TPC The Connection Newsletter – April 2013

connec ion
SPRING 2013
NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PRICE CENTER
Check out our new
and improved website:
thepricecenter.org
In This Issue >
Community Forum THE SALAH FOUNDATION President’s Perspective Gala
Sensory Room Remembering Morris Gordon Newton Day Hab Desiree Story 1
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Brian McGrory
New Globe Editor Helps Community
Forum Showcase Strength in Inclusion
Newspapers help shape the public discourse. The
public discourse helps define a community’s values.
That’s why new Boston Globe Editor Brian McGrory
was an ideal choice as featured speaker for the
next Price Center Community Forum.
McGrory will give a talk on April 30 for the second
installment of the Price Center-sponsored lecture
series. The forum invites leaders from the worlds
of business, government and human services
to address the importance of building strong,
inclusive communities.
Starting as a humble paperboy, McGrory has held a
variety of high-profile posts at the Globe, including
Metro Editor, roving national correspondent
and White House correspondent. He is also an
accomplished author, having penned a series of
political thrillers featuring his protagonist alter
ego, fictional crusading journalist Jack Flynn and
most recently a memoir, “Buddy: How a Rooster
Made Me a Family Man.”
McGrory is perhaps best known as a metro
columnist, the post he left in December to accept
the top job at the New England’s largest newspaper.
In his columns, the Boston area native was known
for his particularly strong sense of civic pride and
responsibility—a trait he promises to bring to his
new leadership post.
“I love my Native Boston,” McGrory, 51, wrote in
his farewell column on Dec. 21. “This column has
been the richest privilege of my professional life, and
for that, I want to thank you. This next job will be
the greatest responsibility. What they have most in
common is a bedrock commitment to the well-being
of this community, and that will never change.”
The lecture series kicked off last September, when
more than 80 people packed The Capital Grille in
Chestnut Hill to hear former Harvard Pilgrim Health
Care CEO Charlie Baker talk about how businesses
can do well by doing good.
The Baker forum was emceed by Fox 25 News
anchor Maria Stephanos, who will return for the
McGrory event. All Forum events are held at The
Capital Grille and tickets will be available soon at
thepricecenter.org.
Joseph Salah, Eileen Nee, George Salah
THE SALAH FOUNDATION
Provides Matching Grant
to ASCENT and Generous
Direct Grant to Dedham
Intensive Day Hab
The ASCENT Program helps teens with intellectual
disabilities go farther than anyone thought they
could. Now a generous new fundraising initiative
has helped dollars donated to ASCENT go farther
as well.
Thanks to a generous response by supporters to a
matching grant challenge, The Price Center has
secured $25,000 from THE SALAH FOUNDATION
to support ASCENT, which helps teens prepare for
adulthood and greater independence.
THE SALAH FOUNDATION matching funds will be
used only for ASCENT, specifically to help start a new
SALAH, continued on page 3
GALA
James Brett, Michelle Fineberg
Looking Back at Accomplishments,
Ahead to Challenges
As we progress into the
new calendar year, it is
good to look back at the
progress of the past year.
One major step forward
has been the move of our Employment Program
and our administrative offices to Rowe Street. The
Employment Program now has the professional
space it needs to expand and provide a good working
environment, and the Newton Day Habilitation
Program has benefited from the extra space it has
gained to offer a variety of new activities such as
art and music. Another positive accomplishment has
been the completion of the renovations of one of our
residences on Washington Street.
This past year’s Gala featuring Bernadette Peters was
very successful. Two hundred more people than last
year attended the event. This was an extraordinary
achievement by our Gala Committee. The first
Price Center Community Forum, emceed by Maria
Stephanos of FOX25 News, was held in the fall.
Eighty people from the local business community
filled The Capital Grille in Newton to hear Charlie
Baker speak about philanthropy leveraging business.
