donation Archives - Penn-Mar

Our Future Shaped by Design

ggorham — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 18:25:37 +0000

Why intention matters, and how your generosity helps shape what’s next.

Gregory Miller
President/CEO Penn-Mar Human Services

I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe the holiday season is here again! Imagine if we didn’t prepare for it and just “showed up.” Christmas would feel like just another date on the calendar.

Have you ever considered reimagining your holiday routine? Wishing alone will not do it. A design and thoughtful plan are needed to achieve that new vision.

Progress of any kind rarely happens by accident — it happens by design. To underscore that point, Penn-Mar Human Services recently launched our year-end giving campaign with the theme “Shaped by Design.” Throughout the campaign, we are highlighting personal stories and examples to show how our programs and services foster independence, innovation, community, and dedication.

While every program, success, and life impacted at Penn-Mar is the result of a relentless focus on our mission, it’s also shaped by your intentional generosity. When you choose to invest in Penn-Mar, you are helping us design a better world for people with disabilities and their families.

Thanks to your support, Penn-Mar is a leading provider. But it would be a mistake for our organization to get too comfortable doing things the way we always have. Our partnerships remind us that standing still is not an option because the needs and goals of the people we support continue to evolve.

By taking a thoughtful approach to the future, Penn-Mar can continue creating opportunities that lead to greater possibility for the people we support. Those efforts are made possible through the generosity of people like you who choose to stand alongside this work.

Here are a few examples of how that intentional approach is taking shape at Penn-Mar:

The 2026 relocation to a multi-purpose facility in Westminster, to provide a day program that responds to the needs and desires of the people we support, their families, and our team members.

Creating a culture of excellence by thus far supporting 57% of all Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) at Penn-Mar in pursuing Career Ladders national accreditation in addition to launching a new Frontline Supervisor training program to ensure the highest quality person-centered services.

Focusing on the future of housing and investing in one-story residences so that the people we support can age in place living life on their terms.

Expanding our Assistive Technology services to strengthen the impact of our DSPs by offering people with disabilities greater choices.

There will always be uncertainties in government policy and funding, but those resources only help us meet our most basic needs. Your generosity goes beyond standard programming; it changes lives.

With a plan that serves as an organizational anchor, and your continued support, we can dream bigger and provide services that are truly person-centered, not just today, but for the future we’re designing together.

“By design” does not mean by my design. It’s made up of a collective mindset, especially by the people who are providing life-changing services every day to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Your gift is more than a donation. It’s a design choice. We’re counting on you to once again help us design an even brighter and more impactful year ahead.

I wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season, designed with creative twists, love, and life-long memories.

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Gala Waiter Makes Generous Contribution to Penn-Mar Endowment Campaign

nvenn — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 02:03:45 +0000

Penn-Mar’s 31st Annual Gala event in March was the final homestretch for the organization’s effort to raise the remaining $500,000* it needed to meet its audacious $7.5 million “Building Bold Futures” campaign goal.

As CEO Greg Miller was urging the 600 Gala guests to “dig deep” to ensure the continuing growth of services for the people with disabilities Penn-Mar supports, a waiter in the room was listening intently to the urgency of the appeal.

Pete Heubeck and his wife Kelly were serving at the Gala by chance. Their “near and dear friend” Jack Elsby, the staffing manager for the event, asked them to come on board when he realized at the last minute he was shorthanded.

Pete’s first job in the restaurant business was at The Brass Elephant, Jack’s restaurant in Baltimore. He worked in the field for some 20 years as a waiter, bartender, manager and maître’d, but switched careers after marrying and starting a family.

Pete transitioned into sales management for a fencing company before starting his own general contracting business in 2009, Hunt Valley-based Exteriors Unlimited.

As he watched the Campaign donors’ names flash up on the screen, Pete approached his wife Kelly and said, “Honey, what do you think? It’s a great cause and we can afford to give.”

Kelly readily agreed so Pete made his way to the front of the room where he told a woman on the Penn-Mar staff that he would like to make a donation. She quickly responded, “I can make that happen!” When he handed his credit card over for a $1,000 donation, she was visibly and happily surprised.

The Heubecks are no strangers to life’s challenges. In January 2021, Pete was diagnosed with 4^th stage esophageal cancer. Treatment options for this advanced staged cancer are limited with only 20 percent of patients surviving the cancer for one year or more after diagnoses.

Pete wasn’t having any of it. “I have a wife and three daughters,” he told his doctor. “I have bills to pay and grandchildren I’ve yet to meet. Dying is not an option.” He refused to take the news sitting down and pledged to forge ahead.

