March is Developmental Disability Awareness Month
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Each March, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (
NACDD
) partners with Association for University Centers on Disabilities (
AUCD
) and National Disabilities Rights Network (
NDRN
) to create a social media campaign that highlights the many ways in which people with and without disabilities come together to form strong, diverse communities. The campaign seeks to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all areas of community life, as well as awareness to the barriers that people with disabilities still sometimes face in connecting to the communities in which they live.
Enable will participate in the month's activities by submitting artwork from two of our consumers for the NACDD Resource Guide, as well as volunteering our time bagging groceries at local Shop Rites and creating thank you gifts with our Bloomberg volunteers for our local police department and EMT's.
#DDawareness2020
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Step Right Up and Join us at our Annual Gala
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On Friday, April 24, 2020, Enable will hold its annual fundraising gala from 6-10 pm at the Stone Terrace by John Henry's in Hamilton, NJ. The fun filled evening will include exciting carnival games, magic, caricature artists, fortune teller, buffet dinner, silent auction and 50/50.
This year's Community Advocate honoree is the Hun School of Princeton.
For the past nine years, the faculty and students of the Hun School have held an incredible themed party event for all of the consumers in Enable’s programs. It is a very special afternoon, one that our consumers look very much forward to each year.
Click Here
to read more about Enable's relationship with Hun.
We are currently looking for event sponsors and advertisers for our program book.
Click Here
for more information.
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Gala Sponsors to Date
Bloomberg
Brown & Brown Insurance
Philadelphia Insurance
PSE&G
Rapps Pharmacy
Stark & Stark
USI
Wawa
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A very special thanks to Jeff Myskowski,and his wife Lynn, who selected
Enable as the recipient of their Trex Challenge. Jeff is the Eatontown Fire
Marshall who runs inspection for one of our group homes in Monmouth County.
The
Trex Challenge
is a recycling program where one can donate plastic
materials to
Trex
and they turn it into beautiful and environmentally responsible
outdoor products. Jeff and Lynn have six months to collect 500 pounds of
plastic and once the task is complete,Trex will turn the materials into a bench
for Enable. The couple recently completed this challenge for the Eatontown Elks Lodge, where Jeff is a member, and decided to keep it going so they can do something for Enable as well. The bench will be ready in August.
Jeff has long history with one of Enable's consumers. Years before moving into the Enable group home where Jeff conducts the fire inspections, Enable consumer Louis was known in the local neighborhood where he would watch the kids play baseball and wave to the cars passing by. He was so well known and so well liked that the Eatontown Elks named him an honorary member. Louis regularly attends events at the Lodge including their most recent Shrimp Scampi dinner. Louis is a die-hard Yankee fan, and in 2017, for his birthday, the Elks members chartered a bus and bought Louis and his Enable staff tickets to a Yankees game. They arranged for a representative from the Yankees to meet Louis and present him with a bag of goodies which included a baseball hat, shirt, and yearbook. They even arranged for Louis' name to appear in lights on the field.
We are so thankful for friends and neighbors such as Jeff, who take the time to get to know Enable and our consumers. Jeff, Lynn and the Eatontown Elks Lodge are instrumental in helping us fulfill the part of our mission of full inclusion into community life for Enable consumers.
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Pictured is Louis with a representative from the Yankees.
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A heartfelt thanks to Roma Bank Community Foundation and
Investor
s Foundation
for awarding Enable grant money for aTechnology Program and Sensory Room for Enable's Princeton Day program. The Technology program will incorporate the use of tablets, computers and software to enhance consumers communication and employment skills.The Sensory Room will be furnished with items to provide consumers with a
calming, controlled environment that will stimulate the senses and help hyper-sensitive individuals to better cope with the world around them.
Pictured left to right: Enable Board Trustee Maryann Lewis, Investors Bank; Lisa Coscia, Enable CEO; and Carol Bursac, Investors Bank.
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We are excited to announce that Enable now has 23 community-based
residential group homes. The latest home to open, South Branch, in
Somerset County, is home to four young men under the age of 25.
Enable is currently serving 85 consumers in our residential program. As
we continue to grow, we have opened up more homes to serve young
adults transitioning out of school age programs with more significant
behavioral challenges. We are currently accepting referrals for both our
residential and day programs. For more information email
Enable will be holding an open house on March 14th at 13 Roszel Road, Suite B110, Princeton, for families, support coordinators, or anyone interested in learning more about Enable's Day Habiliitation services. Call 609-987-5003 to RSVP.
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DSP Saves a Life
This past February, one of our consumers went into cardiac arrest and thanks to the quick actions of Direct Support Professional (DSP) Wenniah Sunday, her life was saved.
