By: Danielle Ulman

Census forms have been mailed out and as of Thursday, the U.S. Census is reporting that 52 percent of Americans have not only spent the 10 minutes it takes to fill out the form, they’ve also mailed it back. (For Maryland’s county-by-county returns, go here).

That means that come May, more than 1 million Census workers going door-to-door to collect forms from slowpokes nationwide could have a lot of work to do. And they’ll be doing it wearing locally-printed Census shirts made by Columbia screen printing company, Nightmare Graphics.

It took a year and the assistance of a consulting firm to get qualified to sell products to the federal government. No matter, check out my story on how it worked out for Nightmare Graphics with a $2.1 million contract.

And, while Nightmare Graphics wants to do more government work, owner Sam Andelman hopes people don’t assume that hitting the big time has gone to his head. It’s not every month, after all, that a company fills a 1 million piece order.

Aside from working with the smaller customers — Andelman says the company will do as few as 12 pieces — Nightmare Graphics plays host to a different kind of little guy, like Boy Scout troops. Andelman, a former art department director at Sherwood High School in Montgomery County, said it allows him to return to his teaching roots.

The company is also very much tied to the community. For the Maryland State High School Championships, Nightmare Graphics prints T-shirts listing the schools and the names of all high school players.

Extra shirts and pants get donated to the Melvin Mora Foundation, which funds educational and medical needs in the former Orioles third baseman’s native Venezuela, or Grassroots, a Columbia-based crisis intervention organization.