Six years ago the late Milton Freburger faced a tantalizingly opportunity. The organization he worked for, the Somerset County Developmental Center, was offered a contract that would employ many of the individuals with developmental disabilities that the Center serves.

The contract, if he could secure it, would mean heaven and earth to the Center's consumers. It would mean the satisfaction of doing useful work, it would mean a pay check, and it would mean the chance to practice skills that could help them get jobs on the outside.

Unfortunately, there was a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to getting the contract. The plastics company offering the contract needed help counting plastic utensils so they could be packaged in bags of 51.

That meant counting out 17 each of the plastic knives, forks, and spoons. The problem was, most of the Center's 92 consumers couldn't count to 17.

If they couldn't count the utensils, they couldn't fulfill the contract. A wonderful opportunity seemed to be slipping away.

It was at this point that Freburger had such a good idea that it was either genius or magic. Since the Center's consumers weren't able to count, Freburger figured out a way to make counting unnecessary.

He took 18-inch long planks of wood, and drilled 17 holes in each of them. The only thing the consumers had to do was to put the handles of, say, the spoons, in the holes in their planks of wood and continue doing it until they had filled all the 17 holes.

It was more effective than counting because the quality control people at the Center could tell at a glance that the job was accurate. Freburger got the contract.

Today, if you visit the work area of the Center, you can see 25 or so men and women enthusiastically "counting" utensils.

Sandy Adkins, the current director and the man who tells this story, is proud of the creative efforts the Center has made to serve their clients. With efforts like this, consumers there bring in paychecks totally $60,000 a year.

Adkins has been at this for the last 30 years and he loves his job. He likes helping people who need a little extra help, and the most striking thing you'd see if you spent some time with him there is how fond he and the consumers are of each other.

As you walk through, you'd hear him say, "Curtis, how is it going, Buddy?" Or, "Hi John, how're you doing, Partner?"

The Center has placed many of its consumers in jobs such as housekeeping at hotels, dishwashing in restaurants, or cutting grass or helping with landscaping. The Center's consumers have better than average attendance and work records, and Adkins is often struck by how much pride they take in their work.

He thinks fondly of the guy who has a job raking the sand traps at the Great Hope Golf Course near Westover. Whenever Adkins is there, the man always calls out to him, "I've got the sand traps looking really good for you today!"

A large part of the Center's mission is to assist individuals to realize their potential and become productive members of their communities. This may involve vocational training, of the sort just described, but it also involves supports designed to assist in home management skills or leisure activities.

The Center fulfills its mission not only with compassion, but also with imagination. Freburger may have thought up the boards that enable people to "count without counting," but the staff and volunteers who follow in his footsteps are continuing the work.

Wish List

Adkins has one Big Wish, so big that it dwarfs any other that he can think of. He wishes that everyone of us would put some thought into how we can make more job opportunities available to people with disabilities. "They're great workers, and it means so much to them," he says.

Somerset County Developmental Center
5574 Tulls Corner Rd./P.O. Box 18
Marion, MD 21838
410-623-2261

Somerset County Developmental Center is a United Way Agency