Welcome 2025!

Gerry Beagles • January 21, 2025

Looking forward to the new year at Garden Center.

It’s so hard to believe that we are already halfway through the first month of 2025! I guess it’s a good time to check how many of our New Year resolutions are still in place! 


On behalf of myself, my wife Cindy, and our Board of Directors, I want to wish each of you a safe, healthy, and joy-filled 2025. I want to use my article for this Leaflet to mention a number of exciting goings-on at Garden Center Services that will be happening over the coming year. But first, let me take a moment to express my deep gratitude for the incredible outpouring of moral and financial support that so many of you provided during this past year. The lives of the individuals that we are honored to serve are truly made better by your generosity!


One of the positive changes that you will observe throughout this year will be the enhancement of our services as we implement the recommendations made by the accrediting body, the Council on Quality Leadership. The Council represents and advocates for the highest standards pertaining to the supports and programs for individuals with intellectual/and or developmental disabilities. We were very proud to have obtained accreditation status last year and will work hard to maintain it in the coming years.


I’m happy to share with you that sometime next month we will finally be closing on the Garden Apartments project. Once that occurs, then as soon as the weather permits, the digging will begin! The final result, a year to a year and a half later, will be a beautiful, sixteen-unit apartment building that will become home for persons with disabilities that can live somewhat independently. It makes me very proud that our agency is so committed to doing whatever it takes to help provide a home for those that otherwise may be without. Truly living our mission! 


We are also looking for a home to purchase that would be the initial site of the shared living program that we’ve been wanting to start. This is a living arrangement model where one or two individuals that are funded for residential support choose to move in and live with a family that is committed to being their caregivers as they now all share a home together. The house we’re purchasing can be rented by the couple or family that would be welcoming the individuals into their home.


In terms of living our mission, at Garden Center Services we are also very committed to taking care of our employees. For a couple of years we have been providing free counseling to the staff through an on-line program named TalkSpace. Now I am pleased to share with you that starting this January, 2025, our employees can register for a membership at the Burbank Recplex with the costs being covered by the agency! They will also have the opportunity to sign up family members at a discounted rate. They will cover the cost of any family members on their own.


Finally, I’ll mention the Spring Fling that we’re working on putting together for March 30th. We’ve heard from a number of you that it would be nice to have an agency sponsored dinner again where old and new friends of Garden Center could gather, break bread together, and hear more about our great agency. The event will differ from our past galas, as there’ll be no models or raffles. But we hope folks will enjoy seeing one another, sharing a good meal together, watching a professionally produced film about our agency, and listening/dancing to a live music trio! More info to come!


Whew! These are just some of the highlights of things happening at your agency! Looking forward to seeing you in the coming year. 


Looking forward to seeing you in the coming year. 


Peace,

Other Articles

I Still Have Passion for This Work

By Gerry Beagles • May 14, 2025
Little did I know, on May 2nd, 2003, that I would be undertaking the role as Director of Garden Center Services that I am blessed enough to still be fulfilling today! Some of you probably remember that at the time I came on board, the name of our agency was Garden Center for the Handicapped. Changing the wording was easy; changing the approach to how the individuals we support are emboldened to make their own choices and create their own lives has been exhilarating and extremely hard work. There are many reasons that my passion for this work hasn’t waned but let me just share a few with you. First and foremost, it is the people we serve. I have spoken frequently, especially when spending time with new employees, about the tangible benefit that comes with working in this field; interacting with caring, curious, resilient adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities, who are the most unpretentious people you could ever spend time with. Next, if you are lucky, you end up working side-by-side with so many compassionate, committed employees that are like-minded and spirited in their desire to raise up the individuals we support and help them to have the lives they deserve. At Garden Center Services I have often felt the line between fellow staff members and chosen family gets quite blurry. Lastly, it is an incredible opportunity to be working in the disability services area during a time of change, when individuals are being empowered to learn and use their own voices, to advocate for themselves, and to make choices such as where do they want to live, who do they want to live with, how do they want to spend their days, …etc. I want to express a deep appreciation for the families, parents & guardians, friends, and the local business community that have been exceptionally supportive of the direction that we have taken the agency. Change can be difficult, and that’s why I am so thankful for the open-mindedness, trust, and respect that I have experienced as the Executive Director. We have a very committed, involved group of individuals that serve on the agency’s Board of Directors. They give up their time, energy, and often their resources to ensure that Garden Center is following through on our commitment to the people we serve. I want to express my gratitude to three members of the board that stepped down after serving 2 three-year terms. Ms. Donna Blair, Mr. Tony DiMiele, and Ms. Ava Rhodes-Smith. Their guidance has been invaluable over the last six years! Let me also introduce the four new people that have just joined the board. Ms. Kate Akin, Mr. John Considine, Ms. Kari Riordan, and Ms. Jenny Wojcik. You will learn more about them in the coming newsletters. A Happy Spring to All, Gerry

Response to US Health Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s, April 16th Briefing on Autism

By Gerry Beagles • April 17, 2025
Any of you that listened to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remarks yesterday about the “autism epidemic” would have spent your time more intelligently if you had watched an episode of the Three Stooges. Kennedy referred to autism as a ‘disease’, versus a developmental disability, and stressed how it destroys families and greatly limits the contributions that persons with this neurological condition can make to society. What a bunch of hogwash! There are many individuals dealing with autism that are living contented, productive lives filled with connection, contribution, and meaning. There are people in the arts, playing sports, employed, paying taxes, enjoying loving relationships, and certainly sitting on the damn toilet! The Secretary’s message is just more misinformation and simply reinforces the stigmatization that holds individuals with an autism diagnosis down and keeps so many in our country from experiencing the gifts and positive impacts that they share.  Please join us and the many advocates supporting persons with neurological differences in seeking a future for these incredible, courageous individuals, where they are suitably championed to create and enjoy the lives they deserve!

Elation to Anxiety

By Gerry Beagles • March 3, 2025
The joy and happiness of inclusiveness and acceptance were all around us, fanned by the heavy beat of 70’s rock music being played by the volunteer DJ. It was our agency’s Valentine’s dance, hosted by the varsity baseball team over at St. Laurence High School, and both the individuals we support, and the student-athletes were having a blast. One of the major changes I have personally experienced over the last 50 plus years around services to persons with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities has been the movement to see all of us as people first, realizing that it is all the marvelous differences that brings life its’ juiciness! I was very impressed with the welcoming spirit of the baseball team and their strong determination to ensure that our folks would have a terrific time. The entire coaching staff, led by head coach Pete Lotus, demonstrated true leadership as they jumped in and enjoyed the party as well. Whatever the baseball teams’ record is at the end of the season, the Valentine party was a huge W! Sadly, it only took a few days for the elation we had experienced from the dance to change into stress and anxiety due to statements and actions taken by President Trump and those that seem to be blindly following his agenda. Initially, it was the attempt to stop Federal funding that was a threat to the continuation of our services which caused intense fear and worry with many of our parents, guardians, and families. There was a short reprieve as that executive order was rescinded, only to be followed by the next gut punch in the form of a bill that would cut $880 billion in Medicaid funding, which is the main source of financial backing for disability services in Illinois and throughout the country. It has become the highest priority for all of us to communicate to state and U.S. legislators the unfathomable negative ramifications of this bill becoming law! Some of my colleagues and I are traveling to Washington D.C. next week to share our collective stories with as many congresspeople as possible. Inside the March/April special issue of The Leaflet are some heartfelt reflections by persons whose lives are uplifted daily by the services we provide. I hope you will take a few minutes to reflect on the stories they share. May you be safe, and LOUD!
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