Thursday, May 8, 2008
Melwood continues to grow
New training center to bolster current services, add new ones
by Andy Zieminski | Staff Writer
The Melwood Horticultural Training Center began offering job opportunities in 1963 to six people with disabilities from a red military surplus tent on seven acres of land behind Andrews Air Force Base.
Today, the nonprofit helps more than 2,100 people in the area with 54 buildings on 148 acres including two offices, a retreat center and houses scattered throughout Prince George’s and Charles counties.
As another step in its growth, Melwood on May 1 dedicated a new 40,000-square-foot building at its Upper Marlboro headquarters that organization leaders say will allow them to further expand their job services and create new ones.
‘‘The change is really in the movement” to accept people with disabilities in society, said Earl Copus Jr., Melwood’s first employee and its president for 40 years until he retired last February.
The $6 million building was named the Copus Training Center in honor of Copus’ role in developing the organization. Melwood received some funding from Prince George’s County, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Land for the building was donated in 1999 by Pleasants Construction Inc., of Clarksburg.
‘‘Forty years ago, few people knew about Melwood,” County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) said during the dedication ceremony. ‘‘Today, there’s hardly anyone in Prince George’s County who doesn’t know about Melwood, and the credit goes to Earl Copus.”
The new building will primarily offer more space for existing programs, including a vehicle donation call center and a program that hires people with disabilities to perform fulfillment services for businesses.
‘‘It more than doubles the space they have on hand, and because of that doubled space they can take on a greater volume of work,” said Melwood spokesman Jay Thomas.
Thomas said the ability to contract with more outside businesses will lead to increased wages for employees, who provide packing, assembly and mail services, as well as a more spacious work environment.
The fulfillment program also teaches employees to use office equipment like photocopiers and collating machines, which are skills ‘‘they can take out if they want to work in the mailroom of any company,” Thomas said.
Melwood officials said that, with additional space for their call center, they are looking into the possibility of hiring military veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who are coping with mental health problems.
‘‘We’re really excited about the call center,” said current Melwood President Janice Frey-Angel.
Melwood leaders have not yet determined a specific use for a 13,000-square-foot section of the building.
The organization is looking into partnering with private businesses or government agencies to use the space to provide new employment and job training services to clients.
‘‘If we have different businesses in here, we’ll be able to give them different choices,” Frey-Angel said.
Along with its call center and business fulfillment program, Melwood runs a garden center at its location on Dower House Road.
Melwood arranges off-site custodial and landscaping jobs through more than 65 contracts with federal agencies in Washington, D.C. The nonprofit also provides residential and recreational opportunities.
People with disabilities who have received jobs through Melwood earn more than $16 million and annually pay more than $3.2 million in taxes, according to the organization.
E-mail Andy Zieminski at azieminski@gazette.net.
