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The Capital Times :: COMMUNITIES :: 1B
Monday, September 16, 2002
By Bill Novak The Capital Times
Fifty years ago, mental retardation was something people didn't want to talk about, much less see in public.Parents of children born retarded or with Down syndrome were told to put the child into an institution and forget they even existed.
Parents, however, didn't want to "put them away." Local support groups and services started up in the early 1950s, and one of those organizations is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Madison Area Rehabilitation Centers Inc., better known as MARC, will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a gala banquet Thursday at the Alliant Energy Center. Tickets to the gala at $50 per person ($30 is tax-deductible) are still available by calling the MARC office at 223-9110.
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While the focus of MARC has changed over the years, going from an organization that provided community services for children with mental retardation to an organization that today provides services to 280 adults with developmental disabilities, the mission hasn't changed at all, said Frances Bicknell, one of the parents who started MARC in 1952. Bicknell is still a volunteer today, as well as a member of MARC's board of directors.
"We are very proud to have had 50 years of service," Bicknell said.
One of the few existing organizations serving children with afflictions in the early 1950s was the Kiddie Camp, started in 1925 by William T. Evjue, founder of The Capital Times. In 1958, the Kiddie Camp supported MARC's nursery program, serving kids up to 8 years old until they could get into the "trainable classes" in public school.
The Kiddie Camp and MARC maintained their close relationship for 15 years, until the state Legislature passed the mandatory education law, which guaranteed the right to go to school for all children ages 3 to 21.
The Kiddie Camp was closed and was replaced by The Capital Times' Kids Fund, while MARC turned its attention to serving developmentally disabled adults, a focus that continues to this day.
During the years before developmentally disabled kids were "mainstreamed" into the general school population, MARC set up as many specialty programs as possible, including an "intermediate" class for children with severe and multiple disabilities in 1960; a homemakers program for teenage girls in 1961; the Portal Foster Center for children with autism in 1964; and the Stoughton Nursery in 1966.
The Stoughton facility was the beginning of MARC's efforts to branch out around Dane County. Today, MARC has five centers, including three in Madison and one in Mount Horeb.
The newest MARC facility at 901 Post Road also is headquarters for the organization. Opened in 2001, the facility marked a milestone in MARC's history, since the opening of the building signaled the start of a new era when MARC owned all of its facilities instead of renting space.
Richard Berling is executive director of MARC, a position he's held since 1981. In touring the building, Berling proudly showed off the large, sunny rooms at the center, including a music room, computer room, art room and many more.
"When we moved into this facility we went from 7,500 square feet of space to 20,000 square feet," Berling said. "A parent of one of our clients sold the lot to us, another parent of a client was the general contractor for the building, and a sibling of a client was the general contractor. The workers really put their hearts into it."
MARC serves 280 adult clients with a total staff of 100. While the five centers generally serve the clients with the greatest needs, between 160 and 180 clients earn a paycheck in the community.
"We have two dozen to three dozen employers a year that hire our clients, ranging from WPS to Walgreens to Promega," Berling said.
That's a far cry from conditions for and attitudes about the developmentally disabled in the not too distant past.
"In the 1970s we had 3,000 people in state institutions," Berling said. "Now there are about 800."
Most of the 280 clients served by MARC came from institutions.
"MARC means more privacy, more choices, a chance to earn a living, a chance to show your creativity, develop friendships and get the support you need," Berling said.
The work done by MARC isn't possible without the efforts of dozens of volunteers and contributors.
"MARC prospers because of the volunteers and donors," Berling said. "Public funding for our programs is essentially devoted to the basic needs of the clients, so it's the volunteers who provide the wonderful life enrichment things for our people."
Partnerships with other organizations in the community have helped MARC throughout the years. One partnership that is still in its infant stages is with the Dane County Parks Department.
The MARC South facility on Post Road is right next to the Jennie & Kyle Preserve, a new park for the developmentally disabled being built by the county Parks Department and scheduled to open in 2003.
MARC helped the parks department when the county wanted to purchase access land on Post Road, county Parks Director Ken LePine said.
"MARC had the option on the 1.5 acres we wanted to buy as the access point to the preserve, but they agreed to buy the parcel next door, so we had a chance to get access to the preserve," LePine said.
The Jenni & Kyle Preserve will have disabled-accessible ramps and walkways directly from MARC's parking lot to the preserve. LePine said he hopes MARC clients can be hired by the Parks Department to work as custodians in the preserve.