“My family and I threw everything-in-the-book at it once I received the diagnosis,” he said. “Kelly and my sister-in-law did the research and we adapted all sorts of eastern and western medical practices. Dietary and lifestyle changes made all the difference.”

And so they did.

Pete recently tested NED — No Evidence of Disease — and considers himself young at heart as he looks forward to celebrating his 60^th birthday in November with wife Kelly and daughters Vivi, Sara and Mary Claire.

The Heubeck family’s journey over the past few years aligns perfectly with Penn-Mar’s mission to support people to live courageously in pursuit of their best life. All of us here are inspired by their courage and grateful for Pete and Kelly’s heartfelt, spontaneous generosity.

*The Gala event went on to top a record-breaking $1 million in a single night, with $530,000 in donations earmarked for the “Building Bold Futures” Campaign.

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Corporate Partner Northrop Grumman Asks, “How Can We Help?”

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 20:09:09 +0000

When Tina Chan Sweenie started working for Penn-Mar in January 2020 as Manager of Volunteer and Donor Engagement, she could never have imagined that only two months later the COVID pandemic would bring her outreach efforts to a screeching halt.

With people and programs moving from in-person to online engagement, she needed to shift gears while continuing to foster relationships with Corporate Partners.

Mike Shriver, Director of Consulting at Penn-Mar, former CEO of Penn-Mar and Change, Inc., suggested that Tina connect with aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman to gauge interest in volunteering.

Tina contacted Kathy Miles, an Executive Administrative Assistant at Northrop Grumman’s Sykesville, MD facility, who briefed her on the many volunteer and donation initiatives between Change and Northrop Grumman. Tina would soon find out why Mike referred to Kathy as “a saint” and credits her with being “the glue that makes the partnership so successful.”

The partnership started with various activities, including painting walls inside and outside of the 16,000 sq. ft. Stoner Avenue facility, cleaning up and mulching gardens, and organizing a Christmas gift drive providing presents for the people Change supported in the Westminster, MD community.

That hands-on involvement was followed by a grant from Northrop Grumman to fund a staff recognition program. The program provided job training and expenses for Change employees to attend conferences, as well as gift card rewards for staff cited for going above-and-beyond to support people with disabilities.

Northrop Grumman’s community outreach to local organizations in Carroll County helped get Matt Superczynski, chief engineer at the Sykesville Northrop Grumman site involved in the partnership. “I was so impressed by Change, Inc.; both its mission to serve those with developmental disabilities and the people that work tirelessly to achieve that mission. I’ve been involved with Penn-Mar ever since I was first introduced to the organization through volunteering events and now I’m serving on the Board of Penn-Mar, which has been a great experience, “he explained.

When it became obvious that no volunteer activities would be possible during the pandemic, Northrop Grumman reached out to Penn-Mar with a grant that was used to purchase meals for the people Penn-Mar supports and their DSPs in the community homes who were taking on added responsibilities and working longer shifts to ensure the safety of the residents.

“One of our Northrop Grumman values is ‘We Do The Right Thing,’ said Bob Sacca, director and site executive for the Sykesville facility at Northrop Grumman. “Our partnership with Penn-Mar is just one example of how we are living our values.”

“Northrop Grumman has always been so caring and preemptive with our partnership,” said Tina. “They are always willing to go the extra mile, asking about our needs on a regular basis.”

All of the conversations about on-site volunteering had fallen by the wayside until the fall of 2021 when a group of some 20 Northrop Grumman employees came out to the Respite Inn in Westminster equipped with the right tools for the job. They tackled the landscaping, filled the planters with flowers, mulched the gardens, and dismantled a patio and walkway that was due for replacing.

According to Tina, they were so motivated and enthused that they kept asking for more assignments. That led to pruning trees and helping to dislodge heavy metal laundry clothesline poles and piling them neatly for the maintenance crew to haul away.

“It was pretty impressive,” remembers Tina. “In my 20 years working with volunteers, community members and partnerships, the Northrop Grumman team leads as one of the best groups of volunteers I have ever worked with.”

“Our employees were happy to help with such meaningful projects,” added Kathy. “When we spoke with the families at Penn-Mar Westminster they couldn’t believe our folks were sacrificing a Saturday off in the service of others. They were immensely grateful and it was so much fun and rewarding for Northrop Grumman employees, their children and spouses to help with these big tasks that needed to be done.”

In fact, before the day wrapped, the volunteer team confirmed that they were ready and willing to commit to a bi-annual day of service with Penn-Mar. A spring 2022 date is already on the calendar.

