Month: August 2013

Having completed 30 hours of classroom training and approximately three hours of court observation, nine volunteers will officially be able to help abused or neglected children in foster care.

Judge Robert Kershaw recently swore in the following individuals as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs): Stephanie Crumb of Parkville; Edson DePina of West Baltimore; Marva Gaffney of Gwynn Oak; Lovetie Gbalazeh of Rosedale; Gwendolyn Love of Randallstown; Bryan McLain of Station North; Salome Sullivan of Hamilton;

Rebecca Woestman of Pen Lucy; and Flori Yellin of Little Italy.

“CASA of Baltimore is determined to increase the number of youths we serve this year and these new volunteers will help us reach our goals,” said Susan Burger, executive director for CASA of Baltimore, Inc.

The newest group of CASAs includes college students, working professionals and a stay-at-home mom. They bring their own individual strengths to CASA of Baltimore, but all have the same goal in mind.

“After seeing some of the conditions my peers lived in while attending grade and high school, I decided that my personal and professional life would be dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged youths,” said Crumb, who is double majoring at Towson University in psychology and family studies, on the Services to Children and Youth track

Love, the mother of a grown daughter, said she was inspired to become a CASA volunteer by the Albert Pine quote: ”What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others in the world remains and is immortal.”

No special experience is required to become a CASA volunteer; training and supervision are provided by professional staff. For more information about volunteer opportunities with CASA of Baltimore, Inc., call 410-244-1465 or visit: www.casabalt.org.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The first exhibition to display the many archaeological finds at Frederick Douglass’ childhood plantation— where he first realized that he was a slave—opened recently at the Academy Art Museum located at 106 South Street in Easton, Maryland. The exhibition is co-curated by University of Maryland archaeologists.

“Joint Heritage at Wye House” represents eight years of excavations conducted by the University of Maryland team and highlights evidence recovered from slave quarters and the Green House at one of the largest and well-documented plantations in Maryland. The major interpretive exhibition includes the rarely seen historic ledger of the plantation’s rosters of slaves. It runs through October 13, 2013.

Photograph by Historic American Buildings Survey. (Courtesy of the Wye House Collection)

Green House (later called the Orangery) at Wye House, Easton, MD, 1963, Photograph by Historic American Buildings Survey. (Courtesy of the Wye House Collection)

“At a time when racial tensions continue to divide, our archaeology shows that American culture is an indivisible amalgam of African and European influences,” says University of Maryland archaeologist Mark P. Leone, who has led the Wye Plantation excavation. “From culinary tastes to horticulture to religion, African traditions blended with the European to shape a distinctly American culture.”

The excavation uncovered evidence of life on the thriving agricultural plantation. Hundreds of slaves toiled there, along with hired labor and family members. Artifacts include house wares, food remnants, and traces of pollen from the herbs, medicines, flowers and fruit grown in the historic “Orangery,” as it was later called, an 18th century feature on estates and plantations.

“We have gone to great lengths to provide a wealth of historic context to make plantation life as vivid and accessible as possible,” says Academy Art Museum Curator Anke Van Wagenberg. “Our display includes books, recipes, maps, artwork. Most remarkably, we can document the generations of slaves who worked there.”

Courtesy of the Wye House Collection

Broken plate artifact

The Maryland Historical Society lent the Museum the rarely seen handwritten slave ledgers, including hundreds of complete names. The exhibit includes a searchable database.

“This holds intense interest for many who live in the area— descendants of Wye slaves,” says Leone. “Understanding history is a matter of pride.”

Dating to 1785, the Wye Orangery may be the oldest surviving structure of its type in the United States. A significant part of the excavation has been devoted to the building. By analyzing surviving bits of pollen unearthed there, Leone’s UMD colleague Elizabeth F. Pruitt was able to catalogue the arrangement and identity of species originally grown there.

