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Patrons For Peace Project was very busy this past year. We tried very hard not to allow the COVID-19 Pandemic’s residual effects to interfere with the services that we wanted to provide on a timely basis to each client. Once again, we want to thank Bob Reilly for the incredible services which he continues to provide to each client including transportation and walking people through the maze at Social Service agencies.

2022 was a year that we were fortunate to be able to help many women. An elderly woman on the verge of being unhoused was referred to us early in the year. She was unable to fully care for herself. She reported being in special education while growing up. She fell through the cracks and the school system failed to get her DDA services. This was a tragedy since she needed so many services and no one was there to assist her. We are so proud to report that we were able to hire an expert, Dr. Ronald S. Federici, a Clinical Developmental Neuropsychologist, who is world-renowned. He assessed her and his final report helped us to convince DDA that she should be eligible for their services.

 We were able to also help stabilize and house a woman who was experiencing psychosis. She was found in a laundromat and had been floating around the country. She would sleep in bushes at night near a library. Sadly, this lady would end up in emergency rooms all over the country and then would be discharged to the street or a shelter where she would walk out. We hospitalized her and then followed her when she was put in a crisis bed.  We met with her and set up the necessary services. Then we applied for disability and eventually we were able to get her into psychiatric housing.

We were able to get SSI for a chronically unhoused middle-aged woman who had been on the streets for many years. We took her to doctor’s appointments and paid for her phone until her benefits came in.

We helped to stabilize an unhoused woman who was living in an abandoned car with her cat. She was very fearful and reluctant at first to accept help from our organization. In time she slowly started to trust us, and we were then able to get her needed medical treatment. We are happy to report she is now permanently housed.

We assisted many people who needed psychiatric, and substance use disorder stabilization. Once they were medically stabilized, we helped them to get into halfway houses and funded their program fee until they could secure a job.  

The COVID-19 Pandemic continued to interfere with the normal flow of social service agencies by slowing down and backing up services available to the unhoused population.  Bob Reilly, our assistant and driver, made it possible for us to continue to provide many valuable services under these challenging circumstances.  His primary focus was transportation, but he was also able to help clients apply to redeem stolen stimulus checks.   He also assisted some of our clients with paperwork to straighten out some tax issues.  After starting out with us as a driver, Bob has transformed into a valuable multi-faceted resource for our clients.  

Patrons For Peace Project continued to hand out masks and hand sanitizer daily. We purchased 16 phones for unhoused individuals so we could immediately begin working with people in crisis and connect eight of them with QCI Behavioral Health.

We came across an unhoused man who was almost blind.  Immediately we put him into a hotel for safety. We then were able to partner with the Wilmer Eye Clinic (for over a year) and provide transportation to Baltimore City while housing him and arranging for him to have two surgeries on each eye. His treatment was successful, and he can now see.

We were able to help nine individuals get into treatment programs.  These were individuals who were put out of local shelters for behaviors caused by substance use disorder issues.  Then they were assisted with halfway-house placement when finished treatment.

We were instrumental in pushing and helping to pass an ordinance in the City of Laurel requiring that air conditioning be provided by landlords for their tenants.  We met with the local mayor and individual council members.  We consulted with officials in other jurisdictions that had passed similar legislation.  We were successful in presenting a Petition with nearly 100 signatures to City Hall.  Now we have a law requiring landlords to provide air-conditioning to indoor living units during the hot summer months.  (A law requiring heat was already on the books.)

We were able to help four unhoused individuals by applying for Social Security disability benefits and eventually housing them.

This June we are incredibly happy to feature the exceptionally talented C. Michael Walls. Without him Patrons for Peace would not exist. A lawyer, journalist, musician, and all-around Renaissance man, he began by offering his services to incorporate PPP in 2004. That is when the organization was born.

Starting with his editing skills as a journalist he has proofread every piece of material we have ever sent out and published. He has assisted with grant writing as we apply to get funding for unhoused individuals. Michael has even helped with fundraisers playing music as he can play percussion instruments, guitar, saxophone, bass, and the harmonica.

Perhaps the most impactful assistance that has come from Michael has been his assistance with clients as a criminal defense lawyer. He has donated so much pro bono work over the years assisting our clients with a myriad of issues such as DWIs, theft, assaults and MVA troubles. Some of our client’s experience substance use disorders and are consumers of supportive mental health services that need his assistance to help get their life back on track. Michael has always been available to answer a question Patrons for Peace Project may have, reviewing a letter from the courts, advising a client what their rights are, at times representing and other times directing how to get a public defender.

