Abilities Network Honors Reed Hutner

TOWSON, Md. – Abilities Network recently held its 50th Anniversary Celebration and Awards Event, which honored 35 individuals, businesses and organizations that have created significant partnerships with the non-profit. Reed Hutner of Parkville received the Senior Services Program Partner Award.

Abilities Network first met Reed Hutner and his wife, Cathleen, at Oak Crest Village’s 2011 Fall Home Expo. Abilities Network staff talked to them about the agency’s Move Management Services (and all of the other services). The Hutners were very intrigued with the agency’s non-profit status.

Then at the Spring 2012 expo, the Hutners won Abilities Network’s door prize. Last summer, they were finally ready to sell their home of many years and move to Oak Crest. 

The Hutners called Move Management Services Director Heather Murphy, who initially provided a free in-home consultation where she and the Hutners developed a plan of action and chose a move date. 

From there, Murphy provided direction and tips on how to downsize and prepare for the upcoming move. The Hutners were a unique couple as they had 13 bookcases to move into their new apartment. Abilities Network’s team leader, Judy Locke, visited the Hutners about a week prior to their move to flag the items that were to be moved and organize items for the packing team. 

The day prior to the move, the team of Abilities Network’s professional packers arrived to pack all of the couple’s belongings. At the end of the pack day, all the boxes were neatly stacked and out of the couple’s way for the night.  This is especially important because there were 52 boxes of books alone! 

When move day arrived, Locke met the movers at the Hutners’ home and went over the belongings to be moved.  She helped them with their last-minute packing and assisted with their needs during the process. 

When the movers got everything loaded and moved into their new digs at Oak Crest, the Abilities Network team arrived to begin unpacking for them. Making sure the Hutners were comfortable for the evening and had their essentials unpacked, the team left them to enjoy dinner and get a good night sleep on move night.

They arrived back at the apartment the following morning to begin to tackle the job of unpacking those 52 boxes of books.  Within three days, the Hutners’ move was complete and all their belongings had a new home…including the couple!  And, Abilities Network only misplaced 1 book!

Since their move, the Hutners have remained good friends of the Abilities Network’s Move Management Services program.  The couple also supports the non-profit through advocacy and donations, and Reed is now an Abilities Network Senior Advisory Committee Member.

At the 50th Anniversary Celebration, Hutner proclaimed: “I’m honored to get the award; I feel positive about the [move management] services Abilities Network provided to us. I didn’t know how fabulous the services would be. I like the idea of supporting a non-profit; I’m pleased to be able to promote the main goal of Abilities Network – support people with disabilities.”