HORIZONS A NEWSLETTER FOR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF CROTCHED MOUNTAIN SPRING 2005 VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1 FROM THE PRESIDENT by Don Shumway Building communities of mutual support is the cornerstone of our mission, a platform of the Strategic Plan and a priority focus of the recently completed Campus Master Plan. Over time we hope to build several communities, using a co-housing model. The Master Plan also calls for new classrooms, a community gathering place that will hold everyone on our campus, a redesign of traffic flow to the perimeter, and a new and more efficient heating plant as part of a general infrastructure enhancement. Inventories and assessments are complete. Fund raising plans are being developed. And now, we have an agreement to design and build the very first house in the first village of the first neighborhood. When we called on Bensonwood Homes of Walpole, NH, a few months ago, we were aware that their “open building” technique could have real benefits for us. High quality and beautiful, these homes using timber frame construction techniques are flexible, efficient and cost-effective. The chemistry of that first meeting led to a visit by Tedd Benson and associates to Crotched Mountain. After a tour of the campus, we settled into the tree house to talk. I should mention that it was one of those cold and windy days that frequent our mountaintop. On a very windy day, the tree house, which is cabled to its three supporting trees, moves almost imperceptibly in the wind. Until it stops. And you become acutely aware that you have been moving with it! During that three hours in the tree house, the Bensonwood team described building a prototype house using its “open building” principles. We learned how construction that incorporates pre-built components and accessible layers results in extremely low environmental impact and an onsite construction schedule of just days. Even more exciting, this prototype house would be the featured initial project in something called the Open Source Building Alliance, a partnership between Bensonwood Homes and the MIT School of Architecture. The prototype will demonstrate how the home building process can become more structured, using new methods of fabrication and resulting in higher quality, cost effective and highly personalized residential environments. The goal of the building alliance is to inspire industrial partners to collaborate in the design and deployment of new home-related materials, systems and devices. Now through June we will be working on the design. Over the next year, materials will be assembled, and components will be preconstructed in the Bensonwood shop. All of the off-site work reduces the building time on campus. The plan is for Bensonwood to assemble, install systems and complete the house’s interior finishes on site in only 18 days, next year. After construction is complete, MIT and Bensonwood will sponsor a symposium at Crotched Mountain to evaluate the first prototype and set the goals for the second project. We anticipate substantial national attention to this project. The resulting beautiful home will be a living laboratory for learning about accessibility in the homes of the future. It could also lead to additional prototype homes being built at Crotched Mountain. We can’t wait to begin! FUNDING THE FUTURE Fundraising for the expansion of Crotched Mountain has already begun with the Fund for the Future initiated by a gift of $500,000 from an anonymous donor who felt strongly about seeing the Strategic Plan take shape. The Monadnock Community Foundation has awarded its largest grant ever, $75,000, to Crotched Mountain to develop a plan for affordable housing. Jane’s Trust, a national foundation, granted $200,000 to implement the Strategic Plan. Our Board of Trustees has committed $100,000 through this year’s annual fund. For more information please contact the Development Office. EVERYONE INTO THE POOL! People with disabilities who learn to swim and enjoy the water, find a new venue for socialization, for community and for the opportunity to develop lifelong friendships. Matt is non verbal and cannot maneuver his wheelchair, feed or dress himself. But in the Crotched Mountain pool, he splashes and swims with great excitement. He wears a huge grin. He is free! Water opens up an independence and freedom of movement for children with disabilities that often helps them build confidence and feel more in control. “Water is hugely beneficial for all age groups and all abilities,” explains Caitlin McPherson, program coordinator for Crotched Mountain’s Aquatic Center. Water lessens the impact of weight bearing activities on the joints and spine for people with arthritis, back injuries, or post-surgery rehabilitation needs. People who use wheelchairs can often swim or walk in water with virtually no assistance. Children who can’t engage in land-based exercise will play happily in the water, unaware that they are exercising. “Buoyancy allows clients to exercise and address balance skills at a level they are unable to perform in other modalities,” according to Lyn Therrien, Crotched Mountain’s director of Occupational and Physical Therapy. “The resistance of water provides time to regain their balance while giving support to weakened muscles. ”Built in 1990, the four-lane recreational pool and a smaller therapy pool at Crotched Mountain are booked up to 16 hours a day for therapy, swimming lessons, adult lap swim and snorkeling training, serving a varied population from the mountain and its surrounding