Herald * Lantern 25 January M

25

Beach Tags Mean Jobs-

(From Page I) vide year-round jobs for its normal people.” PLEWA'S PEOPLE - social workers call them "clients;'' he calls them "trainees” and “employes” — are mentally, physically or socially handicapped. Sixty-five percent are mentally retarded. There is an age range of 16 to 65, a 60-40 male-female ratio. About 65 percent live with their own families; 35 percent live in group homes. When the center started a dozen years ago, there were 14 employes. Today 100 show "up daily and the number is increasing by 20 percent a yeai. “That’s because the county’s retirement age population.is growing,' said Plewa. "A lot of these people are stuck with their parents. When their parents retire here, they wind up here. “Also, Plewa added, "there is a government push on emptying institutions and putting the handicapped back intp the community.” THE CENTER ALSO has another 100 “transients,” people Plewa described as “on a higher level. They don’t belong here. They are neither mentally nor physically handicapped, but have emotional problems.” , Typical of this group, Plewa said, is the 'divorced woman who has never worked, or not for many years, and finds herself having to support a family. Her problems, Plewa said, mirror that of the county's poor: no jobs, no job skills if there werfe jobs, no reliable transportation to get to a job, and no day care for her children. .. ' • The center’s employes show up daily whether or not there is work. It is an opportunity to socialize. And the center tries to substitute for work with a program of recreation, arts and crafts, academics. The center’s 12-person staff includes two in administration besides Plewa, a production manager and four shop supervisors, two counselors, one evaluator and a new placement position filled by Jeanette Dalton, who has set a goal of finding jobs for 15 percent of its employes. Until that post was created .this month' placement was a matter or referral to the New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation ADMISSION TO the center is not automatic. “We turn down people,’’ Plewa said. “They have to be able to communicate in some fashion, be able to use restrooms independently, feed themselves, be free from an aggressive emotional state, have no medical condition we can’t deal with, and we have to feel we can belptlfe person. To the center's employes, jobs are an opportunity to earn some money, “to make it on their own." They are paid on a piecerate basis that works out to at least the minimum wage, according to Kamerzel. “My employes ...are not picky,” said Plewa. “They are highly motivated and

will take a job a normal person would not take, like so-called nuisance work.” Most of the jobs are in anembly or custom packing. A display cabiriet in the center's lobby shows typical assembly work: eye droppers, pharmaceutical bottles, etc. There also are beach tags, a project that dwindled to almost nothing four years ago because the slow machine was unable to match the competition and sometimes broke down, risking crucial deadlines. Work is as important to the center as to its employes, earning it about 40 percent of a budget that will total more than $900,000 this year. * • — “WE EARN OUR OWN WAY most of the time," said Plewa. “Others support us on a very minimal basis.” The center also get funds from the state for testing and training. There are state - and federal grants. A state-awarded federal Small Cities Community Development Block Grant will pay for the beach tag machine, which will cost $60,000 to $65,000. The county gives $20,000 in cash, transports employes at no charge on its Fare Free Transportation system (that’s worth an estimated $110,000), and also leases the building to the center for $1 a year (rent for comparable space would be $93,000 Plewa said). The building was coni structed in 1978 with three federal grants totaling $530,000. The beach tags will help the center escape a reliance on difficult-to-find assembly work. “There is a fixed market for beach tags,” Plewa said. <s It doesn’t depend on the consumer. We can control our destiny alittle bit more.” ^ Tags also require only a small investment in materials and take up little storage space, something the center lacks. PLEWA APPEARS to be a curious combination of. entrepreneur and social worker. One minute he is inquiring into the welfare of one of his employes. The next, he is a cigar-smoking businessman, waving his arms and describing bow he hopes to underbid his competitors. v He and Kamerzel call the center “the' company” or even “the factory.” He points out the not-for-profit center publishes an annual corporate report jiot unlike any business. It is something few social agencies do, be suggested. “We have to make money to survive,’,’ Plewa explained. “It’s stressful being in an area with so little industry and so few opportunities for my people. “But nothing is ever purely a business decision,” he added. “I was brought up philosophically to have a basic bdief in people and their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And that includes the handicapped.” PLEWA CALLS HIMSELF “a Polish boy from North Jersey,” but he was born in 1947 in Augsburg, near Munich, Germany. His Polish parents, (his father from

