Preparing for construction of a new school on its property in Ellicott City, Linwood Center donated a modular house on its land to Habitat for Humanity, which disassembled the building and will reuse the materials in other projects and to repair homes of low income families.
Construction will start this summer on a 36,000 square foot building which will house a state-of-the-art school program. There are no autism specific nonpublic schools close to Howard County, and many local students with autism are bused to schools outside the county. The new school will allow Linwood to accept kindergarten to 12th grade students with less severe forms of autism.
Linwood Center was among the very first autism-specific programs in the world and has been providing services for children and adults living with autism since 1955. Its founder, Jeanne M. Simons, was a pioneer in the field and championed methods still in use today.
Linwood is unique in providing combined and comprehensive education and residential programs and offering a full range of autism-specific life span services. Individuals enrolled in Linwood benefit from program continuity throughout their lives, from childhood through adulthood.
The school project will cost $6.4 million and is being funded through state grants of $1.65 million, $900,000 in Howard County government funds, a $3.1 million loan and the remainder in private donations. Linwood has raised $235,000 and is in the process of raising $460,000 more.
Watching over the disassembly of Linwood Center’s Gray House were (from l.) Linwood Board President Jack Boender and Habitat Director of Construction Patrick Kirby.
The disassembly of Linwood Center’s Gray House included Habitat Senior Site Manager Fred Reno, AmeriCorps members Tim Synan, Mike Miato and Kaitlin Bunber, Habitat volunteer Dave Jenkins, AmeriCorps member Maurice Jackson, Director of Construction Patrick Kirby, Linwood Board President Jack Boender, and Linwood Business Director Anne McArthur.