911 was called when the consumer was found face down and unresponsive. Upon the advice of the EMT's, Wenniah, with the assistance of the two staff who were also on duty that evening, quickly turned the consumer on her back and immediately began to administer CPR. After three breaths and five compressions, the consumer began to cough. Once the EMT's arrived, they continued CPR and used a defibrillator. The hospital doctor said that by performing CPR so quickly, Wenniah saved the patient's life.
We are happy to report that our consumer is doing well and is almost fully recovered.
"I wasn't scared, I had faith she was gong to make it. I am a very emotional person and once the consumer was off the ventilator and was able to talk, she called me to tell me she loved me and missed me. That's when I started crying," said Wenniah.
We are so proud of Wenniah and the staff of this group home. We thank you, the family thanks you, and the consumer thanks you.
In the Field
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On February 24th, Enable participated in Autism New Jersey's Annual
Transition conference. Director of Program Development, Robyn
Steinman and Director of Day & Employment Services, Anthony
Camuso represented the organization. They had a great day meeting
many families and providers looking for services for individuals
transitioning out of school age programs.
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Giving Back
For the past 3 years, Linda Mancuso, in our Accounts Payable department, has organized a holiday food drive for the Franklin Food Bank. Thanks to the generosity of Enable staff, Linda collected 160 pounds of food (100 pounds more than the previous year!)
Thank you Linda. So many local families have greatly benefited from your efforts.
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As Enable continues to expand its services with the opening of new group homes and additional day programs, we have several job opportunities available for those who are looking to work in the human services field. Join us at our Mega Job Fair on March 25th to learn more about working at Enable and the jobs that are available.
For more information, email
recruitment@enablenj.org
or
Click Here
to visit our career page. Watch the video below to see firsthand what's it's like to work in an Enable group home.
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Thank you to the incredible individuals and groups who spent time volunteering in our programs. To learn more about volunteering at Enable visit our
website
or email
volunteer@enablenj.org.
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Volunteers from Johnson & Johnson worked on holiday crafts with consumers in our Day Program.
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NJSO came out this past Holiday Season to entertain our consumers.
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NRG volunteers shared some love by coming to our Princeton Day Program on Valentine's Day to work on a craft with consumers.Pictured L to R: Ally Fourniadis, Melissa Santiago, Gracelle Morada, Susan Eckmann, John Garnier, Jemilat Adebiyi , Sherry Femia, and Enable Board Trustee Erinn Hansen.
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Volunteers from Bloomberg Philanthropies painted the interior of one of our Mercer County group homes.
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Bloomberg Philanthropies Volunteers worked on building bird houses with our consumers.
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More Valentine's Day projects with volunteers from Bloomberg Philanthropies.
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We are so excited to welcome a new volunteer group from M&T Bank who came in and helped our consumers make Piggy Banks. They also did a presentation on savings with our consumers.
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Thanks to the BlackRock volunteers who helped with our gala invitation mailing.
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DSP Wage Increase
Enable staff continuously participate in the NJ Coalition for a DSP Living Wage movement by posting messages on social media for Governor Murphy to make sure DSP wage funding is a priority in the state budget. Additionally, Enable's CEO, Lisa Coscia recently submitted testimony to the Senate Budget Committee regarding an increase in DSP wages. To learn more or to get involved with the movement visit
www.njdspcoalition.org
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Enable Consumers from our Princeton Day program love volunteering their time at
Dress for Success Central New Jersey
. In our most recent visit, we folded scarves and filled goodie bags for DFSCNJ clients. Many thanks to DFSCNJ volunteer Eileen, who leads Enable's volunteer activities, you are always so kind and thoughtful. And thank you to DFSCNJ CEO,
Melissa Tenzer,
for your continuous support.
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Enable consumers from our Middlesex Day Program also volunteered their time this past Holiday Season bagging groceries at the Shop Rite of Somerville.
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Meet the Newest Member of Our Team
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Marisa Silva, LCSW - Residential Director (Region II Monmouth/Ocean)
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Marisa comes to Enable with 30 years of experience in Human Services. During the course of her career, Marisa has worked with adults and children with IDD. Marisa began her residential career as a clinician in a residential treatment center for dually diagnosed adolescents. She soon became the clinical coordinator developing and implementing residential programs for both children and adults. Marisa has held a variety of leadership positions and has enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in many different aspects of residential treatment. Marisa believes that her clinical background has been an asset in the management positions that she has held. Marisa looks forward to bringing her many years of clinical and administrative experience to the Enable team.
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Please join Enable in our "Raise the Roof"
campaign to help us raise funds for a much needed new roof on one of our Enable Group Homes. We are currently $765 toward our goal of $13,000.
Thanks for your support!
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Another way to support our organization is to shop with Amazon Smile and select Enable as your charity.
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Aileen Kornblatt
Director of Marketing & Special Events
Enable, Inc.
13 Roszel Road, Suite B110
Princeton, NJ 08540 | 609-987-5003
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