Dan Frank, Michelle Fineberg, Jerry Fineberg
We are still in the process of working with the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts around the
determination of rates for our employment and
residential programs. Our hope is that the new
rates will be finalized by the end of this fiscal year,
and anticipate that the new structure will help us
better cover the costs of providing service. At the
same time, there has been talk of mid-year budget
cuts that would affect our programs.We may need
your help in advocating against these cuts and will
keep you informed as we become aware of new
information. If you would like to be on our e-mail list
concerning this, please give us your e-mail address.
This March, we are moving forward on the
development of a new strategic plan. The agency
has retained the services of a facilitator who will
work with us over the next several months to
determine the path The Price Center will take over
the next few years. We’ve already begun gathering
input from many of our stakeholders including our
clients and their families, staff, volunteers, funders
and community partners.
The past year has been a busy and productive period
for The Price Center. In order to carry forward these
successes, we find ourselves even more dependent
upon the financial support of our donors. We are
grateful for your continued generosity and support
which allows us to continue our mission of serving
people with developmental disabilities.
Sincerely,
Justin Sallaway
President
2012 Annual Gala a Smash
Bernadette Peters
It’s rare that a big-time event or lives up to its
advance billing. That makes the 22nd Annual Price
Center Gala a rare event indeed.
president and CEO of the New England Council,
was honored for his tireless work on behalf of
the disabled.
Headliner Bernadette Peters, looking stunning in a
sparkling violet dress, wowed the crowd with her
renditions of standards from the Great American
Songbook. Peters belted out crowd-pleaser
after crowd-pleaser, including “Some Enchanted
Evening” and even a sizzling version of “Fever”
sung from atop the orchestra’s grand piano.
Brett was presented his award from Gala
chair and Price Center board member Michelle
Fineberg, who called 2012’s bigger, better event
an unqualified success.
Guests also got a preview of the next generation
of political Kennedys, when Joseph Kennedy III—
who was elected last month to the Massachusetts
4th District Congressional sea—took a break from
campaigning to introduce the evening’s honoree,
James Brett.
Gala Guests
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Brett, the Chairman of the President’s Council
on People with Intellectual Disabilities and the
Fineberg said the Gala committee was extremely
pleased that nearly 700 people attended the
event at its new, larger home, the Marriott Boston
Copley Place. The committee also surpassed their
goal of half a million dollars in gross ticket sales,
sponsorships, donations and ad sales.
“It was exactly what I hoped it would be,” Fineberg
said. “I think we took it to a new level. The whole
event was grander and more spectacular than it has
ever been.”
Sensory Room gives Dedham Clients What they Need
Photo courtesy of Keith E. Jacobson/Dedham Transcript
lighted clear tube filled with liquid, the column can
be operated by a simple switch, allowing clients
to control the colors of the lights and the flow
patterns of the bubbles.
“The sensory room provides people with choices
to make a movement that then affects themselves
or their environment,” occupational therapist
Linda Miller says.
Lois Cohen, Peter Brown, Justin Sallaway, Gerard Lavoie
For some people with intellectual disabilities,
being a client of The Price Center is the only thing
they have in common.
Some need stimulation to keep them involved
and engaged in the environment around them.
For others, too much environmental input can
be overwhelming—they need to be calmed and
soothed. Thankfully, the new Sensory Room
at The Price Center’s Dedham Day Habilitation
Program can help both sorts of clients get the right
therapeutic experience.
Built and outfitted with a grant from the Dedham
Institution for Savings Charitable Foundation,
the room has a myriad of therapeutic devices,
including one of the most immediately noticeable,
the interactive bubble column. Essentially a large
Price Center staffers can help clients build on
those interactive experiences, opening the door
to better communication about needs and desires,
such as hunger or the need to go to the bathroom.
Other tools in the room include:
Therapeutic chair: This large blue hammockstyle chair allows clients to sit in different positions
than they normally do and gives them movement
choices including how fast to be bounced or rocked.