communities. Water fitness and lifeguard training are offered along with classes in scuba diving that have been especially popular with adults from Crotched Mountain’s Brain Injury Center. A rescue squad brought in child car seats to see which would float, flip over or sink. The hydraulic floor of the therapy pool can be raised or lowered from just inches to a depth of five feet. This flexibility allows a client to move from sitting to kneeling to standing, providing just the right amount of support. Children and adults who cannot lie flat on their backs on hard surfaces, are able to stretchout for therapeutic exercise in the water. The warmth of the therapy pool water at 94-96o promotes relaxation, decreases pain and provides psychological benefits as well. Programs are advertised on Crotched Mountain’s website, www.crotchedmountain.org, where the Aquatics Center page is the third most-often accessed page. A busy month clocks 4,600 individual pool usages adding up to nearly 27,000 each year. As a service to the town of Greenfield, residents may use the recreational pool at no charge during individual lap swim and family swim. One regular swimmer was able to postpone knee surgery through water strengthening. Another found water fitness helped to cope with cystic fibrosis. Still another reported leg bone regrowth following bone necrosis. Children have life altering experiences as well. One five-year-old with autism was brought to the pool as part of an after school program for typical kids. At first, even touching the water was an issue. When he finally went into the pool, his aide was by his side and mom was at the edge. One year later he enters the pool entirely by himself and mom watches from a window upstairs. To the world at large, he is just like all the other kids. Masters Swimmers, for adults of all levels, offers workouts for specific goals such as weight loss, triathlon training and aerobic conditioning. New this year are youth water fitness, geared to kids who don’t normally exercise enough, Ai Chi (water Tai Chi) and a program called Stretch Your Stress. Under consideration are prenatal swim, youth water polo and underwater cycling. Pricing for the Aquatics Center programs is kept affordable through the generosity of Crotched Mountain’s donors. WHAT'S FOR LUNCH? Imagine peeling 400 pounds of potatoes, 150 pounds of onions or 150 pounds of carrots each week. Maple glazed salmon, new potatoes and fresh broccoli…salad bar or turkey, tomato, cheese and bacon wrap…you could be looking at the menu of one of the area’s most popular restaurants, or, you could be having lunch at Crotched Mountain Center. “When you’re located on a mountaintop, with no other immediate dining options, and you have hundreds of staff and residents to feed every day, meals play an important role in everyone’s well being,” according to Rick Connor, director of food services for Crotched Mountain. Staff and residents agree that the meals at Crotched Mountain are a real plus…delicious, varied, innovative and attractively presented. “Everything is fresh – all vegetables and fruit and all meat and fish,” notes executive chef Tom Bamford, even though fresh food is more labor intensive. As many as 28,000 meals a month are prepared and served in the main cafeteria/dining room, the school cafeteria/dining room, the student homes and apartments and, on weekends, in the Brain Injury Center and Children’s Specialty Hospital. Meetings and outside groups who come to the mountain are often catered as well. And each June, the legendary Gala buffet is also created entirely by Crotched Mountain’s own kitchen. The main cafeteria/dining room welcomes families of residents and visitors. The special needs, allergies and nutrition requirements of residents are managed through a computer system called GeriMenu, according to nutritionist Kelly Boutilier. “Menu changes four times a year are combined with the individual dietary requirements and preferences of approximately 95% of Crotched Mountain residents. Many meals are chopped, ground or pureed. Some are low fat, calorie controlled, extra moist or diabetic. All must meet USDA and State requirements,” explains Boutilier. A few kids are really picky and only like four items which can make nutrition a challenge. But most will eat everything from beets to Brussels sprouts. The most common complaint of staff is, “I’ve put on 20 pounds since I came to work here.” About 90 special trays are prepared each weekday. With residents of the Children’s Specialty Hospital and the Brain Injury Center staying for shorter periods of time, new requests are added each week. “It can feel like a football game,” says chef Leo McGinnis, “with so many different meals going on.” Organization is key. The right people in the right job at the right time and cross-trained to fill in for each other. Kitchen staff, many of whom have worked here more than 10 years and three with over 30 years’ tenure, also share their experience with students participating in On the Job Training. “We have a restaurant mentality here,” McGinnis continues. “We make it fun, we keep a positive outlook and the ‘customer’ is always right.” Kitchen space of 3,200 sq. ft. has not changed in 44 years, while the census of residents and numbers of staff have increased from 250 to over 800 in that time. “What we really need is to double the kitchen space and the main dining room,” says Connor who would also like to see a variation of “room service” or meals on demand available for residents of the Children’s Hospital and the Brain Injury Center. There will be changes at Crotched