Michael helped to guide us through a particularly heartbreaking case involving a mother and disabled son who were being threatened by their landlord. He advised us on how to proceed to protect this mother and son.  We had to help the mother take out a restraining order against the landlord. He walked us through the court procedure, so we were able to accompany her in the courtroom. This is one example of the behind-the-scenes legal assistance he provides 24/7 for Patrons for Peace Project. We are so very thankful for all the many unique areas of expertise that Michael brings to the table to assist our clients and our organization. His multifaceted talents truly enrich the organization!

Over the past ten years, Patrons for Peace Project and Vernessa Scurry, MA, have worked together coordinating care for consumers accessing mental health services. Ms. Scurry has been the Executive Director of Safe Journey House for the past five years and has assisted us with care we are trying to access for our clients. Prior to that, we worked with her at QCI Behavioral Health for five years.  We appreciate Ms. Scurry for all that she does to advocate for each client. As Executive Director of Safe Journey House she is responsible for the operation of four separate locations throughout the local region. Yet she has always been extremely accessible and works hard to accommodate the intake and treatment needs of each of our clients.  

Patrons for Peace Project has been extremely fortunate to be able to refer clients to Safe Journey House for psychiatric stabilization.  These short term therapeutic residential facilities in Hyattsville, Ellicott city, Gaithersburg and Waldorf have helped to prevent many of our clients from being hospitalized.  We are incredibly grateful for Ms. Scurry’s active role in this agency. She oversees the crisis counselors and mental health professionals in each house and helps to guide them as they deliver compassionate evidence-based care. She is also directly and indirectly involved in client care by managing all the many situations that arise within the organization.

We have called Ms. Scurry when we have had clients in hospitals and on park benches, and she immediately starts to work to help us find a bed. She is steadfast and calm – working to quickly find a solution to assist the client in need. She continually reaches out to our agency letting us know when beds are available. Once the client is admitted to Safe Journey House and stabilized, a safe discharge plan is developed. It is during this time that some clients will be referred to a Residential Rehabilitation Program (RRP). This lengthy detailed-oriented application process is overseen by Ms. Scurry. Patrons for Peace Project thanks her for her behind the scenes work because the RRP applications are always done correctly and in a manner that prevents any unnecessary delay for the clients.

Ms. Scurry’s passion for helping people has always been obvious to Patrons for Peace Project for the following reasons. She always goes the extra mile to do what is possible within her power and scope of practice to advocate for the client. She is extremely resourceful, possessing a wealth of knowledge of the “system,” understanding exactly where a referral source may be. Since clients can come from referring hospitals, other agencies and possibly the street, her excellent communication/interpersonal relationship skills are top-notch. She collaborates with every agency, keeping the clients’ needs first. Like a well-oiled machine, she is constantly multitasking, putting pieces of a puzzle together to ultimately benefit a client. We are incredibly grateful to Ms. Scurry.  Because of her unique skill set and zealous advocacy, many lives have been saved!

Patrons for Peace Project has been extremely fortunate to have found Juda Gabaie a tax lawyer who has helped us to help clients over the years. Financial debt secondary to tax evasion, gambling and garnishment causing financial ruin and then being unhoused carries an extraordinary amount of shame, guilt and anger at oneself and the “system”. We have seen hopelessness and despair in such depths in a couple of clients that suicide was being considered as an option. Fortunately for all involved, Juda’s services were enlisted, and a solution was mapped out to restore financial stability.

Juda listens compassionately, reading between the lines while witnessing the depth of despair and hopelessness with which each client had been living day in and day out. One man we took to him had been living out of a van for years. He had such fear and self-loathing that he trembled and sobbed as he sat in his office. Juda was very empathetic as he provided a strategic path of hope to straighten out his man’s finances. Juda was also able to provide information to help that had not been known or factored into the situation.

Many people are very secretive about financial struggles so by the time they become unhoused their monetary problems have usually been festering for a long time. Juda gathers all the information he needs and is very quick in finding exactly what steps are needed to help the client. This is especially important once the client is ready to accept help so they can move forward with their life. We are so grateful for the professional and detail-oriented assessment and help with each client’s financial problems that Juda has provided to our clients.

Patrons for Peace Project, Inc. has been extremely fortunate to partner with Barbara White, MSN, CNRP, a nurse practitioner whose office lies in Historic Old Town Laurel. She has saved the day for many of our clients in some incredibly unique and difficult situations so many times. Her skill set is so wide and all-encompassing that describing what she does is not possible in this monthly feature. She is the primary caregiver for many of our clients in addition to helping with one-time medical and/or psychiatric needs and treatments. Her office is tucked away down C Street near Riverfront Park and – although small – it provides mighty big acts of healing. One can often see NP students working in the office as Barbara imparts her wealth of knowledge and experience upon them and they learn what it takes to be the best at holistic, client-centered care.

