THE DANIEL JORDAN FIDDLE FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANT TO WEST BERGEN
Pictured left to right: Mary Jane Bainbridge, West Bergen Board of Trustees; Linda Walder Fiddle, Esq., Founding Executive Director, The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation; Michael J. Tozzoli, CEO, West Bergen Mental Healthcare and Jeanne Marron, Ph.D., Clinical Director, Asperger’s Services, West Bergen Center for Children and Youth.
RIDGEWOOD: West Bergen Mental Healthcare is pleased to announce that it has received a $6,000 grant from The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation. The grant is specifically given to support West Bergen’s Asperger’s Related Services Program and in particular, Camp SOAR’s Counselor-in-Training Program for teens and young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome. In presenting the award, Linda Walder Fiddle, Esq., Founder and Executive Director of The Foundation, said, “Your organization was selected because we believe that your program will not only valuably serve your community’s young adult and adult Autistic population, but that it will become a role model to inspire the development of other such programs across the United States.”
Based in Ridgewood, The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) organization, develops and awards grants to programs that enrich the lives of adolescents and adults with Autism. It is the first and, at present, the only organization in the United States with this specific mission and has awarded numerous grants nationwide during the past five years.
This summer, West Bergen’s Asperger’s Related Services is sponsoring Camp SOAR, a day camp for children with Asperger’s Syndrome. The grant from The Fiddle Foundation enables teens and young adults with AS to be trained as Counselors-in-Training (CITs) for Camp SOAR. Through the grant, the CITs will be given specialized training to be successful in their positions as counselors. In addition to providing valuable vocational experience for these young people, they will also learn to help care for and work with the campers. Camp SOAR hopes to recruit 14 CITs who are between the ages of 14 and 21.
Currently, there are no other summer day camps specifically for children with AS in Bergen County. In addition, teens and young adults with AS are rarely, if ever, sought for vocational opportunities. The CIT program is a unique feature of Camp SOAR and will provide the campers with role models who have been trained to interact with them.
Asperger’s Related Services is among the specialized programs offered by the West Bergen Center for Children and Youth, located in Ramsey, Ridgewood and Oakland. Since its inception in 1999, the Asperger’s Related Services Department has become a leader in this field and has served more than 1,000 children and adults. The department offers a continuum of special programs and services. For information on Camp SOAR, the CIT Program or West Bergen, please call Phyllis Strohmeyer at (201) 934-1160.
Established in 1963 as a child guidance clinic, today West Bergen provides comprehensive services for all age groups with various levels of need. West Bergen Mental Healthcare recently celebrated being voted Number One in Client Satisfaction by the Mental Health Corporations of America’s National Survey for 2007. The Agency has earned this notable recognition five times since 1998.
West Bergen offers services for children and adults in three convenient locations:
West Bergen Mental Healthcare, 120 Chestnut Street, Ridgewood, NJ 07450, (201) 444-3550; West Bergen Center for Children and Youth, One Cherry Lane, Ramsey, NJ 07446, (201) 934-1160 and West Bergen Counseling Group, 3 Post Road, Oakland, NJ 07436, (201) 651-1900.
Photo Courtesy of TKL Marketing, Ho-Ho-Kus.