Seafood Extravaganza March 26 supports Macomb Academy

By Heidi Roman
C & G Staff Writer

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — Residents can satisfy their taste for a fresh catch while supporting the post-high school training of special needs adults at a March 26 benefit.

Fern Hill Country Club is hosting a Seafood Extravaganza to help fund renovations and the purchase of new desks for students at the Clinton Township-based Macomb Academy, which teaches real-world skills to special needs adults ages 18-26.

Fern Hill and the Macomb Academy have had a long partnership, with the golf club and banquet center serving as a job training site for the students. A job coach accompanies the students to the club, and they learn various occupational skills.

“They help us out quite a bit,” said Vince Severini, an owner of Fern Hill Country Club. “They have between four and five students here in the morning and another group in the afternoon to do all kinds of tasks.”

The students help with anything around the club that needs to be done.

“They do a great job, and we’re really appreciative of them,” Severini said.

This is the first time Fern Hill has hosted a benefit for the academy. The Seafood Extravaganza will have something for everyone who likes cuisine from the sea.

“It’s a feast,” Severini said. “We’ve got lobster tail, king crab legs, escargot, calamari. For people who really like that food, it’s a pretty unique event.”

It’s a great opportunity for normally conservative diners to sample some of the seafood they’d never otherwise order off a menu.

The buffet will includes oysters on a half shell, oysters Rockefeller, various shrimp, salmon, mussels and linguini with clam sauce, finished off with pastries, dessert and an open bar. The night includes live entertainment and dancing.

All proceeds will benefit the Macomb Academy’s various needs — and there is plenty of need to go around, said Sherry Little, employment coordinator for the academy.

The Macomb Academy helps students transition from high school into the real world with job, life skills and social skills training. It prepares them for life after the math and science courses they’ve taken in traditional school.

“Most of our students won’t be able to use that in life; they need more hands-on skills,” Little said.

The academy used to have an apartment for the students to live in independently, but has recently had to drop that part of its program because of a lack of funding.

Little says the academy will use the money to pay for school aids in the classroom and for renovations. The academy recently purchased the building it was renting at 39092 Garfield Road in Clinton Township and had to complete all sorts of work, since it was an office building.

“We have been remodeling,” Little said. “We got a grant, and over a period of years, we’ve been doing that so it’s more functional.”

They academy will also purchase new desks. Right now the students use hand-me-down desks from other schools in Macomb County, which aren’t always big enough for the adult students.

The academy continues to seek job sites to help train students. Anyone interested in hosting a site can call Sherry Little at (586) 228-2201 or e-mail little.sherry@sbcglobal.net.

Tickets to the Seafood Extravaganza are $100 per person or $950 for a table of 10. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the dinner stations will begin at 7:30 p.m.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call Fern Hill at (586) 286-4700.

Fern Hill Country Club is located at 17600 Clinton River Road, east of Garfield in Clinton Township.

You can reach Staff Writer Heidi Roman at hroman@candgnews.com or at (586) 218-5006.