Newspaper Page Text
Griffin Daily News
Creativity is no respecter of I.Q.
There’s talent in the retarded
By HELEN HENNESSY
NEA Women’s Editor
NEW YORK — (NEA) -
That a person’s I.Q. often
has little to do with his crea
tivity is a point now being
proved by the mentally re
tarded. They were given the
chance to show their crea
tive ability by a few people
who were willing to put time
and dollars where others
gave lip service. And this
willingness to help has paid
off — not just in an aura of
philanthropy but in the medi
um we all admit speaks for
itself—money.
From the art center at
Flame of Hope, a nonprofit,
self-sustaining agency that
provides employment for the
mentally retarded through
the sale of products they
make themselves, have come
original designs for fabric
prints. The designs were
bought by Lawrence Gordon,
president of Blue Ridge-Win
kler Textiles, and he brought
Du Pont into the act from
the fabric angle The fabric
used for the designs is An
tron HI.
‘This guy is a leader,”
said Stephen E. Blum, presi
dent of Flame of Hope, refer
ring to Gordon. “He de
serves a lot of credit. He has
put a lot of his own personal
money into the effort and a
lot of his company’s time.
But the venture is a success.
Recently he sent us a letter
saying he wanted to make it
a continuing operation and
would give us a percentage
of the net profit."
Du Pont is making a film
on the project and now fash
ion leaders in all categories
will interpret the prints in
their designs. The fabrics
will be available for home
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2
sewers, too.
The purpose for the ven
ture, according to textile
man Gordon, is to offer
fashion-conscious consumers
the opportunity to fill their
wardrobe needs with the
newest designs and simul
taneously help provide em
ployment for those less for
tunate.
To talk to Blum about
Flame of Hope is to turn on
all the devotion of a loving
parent — but a parent who
knows the best way to help
his charges is not simply
with charity but by applying
business shrewdness that
can enable them to achieve
the dignity reserved only for
the self-sustaining citizen.
“I’m not a social worker,"
he said. “I came from the
business side and I get a
great deal of satisfaction in
using my business know-how
to help others.”
The artists in the fabric
design project are from 17
to 24 years old. And they
take great pride in their
work as do all the other men
tally retarded people at
Flame of Hope.
“If we let their efforts
stockpile in front of the
workers they are crushed,”
said Blum. “They feel no one
wants what they have
made.”
The people trained in the
workshops across the coun
try are good workers.
“I sent one young fellow
out on a job,” said Blum,
"where he had to load a car
with component parts of
brushes and bring it from
station to station. He worked
so fast that the shop steward
complained. The other peo
ple were accustomed to pac
ing their work, coffee breaks.
I A , - IM —l| »-
W i
The original design, left, of a Flame of Hope artist and the resulting fabric
print. Creativity is no respecter of I.Q
and so on. And now here was
this hustler!”
According to Blum, the
workshop “guaduates” have
to be taught to goof off. “We
call that part of the train
ing,” he said with a grin,
normalization.’ ”
Among the many products
made by Flame of Hope, the
best known are their candles
and fragrances for women
and Christmas cards done on
recycled paper for depart
ment store sales. They are
now involved in a line of
candles sold strictly to fund
raising groups. “It has a
kind of nice appeal,” Ste
phen Blum said. “It not only
helps the local cause but the
retarded, too.”
About one-third of their
people every year are turned
over into some kind of com
petitive employment and ac
cording to Blum that repre
sents a great saving to the
taxpayers.
“The art center is not a
workshop,” he said. Mrs.
Wilmer James, instructor at
the center, had her “artists”
dumped into her lap because
they weren’t considered suit
able for workshop training.
And she has done wonders.
“Because these people
don’t know that the grass
has to be green, the sky
blue, they are free.”
Flame of Hope was started
by the Kennedys — Eunice
Shriver in particular. “It
was the first of its type,”
said Blum. “Government had
never put money into a pro
gram providing product de
velopment and marketing
before. But now we are self
supporting.
“One of the proudest mo
ments of my life,” Blum
went on, “was the result ot
a letter we got from Cher
bourg, France, asking us for
help with a workshop there.
“We had a language bar-
rier. So I suggested we eacn
write in our own language
and use translators. We did.
And I tried to help with their
problems by asking one of
our candle supervisors, who
was going to Europe on va
cation, to stop at Cherbourg
for a few days. He stopped
in — and lived there, help
ing them, for a year.”
Flame of Hope sent tools
from their workshops here
and lined up people overseas
to help the Cherbourg work
shop.
“The man who ran the
shop,” Blum said with pleas
ure and pride, “went to Nor
mandy to make a sand
candle in the shape of the
Flame. He sent it to me, say
ing, ‘Not since the Ameri
cans landed at Normandy
has France been so grateful
to America.’ ”
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)