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Mahoning DD clients cultivate marigolds for Mother’s Day gifts
BOARDMAN
They are just tiny potted marigolds, but they produced king-sized smiles on the faces of the moms who were gifted with them.
Several mothers of consumers at the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ Bev Road Mahoning County Adult Services Co. (MASCO) adult-day program gathered in the facility’s greenhouse for a preview of what all Bev Road mothers will receive this weekend: a marigold grown by their son or daughter with the help of the Men’s Garden Club of Youngstown.
The marigold presented to her by her 38-year-old son, Rob, is wonderful, said Sandy Hewitt of Poland, and so is the program.
Rob, who has been in the MCBDD program since he was 3, is a client aide, which means he helps other clients to have a better day, his mother said.
“Helping others makes him feel good about himself, gives him something to do with his life, and earn some money too,” she said.
The Bev Road program offers vocational training and habitation (life skills) and has about 150 consumers, said George Winsen, Bev MASCO manager.
The Bev MASCO Garden Club, coordinated by workshop specialists Pam Palermo and Barb Melchionne, is a habilitation activity, Winsen said.
The Bev Garden Club also has an outside vegetable garden, produce from which is given to the families of enrolled consumers, Winsen said.
The Men’s Garden Club of Youngstown, which is in its 82nd year, has operated greenhouses at the Bev MASCO and the MCBDD’s Leonard Kirtz School in Austintown for eight years, said club president, John Schinker of Boardman.
The club’s annual plant sale, with flower and vegetable plants and hanging baskets , at the BEV MASCO greenhouse, at South Avenue at Bev Road, is Thursday through next Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.