Peter Langmore, left, chairman of the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival, presents a $3,000 ceremonial check to Sue Beckwith, program manager of the Forum House, during a brief ceremony at the Forum House in Westfield last night. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – It may have been cold and icy outside yesterday, but it was cozy and warm inside the Forum House at the “Friends of Forum” Christmas party, as employees and members of the Broad Street institution welcomed visitors bearing gifts: a check for $3,000 from the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival Committee.
Several members of the Festival Committee, including Committee Chairman Peter Langmore, were on hand around 6 p.m. to present Forum House Program Manager Susan Beckwith with the large cardboard check as a token of appreciation for the organization’s devotion to the community and assistance with the Scottish festival, which is held on the third weekend of July every year.
“When we first needed volunteers, we began looking for people, and Sue (Beckwith) gave us a presentation about who they (Forum House) are,” said Langmore, whose committee has donated $49,300 in total to the Forum House and their parent organization, Human Resources Unlimited of Springfield, since 2002. “We really love the Forum House. We love what they do, and it’s important to the community. I hope by donating $3,000, we’re setting a good example to encourage people to donate (to the Forum House) on December 12.”
The Forum House’s has played a role as a “clubhouse” for city residents suffering from mental illnesses and has been assisting the city of Westfield for the past 25 years, thanks to local support.
“We’ve been so underfunded, that all of what we get goes to operations,” said Beckwith, who is looking forward to the Valley Gives event on Thursday in hopes that Human Resources Unlimited will be among the top donation-receivers of the event.
“Valley Gives is an event we kind of did informally last year,” she said. “People who knew about us donated to us, but we’ve recruited more this year. We had a fundraiser at Whip City Candle on December 5. We’re just trying to get out into the community more to get donations.”
“There have been huge cuts,” said Sue Smith, a senior employment coordinator for the Forum House, on the decreases in state funding. “It’s so important for people to think about helping other people, getting them back on their feet and off disability.”
Smith, who is also a certified psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner, spoke of a time gone by, when a diagnosis of a serious mental illness meant sadness and confusion for patients. Thanks to places like the Forum House, people living with these conditions can gain control of their lives once again.
“Mental illness doesn’t mean your life is over,” said Smith. “We want to see people get back into the community. We have lots of members out in the city, doing things.”
Smith said that the Forum House provided help to about 300 people during the past year, and has served just under 1,000 since it opened it’s doors in 1988.
“Westfield is such a wonderful community,” she said. “It’s wonderful to see people grow over time when they’re given support and believe they can succeed.”
The continued successes of the Forum House include the placement of numerous members into jobs in Westfield and other surrounding cities, and Forum House Board Member and Owner of Apex Healthcare Agencies Cheryl Rumley was on hand to attest to the quality of people who have come to her company through the Forum House.
“The staff I’ve got from here are so reliable,” she said. “It’s a great system, because they know they have value.”
Rumley has a decade-long history of working with the Forum House, and currently has two ex-Forum House members working at Apex, and has had up to five in the past.
“The state is having a tough time (with funding),” she said. “So donations help a lot.”
No one knows this better than Emily Wall, an intern from Westfield State University who was on hand to enjoy the ham dinner being prepared in the downstairs kitchen, the aroma permeating the dining room not ten feet from where the party of about 20 people had gathered.
Wall, a psychology major from Mansfield, works with Forum House members in the facility’s Learning Resource Center, a unit where she tutors as many as four students on her days there.
“Some are trying to get their GED, some are taking an introductory Spanish course,” she said.
Wall is one of several students to be receiving a paid internship, but she admits that additional funding could go a long way.
“More resources would help buy additional programs,” she said, adding that the lab in the LRC has only four computers, which fill up quickly. “Upgrades could probably be made to the building, as well.”
Wall said that the Forum House will be holding an event at the Main Street Stop & Shop on Thursday in hopes of drumming up additional support through Valley Gives, and Margaret Jordan, director of mental health services for Human Resources Unlimited, is also hoping to see the Forum House’s umbrella organization’s donors come through for the online drive.
“(HRU) has a history of assisting individuals in becoming more self-sufficient and independent, which ultimately is good for the economy, as it gets people off disability,” she said. “The state funding doesn’t cover all the cost to provide the high quality service our members need. Human Resources Unlimited is looking to expand the opportunities for people.”
Donors are encouraged to log in online on December 12 and donate at valleygivesday.org