Mountain over the next several years and we hope to enlarge the kitchen and dining space. But one thing that will not change is the commitment to quality. Connor, his kitchen staff, and president Don Shumway are all in agreement that food service is more than three meals a day. Sitting down together to share a meal is an important, interactive and supportive part of the Crotched Mountain community. MORTON H. GAVENS: a Legacy of Leadership Morton H. Gavens, a Certified Public Accountant and past president of the Connecticut Society of CPAs, passed away in November 2004 after a long illness. According to his colleagues, he was “a true leader of the CPA profession, and, through his service, spirit, counsel, and actions, a friend to the many individuals it comprises. ”It was Mr. Gavens’ sincerest wish that any donations in his memory be made to the Crotched Mountain School where his granddaughter is a student. More than 150 of Mr.Gavens’ family, friends, colleagues and clients have made gifts totaling nearly $11,000 to the Morton H. Gavens Memorial Fund that will benefit the programs of Crotched Mountain School. The expressions of friendship, respect and love for Mr. Gavens that accompanied these gifts made in his name are an inspiration and a testimonial to the way he lived his life and conducted his relationships. We are grateful to Mr. Gavens and his family for directing this largesse of support to Crotched Mountain School. For more information about making a memorial gift or honoring someone special, you may contact the Development Office. NEW MEMBERS, BOARD OF TRUSTEES James W. Varnum is president of Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital and president of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Alliance. He serves on a variety of health care boards of trustees including the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Cooley Dickinson Health Care Corporation in Northampton, MA, Central Vermont Medical Center in Barre,VT, and North Country Health System in Newport, VT. He is a professor at Dartmouth Medical School. Varnum is currently on the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Board of Trustees and is a director of Ledyard National Bank. He is a former CEO of the University of Washington Hospital, Seattle. “In my several visits to Crotched Mountain over the years I have been overwhelmed by the type and quality of services and support provided to its clients and families,” said Varnum. “I look forward to finding ways to enhance the broader network of services throughout our state and region to support Crotched Mountain’s mission. ”A graduate of Dartmouth College, Varnum holds a master’s degree in Hospital Administration from the University of Michigan. He and his wife Cindy live in Etna, NH. “I have had an interest in Crotched Mountain and its programs and services for more than 30 years,” said Michael C. Whitney. “And now I look forward to my involvement in implementing the Strategic Plan. ”The president of Bank of America New Hampshire, Whitney brings 27 years of banking experience to Crotched Mountain. He served as president and CEO for Fleet New Hampshire since 1993. Whitney is immediate past chairman of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, past vice chairman and current director of the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire, past director of the NH Bankers Association and former director and vice chairman of the Southern New Hampshire Medical Association. He is a current member of the Corporate Roundtable, Whittemore School of Business and Economics at UNH, and has served numerous other community, civic and business organizations. A graduate of Keene State College, Whitney holds an MBA from the Whittemore School. He and his wife, Ellen, are the parents of two children and are longtime residents of Manchester, NH THE ROLE OF PHILANTHROPY GIFTS COME IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES The weeks preceding the December holidays are filled with shopping, travel plans and families and friends gathering together to celebrate. In the midst of all the, wrapping, decorating and merrymaking that keep us up past our usual bedtimes, many individuals and organizations pause in their own holiday preparations to think about the children and adults of Crotched Mountain. Since the 1970s, the Association of New Hampshire Fire Chiefs has visited the mountain with armloads of gaily wrapped packages that they deliver to the children all over our Greenfield campus. The impressively uniformed firechiefs travel from locations throughout New Hampshire to participate in this annual celebration of giving. Not to be outdone, the employees of Starbuck’s Coffee Co. of Portsmouth were moved to collect, wrap and deliver 300 toys; games, puzzles, dolls, trucks, books and videos so that there would be plenty of fun and excitement when the children opened their presents. Erica Comstock, a senior at Merrimack High School, thought of Crotched Mountain when she chose a project to complete her Girl Scout Gold Award. To earn this highest award in Girl Scouting, she designed and sewed 52 colorful cotton tote bags, enlisting the help of other Merrimack Girl Scout Troops. Erica invested over 100 hours of her own time and she personally presented her tote bags, each with a stuffed animal, to the delight of all. On a bright and wintry day, Herb Simpson and friends Christy and Brittney arrived with a car full of gifts and good cheer from the Sisters of the Beauceant of Framingham, MA, and the women of the First United Methodist Church of Hudson, MA, who shopped, wrapped