of Support (Contd)

receive only drop-in help with food shopping, bill
paying and activities in the community. Other individuals receive around the clock support and complete personal care. The Staff at The Arc NCR are
trained to work with individuals to help them achieve
their personal goals, remain connected to family and
friends, build new friendships, and participate as active members of their community.

and other professionals who work together to

create a successful plan of services for each
child. The children in this program have a wide
range of special needs which can include learning disabilities, autism and other developmental
disabilities and delays, behavioral challenges, or
emotional and mental health issues. Given these
unique challenges, each child has a treatment
plan and Treatment Foster Parents have the responsibility, along with other members of the
team, to develop, implement, and evaluate that
plan.

Self-Advocacy
An individual with an intellectual or developmental
disability needs to learn how to obtain the services
they need thorough self-advocacy. People First, was
established as a non-profit citizen's advocacy group
by self-advocates in 1987 and believes that all persons, regardless of disability, deserve a life of quality. People First has adopted and endorsed "The
Community Imperative" as our view that all persons
deserve lives as full members in their own communities. Our motto is "Achieving yesterday's dreams.
Building tomorrow's promise."

Supported Employment Services

The Arc NCR's Employment Services currently
offers long-term community-based employment
support to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These services are offered in
integrated settings including individual job placements and industrial, clerical and janitorial enclaves in Harford and Cecil County businesses
and local and state agencies. Individuals are supported in seeking and maintaining employment
through job development, job coaching with follow-along supports, case management and transportation (where applicable). The Arc NCR recognizes a community need for job development,
job placement and retention, and short-term Job
Coaching and Community Based Assessments,
short-term services to referrals are provided from
The Division of Vocational Services.

People First of Harford County contributes to

achieving full community membership by promoting equal rights for all people, educating the community about issues affecting people with disabilities and promoting inclusive social and recreational
activities for people with disabilities. People First of
Harford County meets every second Wednesday of
the month, from 5 - 7 PM at The Arc Northern
Chesapeake Regions Administration offices. To
contact a representative of People First contact our
Adult Services Department at 410-836-7177.

Services for Transitioning Youth

An increasing number of students exiting Harford
County Public Schools at age 21 are requesting
vocational services. The Arc NCR's Transition
Coordinators works with the school system
throughout the year prior to graduation to support
students and their families in transitioning from
school to work.

To support the organization with a donation or by

becoming a member, please visit their website The
Arc Northern Chesapeake Region.

Harford Hills Bike Adventure

April 25, 2015

Supported Living and

Individual Support Services
The Arc NCR believes all individuals regardless of
intellectual or developmental disabilities should
live typical adult lifestyles in their communities.
With this goal in mind, The Arc NCR provides customized support services for adults with disabilities
in apartments, townhomes, or single-family homes.
Some individuals choose to live by themselves and

Cost: $45 per rider

Registration begins at 7:30 am
Rides begin at 8:00 am and 8:30 am
Chose between ad 30 mile or 62 mile ride
Towson University of Northeastern Maryland
510 Thomas Run Road
Bel Air, MD 21015

The Arc of Northern Chesapeake Region

3

Cooking up the Savings

As mentioned in previous columns, the two main areas you have the most control over in order to save
money: utilities and food. We have already discussed
ways to save on your utilities. Lets talk about saving
on your food bill. Eat out at all the time and have a
large food bill or prepare food at home and have a
smaller food bill, usually dramatically smaller.

Rice Cooker. Allows you to make great rice and

not have to rely on the more expensive instant
variety. If you make rice often, this is another
item to have.
Food Processor. Reduces the food preparation
time, especially if you batch cook.