“It is absolutely amazing, and so important to Penn-Mar’s mission to support people with disabilities, when corporations like Northrop Grumman reach out and say, ‘We have people and financial support to offer. How can we help?'” said Tina.

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Penn-Mar Announces $1 Million Endowment

Penn-Mar Editor — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 17:06:42 +0000

Penn-Mar Human Services Announces $1 Million Endowment to Support Programs that Courageously Empower People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

As Penn-Mar Human Services (Penn-Mar) celebrates 40 years as the region’s leading provider of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), they announced the creation of The Zgorski Family Endowment for the Staff Training and Aid Fund.

Through a $1 million gift from Dawn and Michael Zgorski, the donation will help fuel Penn-Mar’s ongoing transformational mission by securing the financial resources needed to ensure the continuation of high levels of Direct Support Professional (DSP) assistance, as government funding alone is not enough. The exciting news of the Zgorski fund compliments Penn-Mar’s May announcement of a $2.5 million investment in its workforce, raising the starting hourly wage for DSPs to $15.50 in an effort to boost DSP recruitment and retention.

As an overarching goal, The Zgorski Fund provides funding to enhance DSP programs that strengthen the mastery of critical skills, independent thinking, ethical judgment, and the ability to create long-term relationships of trust and mutual respect with the people and families assisted by Penn-Mar. And because the personal finances of those who Penn-Mar supports can sometimes prevent participation in the nonprofit’s community-based activities and fun, a portion of the endowment can also be utilized to help cover a variety of expenses, allowing for full enjoyment and interaction.

“The generosity of the Zgorski family is simply spectacular,” says Penn-Mar CEO Greg Miller. “Our DSPs are the backbone of everything Penn-Mar does, and this magnanimous donation allows us to further provide our professionals with the critical skills that have made them so impactful. Federal and state funding deficits can create challenges, but now because of contributions by people like the Zgorski family and others, we can provide our DSPs with the highest levels of training, so they can deliver the best possible services to the people who rely on Penn-Mar every day.”

Aiding Penn-Mar’s mission and people with IDD is something that the Zgorskis have become passionate about after seeing first-hand the incredible impact the nonprofit can have. Michael’s cousin has a daughter with IDD who had been receiving DSP support from Change, Inc., a human services nonprofit in Westminster, MD. Change and Penn-Mar have always worked closely, eventually joining forces in June 2019. Over the years, the Zgorskis learned more about Penn-Mar and both Dawn and Michael soon realized it was an organization that they wanted to see thrive.

“Penn-Mar’s message has always been such an inspiration for us,” says Michael. “The work that their DSPs do is totally selfless and filled with compassion. My wish is that with our help, Penn-Mar can retain and continue to nurture these valuable healthcare professionals. Ultimately, we want to see more people with IDD receive the best possible services and care, and there is no question that Penn-Mar is the organization to make that happen.”

On a personal level, Michael’s late sister had developmental disabilities, giving him a deep connection with the IDD community. He saw the incredible work being done by DSPs every day. Though the programming that Penn-Mar provides today was not available to his sister, Michael understands that without the tireless work of DSPs, people with IDD would miss many critical services. It’s why Penn-Mar has received similar donations in the past that provide DSP education and professional development, including the Michael James Pitts Endowment in 2017. It’s because of the immense charity of donors like the Pitts and Zgorski families that Penn-Mar is able to consistently provide exceedingly high levels of support to the IDD community.

Knowing that a lack of resources for DSPs could potentially limit critical services, in even the slightest way, is what sprang the Zgorskis into action.

“Everything that Penn-Mar does comes from a place of understanding, humanity, and a desire to encourage inclusivity,” adds Michael. “Ultimately, the work that DSPs do strengthens the community and makes all of us stronger together. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?”

For more information about the Zgorski Fund, or to contribute, please visit Penn-Mar Human Services.

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About Penn-Mar Human Services

Penn-Mar Human Services’ (www.penn-mar.org) mission is to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) live courageous lives full of self-determination, independence, and equity. Founded in 1981, Penn-Mar serves nearly 2,000 adults with IDD each year through its community living, day learning, customized employment, family and peer support, and respite programs in Carroll and Baltimore counties in Maryland, and in southern York county in Pennsylvania. Penn-Mar’s approach is innovative, person-centered, and successful, and through meaningful employment, community inclusion, and residential choice, the people Penn-Mar supports are empowered to live their best lives. www.penn-mar.org.

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