National publicity for the Green House!

Hey, GEDCO Green House Nation!

You will be pleased to hear that The Green House Project will be featured in Parade Magazine on this coming Sunday, May 31st. Parade is distributed in many Sunday newspapers throughout the nation (including the Baltimore Sun) and has a readership of 70 million.

You can also visit www.parade.com and read the article here.

Help get the Green House on Oprah!

Recently, Dr. Bill Thomas -- chief advocate of the Green House® Model -- submitted a tape he made about elder care to the Oprah Winfrey show. As a result, her producer called Bill and encouraged him to put it on YouTube.

Now with your help, we might be able to get Bill invited to be on the Oprah show where his thoughts on elderhood and especially the Green House® projects might get great national awareness. You can watch the video on YouTube, leave comments, and pass the link on to friends and family who would be interested! Spreading the word and getting the idea into the world builds excitement and generates publicity.



As you know GEDCO has accomplished its work through great relationships and unique partnerships that make powerful things like our Green House® Residences happen. Please join us to give Bill's work and ours at Stadium Place the attention it deserves.

What's special about the Green House Floor Plan?

The Green House model changes the floor plan and operation of a standard nursing home. Each of our four floors is designed to accommodate 12 elders in private rooms with private bathrooms surrounding a large living area called "the Hearth," complete with a fireplace, large screen TV and comfortable recliners, chairs and sofas. The private rooms are close enough to the Hearth to encourage elders to walk the short distance to participate in the activities, or simply to open their door and observe what others are doing.

An open kitchen with breakfast bar and a large family-style dining table invites residents to linger over a cup of coffee and visit with their housemates and staff. In each residence, meals are prepared from scratch using favorite recipes. The aroma of home-cooked meals fills the air, and there’s always a snack close by, any time, day or night.

There is plenty of access to fresh air and natural light. A large balcony on the west side of the building overlooks the playing fields which will be rebuilt with the support of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation Residents also have access to a smaller porch on the east side and garden space on the ground floor, including the labyrinth at ThanksGiving Place.

Weinberg Fellows

I'm spending this week at a Weinberg Fellows retreat for Executive Directors selected by the foundation for training and peer group development and support in Baltimore.

We had excellent discussions today on two subjects -

1. The role of "millenials" (under 30's) in the future of the non-profit industry, and
2. New funding sources to be announced soon by the Obama administration which might hold the promise of some "seed" money for the Green House.

Anyone willing to do some research on government websites, please let me know at mposner[at]gedco[dot]org.

Far from finished

We're happy to report, that the GREEN HOUSE® Campaign now has $5.6 million of the required $14 million needed to make the project a reality. It was a huge victory getting the capital funding allocation from the State, but it isn't the end of the road -- it's really just the "take off".

The new funds should greatly enhance our applications for $3.9 million in New Markets Tax Credits and major dollar requests to the France-Merrick Foundation and the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation later this year.

In the meantime - some bad news to share - the Abell Foundation turned down our request for $150,000 toward predevelopment expenses for the Green House and Village Center we have proposed for the final development parcel at Stadium Place, citing "the current economic climate...has made it impossible for the Foundation to honor all worthy projects."

Any ideas or efforts on your part to identify possible funding sources are welcome!

A Passover thought

On the heels of our happy news of yesterday I thought I would share a thought I came upon in preparation for my family Passover seder. I believe it nicely summarizes the philosophy behind GEDCO at large, and the Green House in particular.

It was written by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks of the UK: "When we share our bread with others, we have taken the first step from affliction to freedom. Sharing our vulnerabilities, we discover strength. Reaching out to others, giving help to the needy, food to the hungry, and companionship to those who are alone, we bring the Divine presence into the world, and with it human solidarity, which is the beginning of freedom."

Happy holidays!

The news we've been waiting for!

On the heels of Easter and in the middle of Passover what more joy could there be?

Well for those of us in the GEDCO communities – we have just received confirmation that the Governors request for $4.5 million in state capital funding for the Green House at Stadium Place has been approved! For confirmation view the official report.

Of course this great news brings with it a tremendous responsibility to all of us to see that the project is developed and operated successfully, and a debt of gratitude to Governor O'Malley, members of the 43rd District, and many others who helped make this a reality.

Thanks to all for helping us get this far – we'll need you to stick with us to see this all the way through!

Enjoy the day and get ready for a ground breaking!