Markey to succeed Shea as President

Although he's been steeped in the business culture, the Arnold Center's next president doesn't think he'll have a bit of a problem fitting into a non-profit setting. 

The center's board has tapped Midlander Charles Markey to succeed Michael Shea, who retired as president earlier this year. Markey, 57, is a past board member and board chairman of the center. He'll start his new job in mid-May. 

Markey met Shea at a Rotary Club meeting and Shea asked him if he would serve as an associate board member -- one of a group of mostly business people who lend their outside expertise to the center. He did, and that started his work with the non-profit organization. 

"This job came up and it's a perfect fit for my skills, my passion," Markey said. 

He is motivated by the idea that the center makes money and secures federal grants that help people to socialize, fit into the community and perform work that fits their capabilities. 

Markey's first degree was in chemistry.  He went to work for IBM and became the executive in charge of The Dow Chemical Co.'s accounts.  Later, he became vice president of solution sales, working with the wider chemical and petroleum industries to provide software and computer technology. He retired from IBM in 2004 and ran a real estate partnership for a couple of years until his partner moved away. Then Markey returned to school, studying accounting at Delta College and Central Michigan University. 

"Some of the accounting things I did were governmental and non-profit accounting," he said. "It almost feels like a business" at the Arnold Center. 

The Arnold Center provides employment within its walls and jobs in the wider community to people with disabilities, earning money and garnering government grants to expand services for workers, he said. 

Jim Hummel, chairman of the center's Board of Directors, said nearly 100 people applied for the job. The board narrowed the list to about 15, then to eight for phone interviews and to four for face-to-face meetings. 

"We were looking for somebody that had a very strong business sense and either was well connected in the community or had the type of personality where connections would be easy," Hummel said. 

Markey's biggest learning curve will be in the realm of the rehabilitation industry, but Hummel said he has excellent teachers inside the center.

Kenny Letts, of Midland, unloads recycling containers onto the floor at the Arnold Center Thursday afternoon. The center, which has areas of assembly and recycling, recently purchased neighboring properties in hopes of expanding its operations to allow more room for its employees and for storage of recycled material.

By late this year, workers on the factory floor of the Arnold Center should have lots more room to spread out to do their work.

The center, which employs primarily workers with disabilities but also provides some non-disabled people with jobs, plans a 14,500-square-foot expansion on the west side of the current building. Plans call for braking ground in mid-June and having the building finished by November.

The cost is pegged at $2.2 million, but Chris Chamberlain, vice president and interim president of the center, said he hopes the work could be done for $1.8 million because of the economic slump. The building has been designed with a number of alternate ideas that could be added or subtracted depending on money available. The center is working with foundations in hopes of financial support, Chamberlain said.

Last year, the center entered into an agreement with The Dow Chemical Co. to recycle the company's office paper. That more than doubled the amount of paper the center's employees load onto a conveyor, sort for incompatible items, shred, compact and make into 1,200-pound bales. It also meant 18 more jobs and put one more truck on the road picking up paper. The center now recycles 1.5 million pounds of paper a year, and there are new relationships with Midland Public Schools and Midland County on the way, said Chamberlain.

"This recycling project as it's expanded has taken up a lot of our floor space," Chamberlain said. "We have become crowded. Our warehouse is full. We just need more room for our manufacturing and work area."

Chamberlain hopes to build the new space as green, environmentally, as financially possible. Part of the roof will be seeded with plants, and plans are in the works to use Dow solar materials that might provide enough energy to power the whole facility, said Kim Hohisel, a member of the Arnold Center's Board of Directors and environmental operations team leader at Dow Corning's Health Industries Materials Site. In addition, the center will seek to use leftover paint from other local projects.

 Crowding is evident in the area where employees assemble boxes that hold silicone products for Dow Corning, said Production Supervisor Karen Nogaski. Employees need to be spread out to do the work. With more space, staff members could make fewer trips to pick up box parts and put more of them on the floor where the assembly workers are located.

Beth Chapman, who's been working at the center since December, said she hopes the added space would mean more kinds of work. On a recent day, her job was putting labels reading "synthetic refrigeration oil" on cans that go to an engineering company.

The cafeteria will be expanded as well. In the current cafeteria, workers in one area of the shop might take a different lunch break than workers in another area. Some workers want jobs and lunch breaks near their friends, and the expansion would allow that to happen, Nogaski said. "They're going to love that," she said.

Worker Brandon Crapo likes to roam around the center performing various jobs. With an economy that's "in the dumps right now," he hopes the expansion will bring jobs to the center and to the community as well.

"I value being able to do different jobs and knowing how to do the different jobs," he said. "With versatility it's always good because there's always somebody to fill a spot."

Eric Strack and Karrem Render,

both of Midland,

work to remove

labels from recycled

medication

organizers Thursday

afternoon at

the Arnold Center.

Irreplaceable

Arnold Center director, 'an innovator in his field' retiring

By Abby McGuire
for the Midland Daily News

Daily News/NATHAN MORGAN President of the Arnold Center, Mike Shea stops to talk with workers, Rachael Brosier, left, and Linda Kastl, right, as he passes through the center's production facility, Thursday. Shea, who has been at the Arnold Center for 25 years, will be retiring at the end of this month. And although he is leaving the center, for Shea, that doesn't mean that his work will stop. "I'll be around as long as people in need me in Midland," said Shea.

Midland Issues Volume 9, Number 8 August 2008

Hundreds of tons of office paper will be diverted from the city landfill annually if a deal between Dow Chemical Co. and Arnold Center reaches its potential

The two announced an agreement in July for the center to sort trash from Dow and recycle up to a million pounds of office paper.  Dow project leader Jim Hummel said only about a third of that is recycled now, through Brady News and Recycling.