Blender. Lets you make those smoothies, drinks,

Lets have some fun with math. Lets say you stop for
salad dressing, etc.
a coffee every morning on your way to work and pay
Food Storage Containers. Sturdy, air tight ones
$4.00 for a large, 16 ounce cup. If you do the math it
are the best to store batch cooking or leftovers.
is $20.00 a week and $80.00 a month. Now compare it
to making your coffee at home. A 12 ounce bag of
Coffee Maker. If you are a coffee drinker, this
high end coffee sells for $7.48. A 12 ounce bag will
machine can save you a lot.
make 34 6 ounce cups, for a cost of $0.22 a cup. A 16
Cookbooks. Cookbooks for lower cost, healthy
ounce mug would use 2.75 cups to fill up for a cost of
meals can provide ideas for meals.
$0.61 cents. If you do the math it is $3.05 a week and
$12.20 for the month. This is a total savings of $67.80 As you are gathering your tools you should be thinka month by making just this one small change.
ing about and working on building your plan of atImagine making these types of changes across every- tack. First in the plan is to build up a pantry and the
thing you do with food and food preparation, the next is developing a menu plan. These go hand in
amount of money a family can save is huge. The hand. You want to make sure the items in your panUSDA publishes a Cost of Food at Home Food Plan. try match the men-us and meals you will be making.
As of February 2015, feeding a family of four is Having a good size pantry makes sure you are not
$652.90 on a Thrifty Food Plan and $859.70 on a Low running to the store every day, provides some securi-Cost Food Plan. There are two more plans with high- ty if there is a loss of income or other emergency,
er costs; click on the link to see them. Use these Plans and al-lows you to help others if needed. You will
as a guide and see if you can spend less money. Make need to decide how much food you will store: 1
it a game for the family to beat the costs on these week, 2 weeks, a month, three months or more. This
plans.
will often depend on your storage space and your
These plans tend to include a lot of convenience foods comfort level. If you have more
such as pre-packaged side dishes, canned soups, or food in the pantry, you have a
frozen dinners. Having a few of these types of food in better cushion for emergencies.
the house is fine for having a quick meal on hand, but Once you decide on how much
using real foods and making most of your own food to store, the next step is to
meals will save your money and health in the long plan your menus. An easy way to
run. To start along this journey of saving money, you accomplish this is to write out all
need to have a plan of attack and some tools in your of your familys favorite meals and use this list at the
kitchen. Here is list of some of these tools to have in base for your pantry. If you are not sure how to start
the kitchen to make your life easier.
a pantry, The Organized Home has a great article to
Crockpot/Slow Cooker. This the use as a guide to figure out the basics. To find others,
number one item to have! It is a life perform an internet search on How to Build a Pansaver for working or busy families. try. Once you have the basics, take your meal plan
Put a meal in the crock in the morn- and figure out the ingredients you need above and
ing and come home to a hot meal beyond the pantry basics to make the meals.
waiting to eat. Having one crockpot
is good, but you may find having
(Continued on page 5)
more than one is better.
4

Cooking up the Savings (Contd.)

When you start to stock the pantry, you still need to
stay within your grocery budget to feed your family
and stock the pantry. There are several ways to stretch
your dollar. Check the sales flyers for the local stores
and plan all your meals around the sales, take the savings and pick up pantry items. Aldis is a good place
to stock up on the basics since their prices tend to be
lower than grocery stores. Developing a price book
can help you track sales trends and know where and
when the best prices are available for the items you
use often. The Organized Home has an article on one
way to start a price book. Once again an inter-net
search can provide you many other ideas.

Organized Home is a great resource for learning

about frugal living. It has many free printable lists
and check-lists to help you meet your goals, both
financial and personal.
Check your library first to preview the books. If
you decide to purchase the book, look for used
ones to save money. Check out sites such as
half.com, abebooks.com or the used selections of
Amazon to get the best prices.

Upcoming Columns
Emergency Fund. Who Needs It?
Getting That Snowball Rolling
Another tool for saving on the food budget is batch How to Use a Meal Plan
cooking, freezer cooking or once a month cooking.
Taking time once or twice a month to prepare meals
and have them in your freezer saves both time and
Volunteers
money. All you need to do is take the meal out of the
Needed!!
freezer, defrost it in the refrigerator and prepare it.
There are many resources available to help you along
this path to reduce your food budget. Internet searches
are a fun way to find hints, helps and recipes. Here are
a few ideas to get you started:
Cookbooks
More With Less
Family Feasts for $75 a Week
$7 a Meal Slow Cooker Cookbook
$5 Dinner Mom
Dining on a Dime
Miserly Meals
Healthy Meals for Less
Claras Kitchen
Once a Month Cooking Family Favorites
Dont Panic, Dinners in the Freezer
Fast Slow Cooker Freezer Meals

The Edgewood Community is seeking your

help in planning and hosting two events we
believe help foster a positive image of our
community. We are seeking assistance from
the Harford County community to make
these events happen this year. We strongly
believe helping Edgewood greatly benefits
Harford County as a whole.
If you, or an organization you know are willing to help please contact one or both of the
event coordinators listed below.
Edgewood Independence Day
Celebration Parade Coordinator
Veronica Black
410-868-2796
veronblack@hotmail.com

Websites
365 Days of Slow Cooking
$5.00 Dinners
Budget Bytes
Good Cheap Eats
31 Crockpot Freezer Meals
A Month of Crockpot Freezer Meals

Edge WoodStock Coordinator

Jansen Robinson
410-258-4552
Jansen.robinson@hotmail.com

Around the District Happenings

Anita C. Leight Estuary Center

Edgewood Library

Estuary Science Lab: Microscopy Techniques

04/17/2015
4:30-6:30 pm

Little LEAPERS 3.5: Digital Camp

4/20/2015
10:30-11:15 am

Sunset Paddle Series: Canoe

04/17/2015
5:30-8:00 pm

Salsa Stories Family Writing Workshop

04/20/2015
6:00-8:00 pm

Clean up the Creek Canoe

04/18/2015
9:30 am-12:30 pm

Awesome Afternoon at the Movies

04/25/2015
2:00-4:00 pm

Ecology Video Game Programming Workshop

04/18/2015
10:00 am-1:00 pm

Foreign Film Festival

04/27/2015
6:00-8:00 pm

Childrens Gardening
04/18/2015
1:00-2:00 pm

Joppa Library

Frog Fetchin
04/18/2015

6:30-8:00 pm

Knitting for Beginners and Advanced Beg.