and tagged several dozen games, CDs, shirts, pants, and pajamas for the students of Crotched Mountain. Herb and his friends from the Masons and his church have continuously provided support, involvement and encouragement to our students since the 1980s. Meanwhile, in over 400 homes in Massachusetts during the past year, people who enjoy doing needlework for others had been knitting and crocheting as members of The Knitting Connection. Led by Sue Manning of West Medford, MA, The Knitting Connection collects and distributes donated yarn to its volunteer members and picks up and organizes thousands of handmade items for children and adults in need. More than six hundred holiday stockings, hats, mittens, scarves, afghans, vests, ponchos, and purses were brought to the children and adolescents who live at Crotched Mountain. The variety of sizes, colors, patterns, and designs was a real tribute to diversity. There was truly something for everyone! And that, perhaps, is one of the greatest messages of philanthropy. Something for everyone: the giver, the recipient and all who are touched by the expression of kindness and generosity. BRIEFLY NOTED ORR’S EDGE A trail at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock has been named for Jim Orr, director of environmental projects at Crotched Mountain. Orr has been volunteer trail chief at the Harris Center for 17 years and has helped build, maintain and enjoy the more than 17 miles of trails where he likes to organize intergenerational hikes. 1,000 COOKIES The girls in The Cedars and House Six baked over 1,000 chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies and sold 100 tins, raising $500 for Save the Children’s tsunami relief fund. The girls shopped for supplies, measured and mixed the dough, and helped tie each package with raffia. Meagan, Jessica and Sarah sold cookies to Mrs. Lawler, RN during their fundraiser. The girls talked about how important it is to help others and how sad it must be for all families affected by the tsunami. They learned that making 1,000 cookies is a lot of work! And they thanked dental hygienist Marcia Kayser for funding all of the project’s supplies. BOOK AND VIDEO SALES SUPPORT ADAPTIVE DANCE The storybook of Masha and the Bear, the folk tale of a little girl who outwits a bear, was translated from the Russian by George E. Brady, Jr., and illustrated by Deana Karas in original watercolors, and is available for $14.95 in softcover. A video of the dance production of Masha and the Bear performed by members of Crotched Mountain’s Adaptive Dance Program and produced by Galen Trinkle with assistance from Megan von der Esch and Zack Shalit is $24.95. Proceeds from the sales will support the Adaptive Dance Program. To order the book or video, please send the correct amount, plus $3 for shipping to Masha and the Bear, Crotched Mountain Foundation, 1 Verney Drive, Greenfield, NH 03047. SENATOR JOHN SUNUNU Shown with Chester (left) and Chaz (right), Sen. Sununu spent an afternoon at Crotched Mountain, meeting informally with staff and residents in the Assistive Technology Department, Crotched Mountain School, the Brain Injury Center and Children’s Specialty Hospital. NEW FRIENDS Bethany Ames of Concord, NH, who is finishing her pediatric residency at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, made rounds with Dr. Carl Cooley and Dr. Chris McCartie at the Children’s Specialty Hospital, met students at Crotched Mountain School, and made friends with Paul. “Crotched Mountain is truly a unique and special place,” said Dr. Ames. “I had a wonderful visit and could not have asked for a better tour guide than Paul. TO SKI OR NOT TO SKI...THANK YOU, ATOMIC SKI, FROM ALL OF US AT CROTCHED MOUNTAIN! Atomic USA of Amherst, NH, recently donated ski equipment to Crotched Mountain’s Adaptive Ski Program, enabling us to outfit staff who tether ski with students from Crotched Mountain School and adults from our Brain Injury Center. Atomic has also supported Crotched Mountain’s golf tournament by donating a ski package to the raffle. The new skis, boots, bindings and poles were also put to good use when Crotched Mounain attended the Special Olympics NH winter games. Thirty Crotched Mountain athletes, who competed in Alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding and adaptive skiing, were supported by nearly 60 staff members, families and friends. Even when they leave the mountain, our staff never stops thinking about how they can support people with disabilities. Admissions registrar JohnYoung, who is also a certified Atomic technician, was on the slopes one weekend when he met a skier from Greenfield who is an amputee. Noting the skier’s really outdated equipment, Young offered him one of the new single skis recently donated by Atomic. The recipient wrote us the following: “I got a chance to ski that Atomic C-9 on Sunday. It is fantastic! As a fan of the old school skis (195 cm and straight) I thought I wouldn’t like the shaped ski. Boy was I wrong!! I have never made turns so tight. I had the best day of skiing I can remember. Please thank your Atomic rep for me.!” Dan Sousa HORIZONS is published by the Office of Advancement, Crotched Mountain Foundation. For more information, please contact: Pat Whitney, Director of Development Crotched Mountain Foundation One Verney Drive Greenfield, NH 03047 603-547-3311, ext. 471 patricia.whitney@crotchedmountain.org As a service to our readers, please write us at the above address if you wish to have your name removed from our mailing list for fundraising requests supporting Crotched Mountain