Barbara’s welcoming office manager Dawn greets and helps everyone to feel loved and treasured when they come into the waiting room. We once took a client to her who had recently been released from incarceration for many years.  He needed to get psychiatric medication for his clinical depression. The wait period for this client to get into outpatient mobile psychiatric care was going to be a few weeks. Therefore, we needed to get an antidepressant to help him through the wait time bridging care while waiting for wrap around services. I will never forget when he walked into the office, Dawn greeted him, took him to a seat and helped him with needed paperwork. Dawn then handed him a holiday card. He looked astonished and said, “What is this?” She explained it was a holiday card prepared in advance for him. A tear ran down his face and he later told us he had not received any cards in years.  

What we love about Barbara is her holistic approach to wellness. As such, she is concerned with the entire person when she treats them. People feel relaxed, restored, and safe to share what is on their minds when they come in for their appointments. One client told us they are so comfortable in Barbara’s office that they feel like they are in their second home.

Barbara White’s educational background is remarkably diverse. In addition to her advanced practice nursing degrees, she has a master’s degree in Spiritual and Pastoral Care from Loyola College. Her eclectic background and treatment approach enable her to have eyes open to tailor unique modalities of care to achieve maximum wellness for each client. She is now a registered provider with the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. One size does not fit all in Barbara’s office.

She is acutely aware of the disparities of our healthcare system that directly impact minorities.  She knows that racial and economic factors cause minorities to be disproportionately burdened by chronic illness and substandard medical care. She pays special attention to this fact in the care that she gives her clients. She spends extra time with clients when necessary, makes sure her fees are affordable, accepts Medicaid, and partners with community programs that uplift clients even when it means more work for her and her office.

Barbara’s view of each client is not through a monocular lens looking at one illness, one symptom or one problem but instead taking on a panoramic view. Patrons for Peace Project is so grateful.

This February we are featuring Ali Thakkar, a pharmacist who owns The Laurel Main Street Pharmacy.

Patrons for Peace Project is extremely fortunate to be able to use the services provided by The Main Street Pharmacy for our clients. This pharmacy is housed in a relatively small space, but the many moving parts make up a powerhouse of therapeutic pharmaceutical tasks. The pharmacy is run very efficiently with a staff of seven where customers may hear French, Spanish, Hindi, Korean and of course, English spoken.

Ali can multitask using critical thinking skills tailoring and keeping the needs of each client on his mind as he fills prescriptions, counsels, and educates them about their medications. He is patient and adapts his protocol to meet the needs of his clients. The pharmacy can provide compliance packaging, bubble packaging, in addition to compounding where medications can be prepared in unique formulas for specific client needs. The pharmacy can provide Flu, Pneumonia, and Shingles vaccine to clients when needed.

The Laurel Main Street Pharmacy specializes in working with clients who have chronic conditions so

helping this population of people to be compliant with medication schedules is at the front of Ali’s mind. He has an auto-fill program set for clients at their request and three drivers who can deliver medication throughout Prince George’s County, Baltimore and of course locally here in Laurel.

Ali has created an atmosphere at The Main Street Pharmacy with his staff where our clients feel welcomed, respected, and cared for in a manner so they know they are getting special treatment. When they walk in the door services are quick, compassionate and their name is known. What Patrons for Peace Project Inc. really likes about The Main Street Pharmacy is that everyone is treated like a VIP when they come through the door. We are so grateful to Ali and his incredibly wonderful staff!

Patrons for Peace Project is incredibly grateful to Marty, the house manager at the Champ House in Bowie, Maryland. This chemical dependency recovery program is tucked away on a beautiful spacious wooded property and can house up to 16 men. We are so fortunate to be able to partner with this wonderful program for our clients who are ready to try a new life without drugs and alcohol.

Marty has created a great atmosphere at Champ House where men who feel unloved are loved despite their pasts. Men who do not feel respected are respected; men who have given up hope finally feel hopeful about their future. Marty creates an atmosphere of acceptance and serenity because he, himself is in recovery from drugs and alcohol.  He has walked in many ways in the shoes of each person who enters this program. He can actually say, “I know how you feel. I’ve been there and I’ve done that. But look at me now.”  He explains that with a 12-step program and God, he overcame his addiction and continues to work on abstinence one day at a time.

Marty went into his first recovery program at a place called “Second Genesis,” a two-year program in 1984. Part of the admission process was an initial drug screen. When the staff at Second Genesis asked him, “What’s gonna’ show up,” he replied, “Everything.  Heroin, barbiturates, PCP, methamphetamines, and cocaine.” In other words, Marty was using anything and everything that he could get his hands on to snort, swallow, and/or inject.  He walked out of Second Genesis in 30 days not ready to stop the vicious cycle of addiction at that point in his life. His past includes incarceration, multiple admissions to chemical dependency programs and methadone maintenance. Many would have described him as hopeless — a lost cause.