“We identified more than 100 plants that grew there,” Pruitt says. “It provided medicinal herbs, leafy plants, exotic fruits and array of flowers. This was a central feature of the plantation combining beauty and practicality.”

The Wye Plantation has remained in the same family for 12 generations, dating back to 1659. The owners, the Tilghman family, gave Leone access and helped fund his research, as well as the exhibition.

“Joint Heritage at Wye House” is made possible by the generous support of Richard and Beverly Tilghman, the University of Maryland, College Park and the Frederick Douglass Honor Society. A

Among the African American heroes recognized during the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice on July 27 in Washington, DC was U.S. Navy Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African American naval aviator to die in combat. Ensign Brown was shot down while providing close-air support for units of the 7th Marines during the Chosin Reservoir battle in December 1950. Of the 600,000 African Americans who served in the Armed Forces during the Korean War, it’s estimated that more than 5,000 died in combat.

Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for performing dangerous combat actions that resulted in his fatal crash. In March 1972, Brown’s widow christened a Knox-class ocean escort ship the USS Jesse Brown.

CNN recently ran several stories about the quest of one Korean War veteran, retired Navy Captain Thomas Hudner, who had recently returned to North Korean in an effort to retrieve the remains of his fallen comrade, Jesse Brown. Capt. Hudner was flying his plane to support Ensign Brown’s mission on December 4, 1950 when Brown was shot down. Hudner crashed his own plan in an unsuccessful attempt to save Brown. Capt. Hudner was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valiant efforts.

BALTIMORE — Camp St. Vincent, Baltimore’s only summer camp that exclusively serves homeless children, ended its season with a carnival for the children and their families on Friday, August 16, 2013 at Patterson Park in Baltimore City.

Both campers and parents enjoyed outdoor games, a moonbounce, balloon art, face painting, snowballs, cotton candy, and a BBQ lunch at the carnival. The children also performed a dance and skit for their parents, counselors and staff.

“This is a very rewarding experience for me to coordinate this [camp]. The program is an eight week all inclusive summer camp for kids or families who are either homeless or are in transitional housing from Baltimore City and Baltimore County,” said Vena Carter, director of Camp St. Vincent. “We have arts and crafts, and a theater [program conducted] by Creative Alliance; dance by Underground Dance Studio; science by the Carrie Murray Nature Center, and field trips which we keep as a surprise. They have gone roller-skating and bowling. We have taken them to Washington, D.C. to the national museums, the zoo, and a really fun trip to Dave and Busters.”

Carter went on to say, “I have a wonderful staff of 12 volunteers that lead the instruction and assist with coordinating all activities. Without the support from our public and private donors this would not be possible, we also have people that drop things off who want this camp to be successful, such as snacks, or a box of tennis shoes, or school supplies. This camp is a one of a kind in the city and we work hard to make sure that the population we serve has a good summer.”

Along with traditional camp experiences such as swimming, arts, athletics and music, Camp St. Vincent offers a structured reading and math curriculum, psycho-social groups, and cultural enrichment activities. Within the safety and support of a therapeutic environment, children are able to develop positive trusting relationships with adults, who assist them in maintaining grade-appropriate academic performance, developing social competence and problem solving skills, strengthening autonomy, and ultimately gain a sense of purpose.

“I am here with my twin daughters, Sophia and Sahara, who attended the St. Vincent camp this summer, because we are currently homeless and staying at the Knight of Pea shelter, I really appreciated the camp. It gave me an opportunity to look for housing during the day and not worry about where my children were. They took good care of them and taught them a lot. Unfortunately, its only for the homeless people, and they will not be back next year, but I really enjoyed and appreciated having them at the camp this year, ” said Sonjia Gordon, mother of two children who attended Camp St. Vincent this summer.

St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore works to ensure that individuals and families in our community have the resources and opportunity to care for themselves and to build a better future. We are proud to be a United Way Impact Partner and to be recognized by Maryland Nonprofits with the Seal of Excellence for maintaining the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance, management, and operations.