Freddie Mac Announces Major Investment in Easter Seals Inter-Generational Center

Corporation Demonstrates Ongoing Commitment to Individuals With Disabilities 


CALVERTON, Md., Dec 19  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region is pleased to announce that Freddie Mac has invested $250,000 toward the Easter Seals/Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Inter- Generational Center (IGC) capital campaign. The gift reflects Freddie Mac's long and substantial commitment to the greater Washington, DC community, especially at risk children and families.

"Freddie Mac's investment comes at precisely the right moment to propel the IGC toward swift completion," said Lisa Reeves, President and CEO of Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region. "We look forward to completing the construction that began this August and to opening our doors to the community in 2007. Without the very generous support of Freddie Mac and other major donors -- public, private and corporate -- who understand that this center represents a significant shift in disability care, this would still be just another blueprint."

For more than 70 years Easter Seals has provided quality services in the Washington Metropolitan Region for individuals with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, autism, Down's syndrome, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. The IGC represents a new service prototype, bringing Easter Seals' highly successful programs serving children and adults together under one roof. The 41,157-square-foot building located in Silver Spring, Maryland will directly impact the lives of well over 15,500 children, adults and seniors with disabilities, as well as their caregivers and families over the next decade.

As the first nonprofit in the area and among the first in the nation to build and operate such a "shared site," -- serving both children and adults with disabilities in one facility -- the IGC will serve as a national model of program excellence worthy of replication throughout the nation. No longer will a choice need to be made to exclude one population in order to serve another. Rather than serving just children in one center and adults and seniors in another, Easter Seals will be able to simultaneously serve individuals from birth to 100 years of age and beyond in an integrated program.

The IGC will provide direct services, professional education, and family caregiver support to 1,500 persons each year and include the following services:

  * Adult and Senior Day Services

  * Child Development and Early Education Services

  * Therapy and Assistive Technology Services

  * Family Caregiver Resource Center

  * Training/Conference Center



It will also serve as a base for community outreach and further expansion of Easter Seals services across the region.

"In the DC region and across the nation, families are increasingly taking on caregiving roles for both their children and elders -- often juggling this role with a career," explained Ralph F. Boyd, Freddie Mac's executive vice president for community relations. "Our investment will help struggling families receive important services, ensuring more families succeed.  This cutting edge facility will bring a high return for individuals with disabilities, their caregivers, and the wider community, and we're proud to be a supporter."

Easter Seals has developed partnerships with educational institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and service agencies such as the Montgomery County Area Agency on Aging, the Division of Rehabilitation Services under the Maryland Department of Education, and the Maryland Assistive Technology Center to enhance IGC services. Additionally, Easter Seals is partnering with Generations United, a national organization based in Washington, D.C.

Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region provides comprehensive services for children and adults with disabilities and their families in Maryland, the District of Columbia, northern Virginia, and West Virginia. Easter Seals' three core services include early education and care for children with and without disabilities, adult and senior day services, and home and community-based services.

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than four million renters in America. 

DATASOURCE: Freddie Mac



CONTACT:  Michael Levin of Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore

Region, [phone], or ; or Shawn Flaherty of Freddie

Mac, [phone], or 



Web site:  http://www.freddiemac.com/

http://www.gwbr.easterseals.com/ 

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