UpperBay.org - Mental Health Services, News & Events

Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services, Inc.
in collaboration with, and partially funded by, the Cecil County Arts Council, Inc.
Present:

“Expressions of Healing XI”
Honorary Chair: Geraldine McKeown

A collective exhibit of works by those who participate with Upper Bay Counseling as a celebration of
May as Mental Health Awareness Month

May 1 - May 31, 2008

You are cordially invited to attend our
Opening Reception
Thursday, May 1st
4:00 - 6:30 p.m.

The Elkton Arts Center
135 East Main Street, Elkton, Maryland
410-392-5740

Gallery Hours: Mon.-Fri.-10:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.
Free Admission

The Cecil County Arts Council is funded by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to non profit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Additional funding is provided by the Cecil County Government.

5th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament

Join us for the 5th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament on Friday, May 16, 2008 at Chesapeake Bay Golf Club - North East. Proceeds benefit Upper Bay's Adult Programs. Sponsorship opportunities are available.

Click here for a registration form.

Upper Bay Partners with Digital Office Solutions

Upper Bay Counseling is pleased to announce that Digital Office Solutions, Inc. of Newark, Delaware, will be tournament sponsor of their 5th annual benefit golf tournament this year.

Digital Office Solutions, Inc. is a premiere provider of service, sales and support for Konica Minolta Digital Black/White and Full Color copiers in the area. “We are very excited to have Barry Simms and his company, Digital Office Solutions as tournament sponsor,” said Rich Bayer, CEO of Upper Bay. “Barry has been a long-time supporter of Upper Bay and our annual golf tournament. His continued support will allow us to continue to provide affordable services to our community.”

This year’s benefit golf tournament will be held on Friday, May 16th at the Chesapeake Bay Golf Club in Rising Sun, Maryland. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Melanie Graybeal at 410-996-3420 or mgraybeal@upperbay.org for additional information.

UD Nursing Students Bring Holiday Cheer to UBCSS

Shown are: (standing, l. to r.) Billy Woolman, Mike Amodei, Tom Desper (UD nursing student), Jennie Coughlan (UD nursing student), David Brown, Kathy Schell (UD Nursing faculty), Cynthia Diefenbeck (Past President of honor society and Psychiatric Nurse Specialist for Christiana Care Health System), Evelyn Hayes (UD Nursing faculty), and Michelle Criel (UD nursing student), and (kneeling l. to r.) Marianne Skinner, Mary Jaindl, Cathy Peiffer, Sheila Murphy (UBCSS staff), Aprilee Lawson, and Bonney Borden.

On December 12, nursing students and faculty of the Beta Xi Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the Nursing Honor Society from University of Delaware, brightened the holidays for adult clients who attend the rehabilitation programs at Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services.

The honor society members brought 35 holiday gift bags, each stuffed with gifts and a greeting card, for clients in the Sunrise Residential Program. They also served snacks and treats, including a holiday cake, to 50 clients who attended the SHARE Day Program that day. In turn, a few SHARE clients took some of the nursing students on a tour of the rehab side at the Booth Street location. During the tour, they also discussed some basic principles about treating mental illness.

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UBCSS Children Decorate Grotto Pizza

Shown are: (standing, l. to r.)Shown here are: (back row, l. to r.) Christopher Holmes, Jessica Murphy, and Rick Potts (UB staff); (middle row, l. to r.) Amanda Frick (UB staff), Sheila Murphy (UB staff), Karyn Harned (Grotto Pizza mgr), Kim Mesceda (GP staff), Bobby Rhodes (hiding behind pizza box), Carl Sheetz, and Ryan Hobbs; and (front row, l. to r.) Jim Hoffman (GP pizza spvsr), Meredith Grabek (GP staff), Katrina Laury-Webb (UB staff), and Jory Burbank.

Grotto Pizza on Main Street in Newark invited participants from local youth programs to help decorate for the holiday season. “Every year,” says manager Karyn Harned, “we go all out. We love to decorate for the holidays. Also we’re involved in many ways with the local community. For instance, we have a program to help local non-profit organizations with fundraisers. This year, we invited children from local programs to help us.”

This year’s participants included adoptive children in the recreation and respite program at Upper Bay Adoption and Counseling Services in Wilmington and children in the therapeutic day programs and community after-school programs managed by Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services in Cecil County, Maryland. During the past few weeks, the children in these programs created paper chains, snowflakes, snow people, winter posters, holiday decorations, cards to Santa, and ornaments.

Then on December 3, children and staff members from one of Upper Bay’s day programs spent the morning at Grotto Pizza decorating the entire location. For their creative efforts the participating children were treated to a pizza party hosted of course by Grotto Pizza of Newark.

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UBCSS Holds Successful Fundraiser

Pictured are members of Upper Bay’s event committee who helped organize this successful fundraiser: (l. to r.) Laurie Jones, Kim Ragan, Lyn Kelly (Committee Chair), Melanie Graybeal, Sheila Murphy, and Diana Rudolph. On the committee but not in photo are Cathy Dill, Rev. Sam Hartman, and Dr. Rich Bayer (CEO of UBCSS).

On November 30, Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services, Inc. held its 5th Annual Holiday Benefit Gathering. This “black tie optional” event raised about $13,000, all of which will benefit the children’s programs at Upper Bay Counseling. It took place at the Chesapeake Inn in Chesapeake City.

This year’s Honorary Chair was Diana Rudolph. She has been the principal at Rising Sun Middle School for the past two years and, for the previous nine years, was principal at Perryville Middle School. During her experience in the schools, she has worked with Upper Bay Counseling’s school-based therapists on many occasions.

“I am happy to be the Honorary Chair for this event,” Rudolph said, “because this year the proceeds will benefit Upper Bay’s children’s programs. As a school principal, I’m familiar with how effective Upper Bay counselors can be at helping students who have emotional or behavior problems. I’m also pleased with how well the counselors work with the students’ families.”

UBCSS Sponsors Elkton Community Kitchen

Volunteers pictured here, in front of the ovens in the SHARE kitchen, are (l. to r.): chef Ken Brown and program participants Jackie Tucker,
John Smith, and Shaun Cole.

On Friday, December 7, volunteers from Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services provided lunch and helped as servers at the Elkton Community Kitchen. Upper Bay’s chef Ken Brown prepared a balanced meal of hot foods for this luncheon. Also adult participants at Upper Bay’s SHARE Program baked hundreds of cookies that were available for dessert. The Coordinator of the Community Kitchen, Margaret Holland, was on hand and orchestrated the activities as usual. She offered her thanks to Elkton Presbyterian Church on East Main Street for hosting this program every Friday. She also thanked Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services for sponsoring the program on this day. In all, Upper Bay sent 14 volunteers to help with serving the meal and handing out cookies to approximately 120 guests.