Sunday, August 9, 1998

Ministry offers aid for persons with mental disabilities

By PAMELA HOWELL / Correspondent

BROWNWOOD -- Three words scribbled on a scratch piece of paper and placed in a modest frame in his office remind Mike Millican every day of the good things happening at Aldersgate Enrichment Center.

The words: "Thank you, Lord!" are indicative of the facility's past, its present and, if all goes well, its future.

Aldersgate, a nonprofit ministry of the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, offers vocational services for persons with mental disabilities, referred to as "associates."

Soon, with enough donations, sweat and prayer, Aldersgate leaders plan to offer residential living areas to their associates as well. Already, one home has been completed with others planned as soon as funds become available.

he facility "allows mentally challenged persons a place to work, live and develop," said Millican, whose own daughter Jill is one of 34 associates currently working at Aldersgate. Future plans call for a total of 140 associates to live and work at the facility.

Millican serves as vocational director of the 153-acre property which is located just a few miles southeast of Brownwood. Associates complete various jobs for local and area manufacturing companies such as making wooden shipping pallets, packaging plumbing supplies, and recycling cardboard.

Millican penned the words "Thank you, Lord!" a few years ago when the fledgling program was located in a rented warehouse in downtown Brownwood. One hot summer day in his small office without air conditioning, Millican said he was facing several problems: lack of work for the associates, a shortage of supplies and the oppressive heat.

Finally, almost reaching a point of desperation, he decided first to buy an air conditioner with his own money.

That's when the phone call came.

Millican answered and, to his surprise, was told by a generous contributor that a new air conditioning unit would be provided to the facility.

When Millican put down the receiver, he said he believed God had intervened to solve at least one of his problems. He decided to write "Thank you, Lord!" on a piece of paper to show his appreciation.

Just as he reached for a marker, the phone rang again.

The call came from a supervisor of a local manufacturing company who needed the Aldersgate associates to complete a large job.

Millican put the receiver down again.

"By this time, the hair on the back of my neck was standing up," he recalled.

Even more determined to create his sign of appreciation, Millican said he started to write once more.

That's when the phone rang for a third time.

This time it was someone in East Texas who had heard of the work being done at Aldersgate. The man wanted to help in some way, so he volunteered to donate a shipment of lumber to allow the associates to continue their work.

In a matter of minutes, all three of Millican's most immediate problems were solved.

The optimism born on that hot, summer day has helped carry the staff and associates at Aldersgate through more than its share of challenges -- and opportunities.

Aldersgate Enrichment Center, which is named for the street in England where John Wesley was inspired to start a movement that led to the formation of the Methodist church, began in 1985 after a group of men from the Central Texas Conference learned of a similar program in another state.

Realizing a need for a non-institutional program to help train mildly to moderately mentally challenged adults, they chose Brownwood as the site of the new ministry after reviewing resources available in 13 communities.

In April 1991, Aldersgate's vocational program began in that rented, downtown warehouse and in March 1995, it was moved to its current location with its hilltop view of Brownwood, rolling caliche roads and dirt paths, farm land and numerous fields of dreams.

The Christian training facility is designed to promote the dignity and self-worth of adults over age 21 with limited abilities through supervised vocational and residential services. The goal, leaders say, is to help these adults "find their place in mainstream society."

The facility seeks to address the associates' spiritual, mental, emotional, social and vocational needs. The associates begin each day with a devotional where they offer prayer requests and study a simple doctrine of love for God, for each other, and for themselves.

Then the associates, many of whom have never received a paycheck before their work at Aldersgate, report to their work stations where they may recycle cardboard, package plumbing supplies or make wooden shipping pallets.

Each job is tailored to the individual talents and abilities of each associate.

A 15-person staff supervises the work which includes contracts with various area manufacturing firms in Brownwood, Stephenville, Ballinger, and San Angelo.

"We do many things," Millican said as he showed off the facility's production areas on a recent scorching afternoon. "We produce products to be shipped worldwide."

And recently, the Aldersgate workforce created its first original product -- custom-wrapped individual bags of silverware.

Aldersgate receives no federal or state funding; therefore, the facility has to be self-sufficient.

"We have to survive on what we can produce," Millican said. "We're basically like a manufacturing company."

Since its beginning in 1991, Aldersgate has enjoyed a tremendous increase in business.

"The growth has been absolutely phenomenal; it's just unbelievable," Millican said, explaining that the facility originally produced 600 wooden pallets a week and now turns out almost 500 in a single day.

"It's fun and an exciting place," he said, adding that the associates are eager and enjoy their work in which they receive minimum wage, a large sum considering many other similar facilities do not pay their clients as much.

"I've had two people cry when I've given them their first paychecks," Millican recalled.

A short drive up a small hill from the main facility is Aldersgate's first residential home. A spacious, airy building with windows that eventually will face a recreation area, the home was built thanks in large part to the generosity of a retired Methodist minister from Waco, the late Dr. Brown Loyd.

Loyd donated $250,000 of the $350,000 needed to build the home. Unfortunately, he died before its recent completion.

"He got to see the house under construction, but he died three weeks before it was finished," Millican said.

The home, which features a large kitchen and recreation room, will eventually house nine associates in three wings who have mastered the skills necessary for independent living.

The home, which Millican hopes will be the first of many to come, will be supervised by Aldersgate staff. Each associate will have a private, furnished bedroom with a separate television and telephone.

In the home, associates will learn life skills and responsibilities. They will also have opportunities for recreation, shopping, sports, music, theater, gardening, tending to animals and arts and crafts.

Millican said he envisions each home's back entry opening out to a small park where the associates can enjoy outside recreation and each other's company.

Other plans call for a fishing area, a swimming pool, a flower garden, a baseball field and a memorial pecan grove in which people may choose to honor a loved one by purchasing a pecan tree.

For right now, however, the future sometimes looks as bumpy as the well-worn path Millican takes in his pickup to survey the Aldersgate property.

"There's never enough money to do what we want to do," he admitted as he drew a mental picture of what he envisions for the property.

But, he's also quick to call upon that Aldersgate optimism started so many years ago with those three phone calls in his small, hot office.

"We're excited about the challenges we have before us...The Lord just keeps on opening doors."