Mike Shea, Arnold Center president, told Midland Issues the deal will create 15 to 26 new jobs and could lead to a building addition.

The center, 400 Wexford Ave., is a non-profit that develops jobs for people with disabilities.  It has recycled paper from Dow Corning Corp. for 20 years and also recycles from Delphi Corp.  The Dow contract will double the center's recycling volume, Shea said.

Arnold Center workers will pick up and sort Dow material including sticky notes, business cards, colored and white paper, envelopes, file folders, newspapers, ring and spiral binders, fax paper and catalogs.  The center will shred and sell paper to mills for recycling as towels and similar products.  Dow will pay  any of Arnold Center's uncovered expenses.

Hummel said Dow benefits because more office waste will be recycled and the company will reduce landfill costs by 30 percent. Prior recycling efforts fell short because sorting was inconvenient for Dow employees, he said

"It's a triple bottom line," Hummel said, "good for the environment, good for the community by breaking through the jobs and employment barrier, and we save money."

--JP

Grand Marshall Queen   

Thanks for the assist  5/5/07

To the editor:
    I would like to thank the following businesses and/or employers for providing and/or assisting our cognitively impaired students with vocational experiences during the 2006 - 2007 school year.
    These students were able to experience realistic job expectations such as appropriate work attitudes and behaviors, job responsibilities, job dependability and specific skills needed for certain vocations. Thanks to these businesses and/or individuals for their time, cooperation, and patience in helping our students maximize their independence and participate in our community:
    Arby’s/South, Dawn Salazar & Kelly Walker; Arby’s/North, Scott Drake; Arnold Center, Spring Schafer; Bennigan’s, Will Gum and Alan Vance; Big Apple Bagels, April Cobb; Big Boy Restaurant, Carolyn Popp, Bob Evans, Shantelle Struthers and Dave Banker; Bullock Creek Transportation, Deb Waskevich; Coleman Public Schools Transportation, Mike Huss; D.A.R.T., Paula Draves; Dollar Daze, Michele Townsend, Sharmane Penner, Janie Thomas and James Cox; Hollywood Videos, Martin Brunner; Home Depot, Kim Burton and Jeff Brothers; K-Mart, Kevin Wale and Kathy Garbulinski; Kroger’s, Lowell Morris, Wayne Buzzbee and Wendy McTaggert; Lil’ Chef, Frank Nole; Long John Silver, Roland Brink; Meijer’s, Kurt Howard and Lynn Tyrrell; Midland Community Center, Ruth Reminder; Mid-Michigan Regional Medical Center, Mary Jane Hoshaw and Vicki Turskey; Midland Motor Inn, Barry and Falguni Patel; Midland Public Schools Bus Garage, Pat Chritz, Vicki Finney, and Jim Valliere; MidMichigan Stratford Village Nursing Center, Audrey Hammond and Sarah Histed; Northwood University Dishroom, Carol Zerembra and Burt McAtee; Northwood Bennett Center, Scott Fisher, Mike Sullivan, Peg Tacey and Jill Brandt; Paper Jems, Mary Sodini; Recordings for Recovery, Mike Hoy; Roll-Arena, Ann Behan; Sanford-Meridian Public Schools Transportation, Henry Mashue; Sodexho Corporate Services, Kriss Salva; Taco Bell, Paul O’Laughlin; Tim Horton’s, Bonita Dan; Valley Lanes, Sue Tice and Wal-Greens, Joe Fish and Steve Conarty.
    Dan Simonds
    Work Experience Consultant
    Midland Public Schools

4/23/07

For one special "Night to Remember," differences between people with disabilities and those without them seem less obvious.
    The festive dance, which occurred Saturday, has become a yearly tradition, organized so people with disabilities can meet and enjoy music, dinner and each other’s company. Organizers – volunteers from the hosting Midland Evangelical Free Church and groups that help disabled people – take into account the circumstances with which those people deal every day. Wheelchair dancers are expected, and the festivities conclude at 8 p.m. so people can get home on Dial-A-Ride Transportation.
    One of those wheelchair dancers is Regina Jackson, 50. She likes to dance fast, and said she was prepared to dance the time away, using her electric wheelchair’s joystick to move to the music.
    Heather Naessens, 28, invited a guy friend to join her and dressed for the occasion in a green chiffon dress with white polka dots.
    Naessens said she likes the social atmosphere. "I like all the people that come," she said.
    Without the dance, "it would be a bummer because then you would not have social activity, and we need social activity to live," she said.
    The dance, called "A Night to Remember," was nine months in planning – right down to the flower-covered arch that marked the entrance to festivities, plus the dinner, tickets and posters, said Debbie Lichtman, who works for Personal Assistance Options and served on the planning committee. At least 270 tickets were sold.

Violet Arold, left, and her date Steve Balcirak, both of Sanford, wait to have a souvenir photo taken during A Night to Remember Saturday at the Midland Evangelical Free Church. The evening also featured dinner and dancing.

    Attendees lined up to pose for pictures, donated by a company called Dancing Ham. TCBY donated frozen yogurt and church members donated cakes and cookies.
    Shelley Smith, who also works for PAO, invited three women to her house so she could do their hair, makeup and nails. She changed one woman’s pigtails into a French twist and gave the other two curly coifs with the help of mousse and spray.
    "We had the music on and we had a good time," she said.

Jim Warner, center, of Midland, shares a laugh with Nancy Corneil, left, and Spring Schafer as Warner picks up his souvenir photo at A Night to Remember.

Photos taken by Daily News photographers are available as reprints. Order online as a "special request" or contact our librarian.