Seguin Services, Inc.

“Building a Better Life”

Capital Campaign 2005-2008

Carr Center -- Upgrades

The Carr Center has been the headquarters of Seguin operations since 1991. The three-story 45,000 square foot facility has served us well since those early days, but has long been in need of an extensive makeover, changes necessary to meet the needs of the people we serve. Critical among these is the need to install a fire sprinkler system and new entrances/exits for the building. The facility serves dozens of individuals with significant mobility challenges (wheelchairs, walkers)—and their health and safety remains our top priority. We aim to relocate all programs in which these individuals with mobility challenges participate to specially designed spaces on the main floor of the Carr Center, while modernizing our existing nursing area. Remaining floors will be re-designed to provide myriad activities to enhance individual abilities in a variety of domains—from vocational to physical to self-care skills.

Seguin has always been an innovator in its services for people with developmental disabilities, precisely because we never stop looking for ways to improve the programs we offer. In our just completed five-year Strategic Plan, numerous goals have been set to add to the quality of our service delivery, several of them involving improvements to the facilities where these services are delivered, including:

Fire Sprinkler System

Through the generosity of many individual, corporate, foundation and governmental donors Seguin has installed state-of-the-art fire sprinkler systems in the Community Integrated Living Arrangement homes where our adult residents live. The Carr Center, however, where hundreds of people with disabilities and staff meet each day, does not have a sprinkler system. This safety issue is one of the top priorities of our renovation plans.

Nurses Center

The medical needs of Seguin’s participant population are significant. With a limited corps of nurses we monitor the health and administer prescriptions to hundreds of individuals. A totally modernized Nursing Center has been included in our renovation plans – allowing for such essentials as a private bath, an assessment and treatment area separate from the office, and secured storage space with refrigeration for individual medicines.

Computer Learning Lab

The Carr Center renovation plans call for the creation of a modern Computer Learning Lab where participants can learn basic computer skills, and support staff can log onto the internet for access to college level direct support training programs and other Seguin research. Initial commitments of support for this project have come from both IBM and Microsoft.

Senior Activity Rooms

As medical advancements have been made over the past decades, there has been a corresponding increase in the life expectancy of people living with severe medical and developmental disabilities. This increased longevity is also reflected in the base of people served by Seguin. We project that 26% of the participants in our Adult Services programs will be over the age of 55 by the end of this decade. Just under half of these seniors now attend a special Senior Services program at the Carr Center.

We have plans to double the space allotted our programs for seniors. This space will require such design specifics as non-carpeted floors, comfortable and user-friendly furnishings, and projects geared toward engaging individuals intellectually and socially in age-relevant activities – including such basics as a library of large print books and good lighting. There is also an immediate need for a “kneeling” van to transport seniors to community-based services.

Snoezelen Sensory Room

Disability advocates at Seguin have long fought for the inclusion of a Snoezelen room at Seguin. A therapeutic response for people with severe disabilities, a Snoezelen room is equipped with a variety of multi-sensory objects such as color bubble lights, lava lamps, slide shows, tactile displays and sound options. These features allow an individual with severe sensory impairments to experience an entire world of perceptions that they might not otherwise encounter. This room is used for both heightening an individual’s senses and as a method of relaxing a tense individual facing a stressful time or situation.

Exercise Room

A daily workout has long been recognized as a requirement to a healthy life, whether it’s push-ups or just dancing along with to the beat of the Village People’s song YMCA in Seguin’s “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” class. Seguin’s renovation plans include providing dedicated space for an Exercise Room, complete with workout equipment, floor mats and instructional classes.

Seguin Salon

The experience of a trip to the beauty shop, or just experimenting with a new “hairdo” is something that many individuals with disabilities rarely have the chance to enjoy. The planned Seguin Salon will provide that informal social atmosphere for persons served – while also providing valuable learning space for lessons in the type of personal hygiene needed to garner the self-esteem necessary to seek community-based employment.

Multi-Media Room

A “library” is no longer just a collection of books – Seguin’s planned Multi-Media Room will serve the special needs of participants with audio books and the equipment and headphones needed to play them, as well as books in Braille, donated music CD’s and VHS tapes or DVD’s of movies.

Activity Room for Art Therapy

Long one of the most popular offerings at Seguin, the Art Therapy program has always longed for appropriate space. Plans call for a dedicated activity room equipped with work tables and supply bins for various arts and craft projects. The opportunities for creative self-expression will provide a major enhancement to many individuals’ lives, improving their self-esteem while contributing to a sense of artistic achievement.

A Learning Kitchen

Allowing people with developmental disabilities to live with as much independence as possible requires the teaching of many life skills that include cooking simple meals for themselves and others. These skills can best be taught in a special Learning Kitchen planned for the renovated Carr Center. The kitchen will include all of the amenities of a home’s kitchen, with disability-friendly construction, plus room for a class.