Gdansk, his mother from Lodz) met during World War II ina German work camp. They came to this country in I960, settling in Jersey aty . Plewa graduated from Ferris High in 1965, got a BA in education at Jersey City §tate College in 1969 Plewa taught math and history in junior high for two years, but was disenchanted by many things, including pay raises based on longevity rather than merit. He left teaching to be a counselor in a vocationaj rehabilitation center, one of 60 in the state. 3,000 in the country. He was promoted to production manager, then to assistant director. When his director heard about a new. agency forming in Cape May County, he recommended “a young whippersnapper. named Plewa. Since taking the post. Plewa has obtained a master's degree in administration from the University of San Francisco. He got that ty attending 10 hours a day for eight days twice a year for two years, plus writing a thesis. He married the former Kathleen Hailihan of Hoboken in 1973. They have two daughters, Courtney, 5, and Lindsey, and live in Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County. OPERATION OF Jersey Cape Diagnostic is overseen by a nine-member board of directors headed by Roy Gillian of Ocean City, president. Others include Joyce Gould, vice president; William Brown, treasurer, Millie Wheaton, secretary; Dr. John Bohan; Frances Goetz, William Spiegle III, Michael Subolich and Thomas C. Willson Sr. “The biggest problem with social service agencies is that they’re run by social workers,” said Plewa. “That’s because taxpayers don’t see fit to pay profes -sionals. Why should an MBA do this and make $20,000 or $30,000 less a year than he can?” , That, of course, is exactly what Plewa seems to be-doing. “The business world rewards efforts.” said Plewa, "but .-there is no distinct reward system in social services. There is self-reward I have pride that I’ve been able to make this place what it is today. I started it and I’m pleased with the progress. “It’s not really my own business,” he said, “so maybe I'm a little too conservative. I could take chances, but that: are 100 jobs at stake. If something went wrong, they’d have no place to go. "I run a business ahd I.help people," he said. ”1 get a good feeling. It’s the best of two worlds.” : Too Much Too Soon

PETERSBURG — Committeeman Louis DiLuzio was swoprtn for his first* three-year term this month. This newspaper had reported Jan. 11 that it was his third term.

News Digest(From Page 1) "T charged with the aggravated assault at a Glassboro tavern cif John W. Brady. 21, of South Plainfield. Suffering from severe facial injuries, Brady was listed in stable condition at JFK Hospital. Washington Township. O’Brien was arrested at the scene of another figitj&poUqe reported. Squeaking Wheels

OCEAN CITY — Property owners have won $43 million in reassessment adjustments since new valuations were reported last October, according to city Tax Assessor James Andrea. The city’s total worth is about $1.8 billion, he said.

More Sand

SEA ISLE CITY — Mayor Dominic Raffa said a $3.1-million project to pump 600,000 cubic yards of sand from Townsends Inlet onto beaches from 47th to 85th street will start in March and end by June 15. The state is paying $2.4 million, the city the balance, Raffa said. Aerial Census

STONE HARBOR - Saturday manta this year’s start of the statewide winter hawk census. Bird-wise volunteers are needed to count hawks, owls, eagles and vultures and help identify their major winter habitats. Conducted by the New Jersey Raptor Association for six years, the census takers spotted a record 3,166 birds last year. To volunteer, call 368-1211 or 886-8983 No, You Take It AVALON — The local Chamber of Commerce information center at 30th Street and Ocean Drive has been picked .. as the site for an $8,300 portable, public restroom. Nobody else wanted it. Hurley’s New Hat TRENTON — State Senate Republicans have elected Sen. James R. Hurley, Cape May-Cumber land, assistant minority leader. Running for his second senate term in November, Hurley defeated lawyer Christopher Riley, a novice Democratic candidate. He was elected minority whip shortly after the victory. As an assemblyman. Hurley served as minority leader from 1977-’81, assistant minority leader from 1973-76 and , assistant majority leader in 1972.

OPPORTUNITY — Clockwise, from top left. William Kamerzel, director of the industrial division at Jersey Cape Diagnostic Training and Opportunity Center, charts potential beach tag sales; center diector George Plewa with Jeanette Dalton, in charge of job placement; an exterior of the the Crest Haven facility; and an assembly

line operation.

. Doru Word