Meeting the call

Children's Aid Society celebrates 75 years of service

Friday, April 15, 2011

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GRETCHEN PHILLIPS Children's Aid Society of Charles County volunteer Miriam Aguilar Rincon of Indian Head prepares clothes for a family in need. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo The organization has been operated by volunteers since it was founded in 1936. In an undated photograph the board of directors gathered for an installation of officers at Habredeventure in Port Tobacco. Pictured standing are Philip Giguere, left, Vivian Malczyk, Velva Perrygo, William E. Close and James Tierney-Holly. In the front are Roberta Schwartz, left, Mrs. William Robey and Mrs. Cretus Adams.

It was started in 1936 by a group of affluent women who saw a need in Charles County during the Great Depression to help families with children suffering financial difficulties. It's been 75 years, and the Children's Aid Society of Charles County continues to work with families in need in the area.

Celebrating three-quarters of a century of service, the organization has grown over the years and shifted focus in some ways.

Yet, it remains a source of immediate and direct service.

"Our agency moves to meet immediate needs," said Maria Bryan, executive director of the nonprofit. "We're not as restricted," as other service providers, she said. There have been calls where families need everything from toothbrushes and toothpaste to food and diapers to help paying the water bill. Children's Aid will help them.

"That's what they do," said Vivian Malczyk, a board member who has been active in the organization since the early 1970s. "Children's Aid will step in at a heartbeat."

Malczyk recalled when, while working with former county treasurer, Thelma Bowie, she learned of single mother of four at risk of having her water cut off. The woman called Bowie in tears looking for options. Malczyk got the mother's information and called Children's Aid. The organization contacted the water company and paid the bill

When Malczyk first started volunteering for Children's Aid, the offices were in the old jail near the Charles County Courthouse in La Plata. The group handled adoption and foster care services for the county. They had two therapists who helped with child counseling sessions, they collected clothes for the needy and before they had a food pantry, they simply gave out checks to clients filled out to a grocery store.

They would — with a similar program that continues today — collect toys and clothes to give away at Christmas.

The group held fundraisers — like a dance where admission was $5 or a new toy or Malczyk's favorite, the egg roll sale.

"We made egg rolls," Malczyk shrugged. "You'd go to somebody's house and learn to make egg rolls and we'd sell them. The women at the courthouse would buy 20 and freeze them."

Children's Aid also published several cookbooks filled with recipes from board members and employees. One book included a recipe from a worker who hemmed and hawed when asked for her recipe.

"She said she didn't cook," Malczyk recalled. No matter, they were going to need a recipe. "Her's was ‘Fill a pot with water. Put it on the stove. Put your eggs in the water. Let it boil. Let it cool.' That was her hard-boiled egg recipe. It went in the book."

But as with any nonprofit group, Children's Aid had more than a few financial crunch times.

"We were close to bankruptcy several times," Malczyk said. Half of the board would be pushing to shut down and call it a day; the other half wanted to keep going.

It's a struggle that continues today.

"The need creeps up greater than the availability," Bryan said. "We just persevere. It's the need that keeps us going."

Fundraisers now include an annual spring golf tournament and an autumn auction. The organization applies for grants (Bryan writes the applications) and gets some private monetary donations.

The food pantries and clothes closets are stocked with donations and to celebrate its 75th year, the school supply distribution this summer will be held during a one-day festival in Waldorf.

Children's Aid has left its mark on the county, Bryan believes. It was inducted into the Charles County Community Foundation's Philanthropy Hall of Fame in 2010 and every once in a while a client will visit the group's headquarters in Waldorf to thank the staff for the help he received from the organization.

In preparation for the yearlong celebration of service, board member Monifa Tarjamo has been sifting through old letters and documents Bryan found.

She has unveiled several documents, including a handwritten note from a Mrs. Irvine. Dated Oct. 8, 1963, the note reads, "I am sending $1.00 in cash. Wish I could help more. My husband is retired, has a heart condition. Mrs. Irvine."

It is the support of the community that spurs the staffers and volunteers of Children's Aid to continue and as long as there is a need, Malczyk doesn't doubt the organization will make it another 75 years or more.

"There isn't anything a child needs at one time or another that Children's Aid hasn't furnished," she said. "They do anything a kid needs. If there's a need, we'll figure out a way to fill it.

"How many times do you fail in a year?" Malczyk asked Bryan.

"Failure is not an option," Bryan answered and added, "Our board members still have a love for the agency, they still have love for the mission of the agency."

staylor@somdnews.com

To learn more

To find out more about Children's Aid of Charles County and its services, go to www.childrens-aid-society.org or call 301-645-1561.

The annual golf tournament will be June 3 at Swan Point Yacht and Country Club, 115500 Swan Point Blvd., Swan Point. Registration is 8 a.m., start at 9 a.m. Cost is $125 per person.

For sponsorship opportunities, call Chilldren's Aid.