A Drop-in Center & Front Entrance Renovation

Seguin has many visitors each day, including all of the participants in our day programs – yet we have a reception lobby not much larger than a small office. Plans call for the reconfiguration of the entrance of the Carr Center. These plans include the creation of a Drop-in Center and lounge where individuals served can wait for their rides in a comfortable environment, and where Seguin staff working in the CILA homes can easily consult with a participant’s Carr Center-based case manager at pick-up or drop-off time. The re-design of the entrance also includes construction of an additional accessible exit to facilitate easier access to and from the building, as well as new driving lane and parking area in front of the Center.

Print Center

Despite the advent of computers, thousands of photocopies are made at Seguin each day – a cost of doing business that is also an opportunity. Working with vendors, Seguin plans on opening a ground floor Print Center to serve the needs of the agency, while being open for business to the general public – an opportunity that can create jobs for people with disabilities.

SEGUINWORKS Garden Center

SEGUINWORKS – Where Mission Meets Entrepreneurial Spirit

SEGUINWORKS, the innovative earned income initiative begun three years ago, provides jobs for more than 80 of Seguin’s hardest-to-employ adults with developmental disabilities in three businesses: Auto Marketplace (Auto Sales & Detailing), Lawn Maintenance & Snow Removal, and the Gift Corner.

Through the significant generosity of private supporters, Seguin has been able to construct a gleaming new Auto Marketplace facility at the corner of Route 66 & Central Avenue in Cicero. This Center serves as the base of operations for car sales and car-washing/detailing operations, but most importantly has meant jobs and personal pride for people with severe disabilities. In 2005 the Auto Marketplace is expected to further expand its operations, maintaining a daily presence in the Cicero community as a venue for car-related sales and services. We also continue to expand lawn care & snow removal services to a variety of residential and commercial customers. In addition, our Gift Corner enterprise offers various seasonal products for sale, such as holiday gift baskets, wreaths and floral arrangements. All of these activities are focused on providing jobs for people with severe developmental disabilities—which means increased self-esteem and quality of life for individuals served by Seguin.

The Garden Center – New Opportunities for Growth

Building on the success of the Auto Marketplace, Seguin is set to move in a new and innovative direction, with the establishment of a Garden Center business, which will develop, market, and sell lawn, garden, and horticultural products and services. The Garden Center initiative evolved from Seguin’s Horticultural Therapy program, which was begun in May 2001. Horticultural therapy is the use of professionally directed plant, gardening, and nature activities applied therapeutically for restoring the physical and mental health of its participants. This therapy project was designed for people with severe developmental disabilities, many with multiple sensory and physical impairments and/or medical conditions.

Initially the Horticultural Therapy program focused on product development for Seguin’s Gift Corner retail shop (foliage plants, herbs and vegetables, and gift basket items), as well as landscape maintenance training. Since that time, the program has tripled its space, growing summer produce and flowers, and providing flower arranging and residential landscaping. The veggies, herbs, and flowers that are not used in therapy are sold at Seguin’s “mobile farmer’s market” (a pushcart, staff member and participant selling the goods throughout the building) on Fridays.

The program has benefited participants in a number of ways: increased social skills, self-esteem, and overall physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being. It has also provided the opportunity for the development of new work skills and access to new vocational opportunities for participants who might otherwise not have an opportunity to work.

As we looked at the existing program, it became clear that we could pair the horticultural therapy program with a business venture that would sell horticultural products, and possibly services. From this emerged the concept of the Garden Center as an appropriate next venture for SEGUINWORKS.

The Garden Center will become a full-fledged retail operation. It is expected capitalize on seasonal opportunities to sell fruits and vegetables, bedding plants, pumpkins, Christmas trees, and flowers for Easter, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and other holidays. The Center will include a new 10,000 square foot greenhouse (built on available space on Seguin property) and make use of Seguin’s 62 group homes as work sites, with the added benefit of beautification of those properties.

SEGUINWORKS Garden Center

The Garden Center facility will be built on the grounds of the existing Seguin campus, on 31^st Street, across the street from SEGUINWORKS’ AutoMarketplace/AutoDetailing business. The proposed construction includes a 2,200 square foot masonry garden center with a full basement and roof terrace, a 4,145 square foot greenhouse and a paved parking lot and service drive. The Garden Center will include work, office, and retail space.

“Building a Better Life”

Total costs for the Carr Center renovations and the Garden Center construction are projected at $3,500,000, with an additional $500,000 targeted to endow the project. To enable Seguin to reach these substantial goals and enhance the lives of the people we serve, we look to you—the generous donor—to become an “investor”, to build a better life for people with disabilities and other special needs. With your financial support, you will enable individuals with difficult challenges to develop skills and become productive members of society. Through your generosity you can foster personal growth and a sense of hope among persons with significant disabilities, by providing them with the environments within which that growth can be attained.

Therefore we ask of you to participate in this major capital campaign, by making a contribution that will plant the seeds of future growth for Seguin and, most importantly, build a better life for the adults and children with disabilities and other special needs.

For information please contact:

John Voit, President & CEO – (708) 222-4530 or jvoit@seguin.org

Jim Haptonstahl, Senior Vice President – (708) 222-4250 or jhaptons@seguin.org

Click here to download Seguin's
capital campaign newsletter, Building A Better Life.