Stadium Place Playground to Re-open July 2nd!

As many of you know, last September the YMCA Stadium Place Playground in Waverly was burned to the ground in a senseless act of arson. Only July 2, the new, rebuilt Playground will open to the public! Hundreds of volunteers came out for a week of intensive building. The Michael Group sent trained carpenters that help build custom designed playground equipment. As a long time supporter of the Y of Central Maryland, the Michael Group was happy to lend a hand (or several pairs of hands) for a great community project.

TMG's Favorite Coffee Shop in West Baltimore!

If you find yourself in West Baltimore, in need of a cup of coffee or a little snack, I would highly recommend stopping in at Gerry's Goods. Gerry's Goods is named for Sandtown's own, Gerry Palmer. Gerry is a Habitat home owner and the owner of Gerry's Goods. Gerry's is both a coffee shop and corner store. It is a welcoming spot where folks can gather together, have a cup of coffee, have a smoothie and enjoy some great conversation.

The Michael Group is proud to have worked with New Song Urban Minisitries, CSD Architects and the Gerry's Goods team to renovate the building at 1500 Presstman Street. What was once a vacant, dilapidated, corner rowhouse, is now the beautiful, welcoming space that is an asset to the community.

Left to Right: Gerry Palmer, Owner, Gerry's Goods; Patty Prasada Rao, Co-Executive Director of New Song Urban Ministries; Sebastian Soriano, Superintendent, The Michael Group; Bob Gillette, Co-Owner Gerry's Goods; Antoine Bennett, Co-Executive Director, New Song Urban Ministries

Our partnership with Gerry's continues today. We recently installed a new menu board showcasing the delicious drinks and treats Gerry's has to offer.

So stop by and check Gerry's out!

ULI Networking Event

Come out and mingle with your colleagues in the housing and development field. ULI Baltimore is hosting it's Third Thursday Happy Hour at Little Havana's this Thursday night from 5:30-7:30. Admission is free and there will be a Cash Bar.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with ULI, they are a great group with an extensive network of members and district councils all over the world. Their mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Come out to Little Havana Thursday night to learn more.

Its the season for GOLF!

Charity golf tournaments are great ways for companies like the Michael Group to support our local nonprofit partners. This spring, the Michael Group staff played in three charity golf tournaments.

The first was to support our friends at Martha's Place. Martha’s Place is a Maryland state-certified recovery program for women overcoming drug addiction and homelessness. Martha's Place borders Baltimore's communities of Sandtown-Winchester and Upton and offers both 6-month transitional housing as well as long-term Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing. TMG staff played in two different foursomes. While neither of the foursomes won, Site Superintendent Greg Taylor did win both the "Closest to the Pin" prize and the "Longest Drive" prize!

TMG Superintendent Greg Taylor on the far right

Ellen Frost, with TMG partners Dan McCarthy of EHC, Jim French of the French Companies, and Winn Boyer.

The second tournament was to support one of our partner organizations: Montgomery Housing Partnership. MHP's mission is to preserve and expand quality affordable housing in Montgomery County. While our foursome didn't win, Site Superintendent Greg Taylor won both the "Closest to the Pin" prize and the "Longest Drive" prize! (sound familiar!)

Ellen Frost, Jeff Hill, Michael Shacklette, Greg Taylor

Finally, Mike played with his friend and colleague David Hunter of Hord Coplan Macht in the Friends of the Family David G. Phillips Memorial Golf Tournament. Friends of the Family is a unique nonprofit that works in collaboration with public and private funders and community-based organizations and residents to support families with young children as they strive to reach their goals for their children and themselves, especially goals related to children's emotional, social, cognitive, and physical health and well-being, and parents' education, employment, and parenting.

From Left to Right:

Frank Bonanno and Keith Spence of S.B. & Co.; David Hunter of Hord Coplan Macht, Inc.; and Michael Shacklette of The Michael Group.

Photo by Maggie Gaines

7th Floor North Hallway Crew

The ladies on the 7th floor, in the North building at Monte Verde know how to say Thank You! These amazing ladies were so grateful for the work that our field staff was doing in their units-they threw them a party! But not just one party...these ladies made a spread of food and drinks and set it up buffet style in the hallway EVERY DAY our guys were working in their units! Who says doing occupied rehab doesn't have it's perks!

HAND Annual Luncheon

On June 1, the Michael Group staff headed down to Tyson's Corner for the 2009 HAND Annual Luncheon. The Michael Group unveiled its new marketing swag at this year's luncheon. New travel mugs, recycled grocery bags, screw drivers and pens were all in high demand. Thanks to Karen Bate of KB Concepts for getting these great gifts together.

For those of you who are not familiar with HAND they are a great organization connecting folks working in the Affordable Housing field. The Michael Group has been an active member of HAND for the past several years and was once again a table sponsor for this year's lunch. We really value the relationships we've made and strengthened as a result of our membership.

The HAND Luncheon is definitely a hot spot for networking! We were happy to make some new contacts and as always spend time catching up with our current partners (Michael Shacklette posing with Andrew Vincent of GBAHC)

During lunch, Nancy Rase, of Homes for America was named the new HAND board president. Congrats to Nancy. We know HAND will be in good hands with her as a board leader. The keynote speaker for the day was Carole Galante currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs at HUD. After all of the remarks were made, the door prizes were given out. Congrats to staff members at Montgomery Housing Partnership and Volunteers of America for winning TMG's door prizes! Overall it was a great day.