As of January 1, 2021 Marty will have been clean (drug and alcohol free) for 28 years and four months.  He cares so much about people in recovery that he has made it his life’s work to help chemically dependent people because he lives on the premises of the Champ House. He monitors, mentors, cooks, cleans, and helps to run the 12-step meetings where the men live. Marty knows how to interact with a multitude of personalities. He has a great sense of humor and knows how to model his solid spiritual foundation enjoying life in a clean state with one of his hobbies of riding his motorcycle.

Marty is a miracle and Patrons for Peace Project is so very thankful to him. He is a living example of hope and a testament to the concept that no chemically person is a hopeless case but instead a miracle waiting to unfold.

Dr Jeffrey Chung is an ophthalmologist and retina specialist who has supported Patrons for Peace Project in numerous ways for many years. He is a true humanitarian who selflessly cares for his patients as if they were part of his family. Our relationship with Dr. Chung began during an emergency with a client who was having a retinal hemorrhage.

Patrons for Peace was helping an unhoused man get disability and Social Security had referred him to a neurologist for an evaluation as part of their decision-making process. During this neurological evaluation, the neurologist was alarmed and reported the client was having a retinal hemorrhage and needed immediate emergency surgery, or he would go blind. He promptly stopped the exam. This was a terrifying situation in the late afternoon on a Friday. Patrons for Peace Project made many unsuccessful phone calls to many doctors. When Dr. Chung was contacted, he asked that we bring the client immediately to his office and not to worry that he had no insurance. He assured us that saving his eyesight was most important. It was truly a miracle that this amazing flexible and talented doctor stayed in his office waiting for this man and ended up performing emergency laser eye surgery and saved his eyesight! All after hours on a Friday night!

Patrons for Peace Project has continued to bring clients over the years to Dr. Chung who have unique needs. Many of these clients have usually either received little or no eye care and have lost hope for answers to their eye maladies. Dr. Chung is empathetic, attentive, honest, proactive, and gives unbiased evidence-based answers to the clients. He spends time with each person treating them with dignity and answering each question thoroughly without rushing. When clients leave his office, they are so thankful that they went.

When the current pandemic arrived Dr. Chung was very prepared. In fact, he was prepared ahead of his time – having clients and office staff wear facial masks in his office before any other offices we work with mandated this practice. Not only was he prepared he wanted us to be prepared during COVID-19. He has generously given us masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer that we use daily. He has generously worked hard gathering and sharing PPE with his colleagues. That behavior of caring for others is typical of Dr. Chung.

Patrons for Peace Project found Dr. Larry Lynn almost two decades ago after making numerous phone calls searching for a psychologist who was willing to do some testing on a man who had been unhoused, living in the woods for 40 years. It was obvious that the psychologist would have to be very skilled and willing to make adaptations to traditional methods of gathering information needed. We also needed a kind and patient doctor to interact with this man who had suffered so much trauma. This client had been placed in special education and then was taken out of school in the third grade. No one we called was interested in helping with this situation until we found Dr. Lynn.

Dr. Lynn spent a long time with this man assessing and gathering information. When the man came out of the testing room, he smiled for the first time and stated, “This is the best present I ever got. He said I was OK.” This gentleman had been teased his entire life in group homes and in jail about not having the ability and skills to help himself. He had suffered a stunted learning process his entire life due to his physical appearance and his lack of education because the system labeled and gave up on him. However, he was uplifted and changed forever after Dr. Lynn assessed him and assured him that he had the ability and determination to move forward in life. This finally gave the client some much-needed confidence in himself.

Dr. Lynn has helped Patrons for Peace Project assess many individuals over the years who have been chronically unhoused. He understands what testing is needed to help us figure out exactly what is going on so we can help clients move forward. His diverse background, which includes having worked at the Department of Corrections doing court assessments and teaching, helps to make him an incredibly resourceful, intuitive, and insightful psychologist.  He gains an instant rapport with each person and the clients are always happy that they met with him. 

He has changed and saved so many people’s lives by helping Patrons for Peace to assess these individuals.  Many of these people can get disability and end up with permanent housing because of his evaluations. Some of these people have neuro-cognitive disorders that have gone undetected for years while they have been unhoused. We do have one major complaint about Dr. Lynn – there’s only one of him!  Dr. Lynn, we are so grateful to you and all the services you have given to this forgotten population over the years. We could not have been so successful without you!