Meets weekly on Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 pm

Birding by Boat
04/19/2015

9:00-10:30 am

Crazy 8s Preschool Math Club

Meets weekly on Tuesdays 10:30-11:30 am

Pumping Up Pollinators
04/19/2015
2:00-4:00 pm

Booked for Lunch

04/20/2015
12:00-1:00 pm

Ecology Video Game Programming Workshop

04/25/2015
10:00 am-1:00 pm

Computer Security
04/20/2015
6:30-8:00 pm

Plant a Tree Please

04/25/2015
12:00-1:00 pm

Family Swap Meet

4/26/2015
10:00 am-1:00 pm

Camping by the Creek

04/25/2015
4:30 pm-10:30 am

Awesome Afternoon at the Movies

4/26/2015
2:00-4:00 pm

Jazzy Pots and Plants

04/26/2015
1:00-2:00 pm

Job Search: Writing a Resume

4/28/2015
1:00-2:00 pm

Abingdon Library

Basics of Car Care

4/28/2015
6:00-7:00 pm

Boosting Morale: Art Out of Conflict Exhibit

04/09/2015 through 05/30/2105
Little LEAPERS 3.5: Digital Camp
04/20/2015
10:15-11:15 am
Innovate Cafe
04/20/2015

6:30-7:45 pm

Lets Go to the Zoo Story Time

04/23/2015
1:30-2:15 pm
Explorer Club: Food Sleuth
04/24/2015
2:00-3:00 pm
Little LEAPERS 3.5: Digital Camp
4/27/2015
10:30-11:15 am
7

House of Worship Events

Presbury United
Methodist Church
Quarter Auction

Pit Beef BBQ

April 24, 2015

$5.00 for 2 Paddles

April 18, 2015

Doors open at 6 pm
Auction starts at 7 pm

806 Edgewood Road

Edgewood, MD 21040

Thirty-One, Origami Owl, Jamberry, Perfectly Posh,

Mia Bells & It Works! are just some of the vendors

For more information

Call: 410-676-3234
Visit: www.presburyumc org

Prince of Peace
2600 Willoughby Beach Road
Edgewood, MD
410-612-5912

Copley Parish
Church of the Resurrection

May 9, 2015
Doors open at 5 pm
Event begins at 6 pm
One paddle for $2
Three paddles for $5
Refreshments will be sold
For more information:
700 Anchor Drive
Joppa MD 21085
410-679-8700
www.copleyparish.org
8

Spotlights on:

ServeFest 2015
ServeFest is the result of a convergence of many different movements among the
Churches in the region. In the mid 2000s, there were several churches that had
caught a vision for being the hands and feet of Jesus and serving their community
in practical ways. In Howard County, Grace Community Church started a community impact ministry
called Building Bridges. Abundant Life Church in Anne Arundel County was coordinating a monthly
outreach, which they were calling Servefest. Apart from either of these initiatives, Mountain Christian
Church in Harford County launched ServeFest in 2004 as an all-church, day of service to the community in neighborhoods, schools, non-profit agencies, government organizations, and homes. The main
goal was for the church to be a blessing to the community and offer itself as a servant through simple, but
meaningful projects.
It became clear that ServeFest did not belong to any one church and that it was a vehicle for bringing
churches together. In 2007, ServeFest in Harford County engaged 3 churches. The next year there were
17 churches. The following year 41 churches partnered together as ServeFest extended beyond Harford
County to include Baltimore City and Baltimore County. In 2010, the Baltimore regional prayer network,
Partners for Transformation, endorsed ServeFest and the movement became truly regional. From that
point, a regional website and branding were developed, and ServeFest has grown to extend across five
counties and Baltimore City and has brought together over 4,000 people and 120 churches to serve their
communities.
This years ServeFest will be held on April 25th and will have a two-pronged focus: Serving our Community and Serving our Neighbors.
Serve OUR Community
There will be many projects in the participating Counties and City - projects we can all join in to Serve
OUR Community. Projects which will include school beautifications, park clean-ups, home and facility
repairs, care-giving at assisted living facilities, general spring cleaning for non-profit organizations, prayer walks and more. Theres something for everyone -- young and old, skilled and unskilled. Each project
is led by a volunteer project manager in conjunction with the organization or people being served.
Serve OUR Neighbors
ServeFest is aimed at igniting a movement of people who live a lifestyle of serving in Jesus name. Everyone should feel empowered and encouraged to Serve YOUR Neighbors in whatever way God is leading you. Individuals and families are encouraged to identify a way to serve neighbors -- whether theyre
next door or people seen all the time. You are encouraged to be creative, have fun, and build new relationships.
For more information on churches which are participating and currently planned projects, visit the
Harford County ServeFest website.