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From the Executive Director

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I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. It is both a happy and sad time for many of our students and residents. Those who have involved families appreciate the time with their family. Unfortunately, many of our students on the campus are unable to spend the holidays with their parents or siblings – typically due to a court order. Aware of that, we appreciate the donations many of you give to us during the holidays. Our staff try to make sure that every child on the campus has at least one or more gifts so that they too can enjoy some of the holidays. Thank you for making that possible.

As we begin a new year, we continue to expand our network of services to both serve others who could benefit from our services, and to broaden our network with more options for those we are already serving.

  • In the fall we successfully opened our tenth IRA in Saugerties for five adults. This allowed us to bring back the last adult who was still receiving services from Devereux in another state.
  • We converted a two bedroom supported apartment in Rhinebeck to two individual apartments, allowing us to serve a male and female at that site, and providing each with their private space.
  • We have decided not to proceed with the HUD financed house that was going to be located at the base of our campus. Although granted the funds, once we got into the details we realized that the cost to comply with all of the applicable HUD requirements would far exceed the grant award, and was so high that we questioned the appropriateness of proceeding. By the time we met all of the requirements, the cost of the house was exceeding $1.3 Million! This was more than twice that for any of our community houses.
  • We have received the verbal approval to proceed with developing another IRA for individuals aging out in our OMRDD district. This will include students from our campus school, as well as those who are becoming 21 in other schools from our district. This follows a new process that OMRDD is utilizing to assure better planning for anyone aging out in the district. It was a competitive process, and we are extremely proud that we were selected. We will now work with the parents of those students to create the right home for their son or daughter. We are hoping for the development of this IRA in late Spring/early Summer, and it essentially replaces the planned HUD financed house.
  • We have just submitted a proposal to develop a separate program for twenty autistic children who would otherwise be sent to programs in other states. If granted, this will be the first expansion of our campus program since its opening fifteen years ago. It also will provide us the ability to specifically provide residential services for autistic children who are unable to be served by day services alone. Like our Millwood Program, we will utilize the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis.

All of these developments and services continue to need your support and assistance. I appreciate and thank you for the support you already provide, and hope you will continue to support our efforts – and to provide feedback on how we can better meet your son or daughter.

Sincerely,

John O'Keefe
Executive Director




Enter Devereux New York’s DayHab facility in Kingston any Monday or Wednesday afternoon and you will be instantly transported to sunnier and warmer climes. You’ll almost feel the gentle breezes of the trade winds and smell the coconut of piña coladas. Unfortunately, we haven’t brought every aspect of the Caribbean to Kingston, just the music.

As part of an enrichment program for Devereux New York’s Individual Residential Alternatives (IRAs), residents are learning how to play steel drums with the help of some local experts: Jack Shackleton, retired music department chair at Rhinebeck High School, and John Joseph, professional steel drum player. The one-hour sessions feature hands-on instruction in proper technique and progress to the point of “bringing it all together” in a cohesive piece before the session’s end. While the program started modestly enough with 4-5 participants for each day, Shackleton and Joseph are now seeing seven or eight per session, all of whom are eager to get to work.

"Both groups have learned three steel drum pieces and have done so with great success,” said Shackleton. “They're wonderful people to work with and to know personally and greatly appreciate what you give them. They look forward to the sessions each week and many times we start earlier because of their anticipation. John & I derive great satisfaction and happiness working with them and I hope it continues.”

In addition to the sessions at DayHab, Shackleton holds another at Devereux’s West Kerley Corners house. This smaller, more intimate group is learning how to play some percussion instruments such as maracas, cowbell and conga drums. It is Shackleton’s hope that the groups can be brought together and combine for a performance some time in the future. The program will run until the end of June. For more information, please contact Warren Toland at 845-758-8927.


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Meet Your Neighbor - March 23

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We have another Meet Your Neighbor event scheduled for March 23 at 8:30 a.m. at our Red Hook campus. On tap for the morning’s event will be a description of the services provided by Devereux New York, an introduction to some of the individuals Devereux New York serves, a brief address focusing on our mission statement and vision of Devereux New York’s future from our Executive Director, John O'Keefe, and a tour given by our student leaders and staff members.

For more information, please contact Devereux New York at 845-758-8927.



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