At 15 months old, Catie Elrod was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and a severe seizure disorder. Doctors recommended she immediately be sent off to a facility for disabled children in Gainesville.
“They didn’t expect her to live past 5, never walk, never talk or be a productive adult,” said her mother, Marge Holtsinger.
They were wrong.
Holtsinger declined to send her daughter to Gainesville, and Elrod, now 36, not only lived past 5, but walks, talks, swims and can outrun her mother. She has a full life, thanks to her’ mother’s commitment, school programs and 15 years of influence from Angelwood, which serves children and adults living with developmental disabilities.
The Jacksonville nonprofit will celebrate its 25th anniversary Saturday at a gala in Ponte Vedra Beach.
As a child, Elrod attended Angelwood’s summer camp for children and over the years has benefited from many of its other programs. She now lives in one of its six group homes and spends her days at the agency’s career development and education center off Philips Highway, where she paints and makes jewelry and aromatic soap, among other things.
“She goes to work every day at Angelwood. She is a productive adult,” Holtsinger said. “That for me is what Angelwood gave my family. It is every parent’s dream for their child to be productive and happy.”
EVERYONE’S FAMILY
Angelwood began as one group home founded by the late Sally Fox, a local television anchorwoman with a developmentally disabled daughter. Since then it has added five more group homes with 34 residents combined and numerous programs, including the arts-based adult day training center where Elrod works, behavioral services, parental respite, employment, and summer and Christmas camps.
Executive Director Diane Tuttle has been at the helm for 17 years.
“I feel as though I am a part of something bigger than myself. You have to look at the whole picture, the good we’re doing for people in these programs,” Tuttle said.
She credited a committed 115-member staff — and a large contingent of volunteers — for success stories like Elrod. Some staffers have been known to pay for supplies for clients out of their own pockets, others take clients with no family home for Christmas dinner. Everyone’s family, she said.
“There is a real sense [among staff] of knowing these people,” she said. “They are touching … lives.”
Staffers bond with their clients, said supported employment specialist Tahnita Fleming.
“I just can’t give up on them,” she said.
She teaches them how to conduct a job search, write resumes and navigate interviews with potential employers, among other things. When they find employment, she rejoices with them.
“It makes me proud of me and them,” Fleming said.
Volunteers not only help out the staff, but learn about developmental disabilities and spread the word about the real people behind the diagnoses. Increasing such public awareness, particularly among young people, is key, Tuttle said.
“It builds acceptance of people who are different,” she said.
Angelwood serves about 350 people, with a $3.6 million budget supported by state funds, grants and donations. Some of the services are funded by Medicaid, some are not. The agency has to raise a quarter of its budget every year: The fundraising goal for the Saturday event alone is $250,000, Tuttle said.
Also, the nonprofit is outgrowing its current training center space, so its board will soon be studying potential relocation and the associated cost, she said.
In addition to financial support, Tuttle is always looking for employers who have jobs available for the developmentally disabled, can participate in mock interviews or otherwise support the career development program. Some clients have jobs in the community, others work in the arts-based training center and some do both.
“The goal of the program is career development,” Tuttle said.
While painting, beading necklaces or making soap, clients not only have a creative outlet, but hone their fine motor skills and learn to listen, take direction and work as part of a team. Also at the training center, they learn how to type.
“They are doing something that is real, that is marketable and age appropriate,” she said.
Another creative outlet at Angelwood is the handbell choir, led by Tuttle and Human Resources Director Sara Reiger. They practice weekly and soon plan to go on the road, visiting area nursing homes.
COMING A LONG WAY
Holtsinger remembers Elrod’s younger years as difficult times. First she took care of her at home while working full time with the help of private nannies.
“When Catie was preschool age, she attended a private church school in Arlington that worked with children with disabilities. Her seizures then became too frequent and I kept her at home with a nanny,” she said.
She was later in public school special education classes.
“It was a long bus ride for her as well as many other children, which made the challenges even more intense. I really saw Catie decline during this time,” Holtsinger said. “Now at Angelwood she is social, outgoing and happy. She has a better social life than her mom and I am very proud of the young adult that she has become.”
During her younger years, Elrod also had separation anxiety, which would lead to a meltdown when her mother left her anywhere. That no longer happens.
“She would have to be peeled off of me. Now I go by and have lunch with her [at the center]. I say I’ve got to go back to work, she says, ‘Me too. See ya,’ ” she said. “Angelwood is just a wonderful organization.”
Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109