Fiber optic cable spray: Made up of a hanging
bundle of thin fiber-optic cables, this device allows
for both visual and tactile stimulation when it is
handled by clients or brushed against the skin.
Projectors, lighting and music controls:
Abstract projected images, decorative lights and
other lighting in the room can all be controlled
Remembering Morris Gordon
“He just had a tremendous affect on people,
without a lot of noise or fanfare,” Al Gordon
said. “After he died, people came to the house
and told me story after story of how they were
going through a difficult time and he was there
for them.”
Ellen and Morris Gordon
When Al Gordon was a freshman in college, he
heard a knock at his dorm room door. It was
a fellow student. “Are you related to Morris
Gordon?” the young man asked.
The student went on to say how he used to caddy
at Belmont Country Club, where Al’s dad Morris
had been a member—and a mentor to the young
people who worked there. The young man said
Morris Gordon told him countless times: “Make sure
you study and get good grades and go to college.”
The young man said he had been inspired by those
words to get where he was. At an Ivy League
school. On full scholarship.
Morris Gordon passed away on Feb. 6 at age 85.
He and his wife Ellen were one of the founding
families who established Humanity House, a group
residence in his native Brookline where his son
William is a resident.
After The Price Center took over administration
of Humanity House, Morris Gordon became an
enthusiastic supporter of the agency—especially
the Annual Gala—and a tireless advocate for the
rights of the disabled. Friends say the combination
of his terrific sense of humor, genuine warmth, and
sincerity was infectious.
“He was a mentor, a friend—so many things,”
said Price Center Gala Committee member and
longtime neighbor Dan Frank. “He was so good
at getting his friends to contribute and being a
major advocate for the work of The Price Center.
Just couldn’t say no to the man—he was so very,
very sincere.”
Megan MacKinnon (left) and Yoselin Cabrera.
to provide either a stimulating or calming
environment, depending on individual client
needs. Simple switches also allow clients some
control over the environment.
Weighted quilt: For clients who find deep
pressure calming, particularly those with
heightened anxiety and agitation, the weight of
this quilt reduces their overall stress levels.
SALAH, continued from page 1
Applied Behavior Analysis Services program. The foundation also made a separate outright grant to the
agency for the Intensive Day Habilitation program
in Dedham.
THE SALAH FOUNDATION supports nonprofit organizations that strengthen families and communities
and that empower individuals to become productive
and responsible citizens. The private foundation has
a special interest in education, medical research,
community development and self-sufficiency programs aimed at the economically disadvantaged,
the young, the elderly and the disabled.
The foundation was created by James Salah, a
Canton businessman and the son of Lebanese
immigrants, and his wife Beatrice as a way of
giving back.
James Salah’s parents emigrated to the United
States from Lebanon in 1919. His father Joseph became a restaurateur and entrepreneur. His mother
Nora became a real estate investor after being
taught English by Amelia Earhart, who worked as
a volunteer teaching immigrants before taking her
first flying lessons and becoming a famous pilot.
ASCENT counselors teach teens and young adults
pragmatic social skills like cooperation and selfcontrol, as well as concrete life skills like cooking,
self-care, shopping, and personal finance.
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Music and Art Blossom at Newton Day Habilitation Program
A generous infusion of music, meanwhile, has made
Wednesdays and Thursdays increasingly popular days
on Border Street.
On Wednesdays it’s Berklee College of Music graduate
Corinne Hanney’s show. Hanney has become a client
favorite, especially for her ability to tailor her music
choices for the wide range of cognitive abilities
possessed by clients of the program, Border Street’s
Susan Paige said.
Desiree Zahedi
PRICE CENTER CLIENT
WINS EMPLOYEE OF THE
MONTH AWARD
Blessed with what her co-workers call a “sunny”
personality, it’s probably little wonder that Desiree
Zahedi has made an impression as part of the pool staff
at the Brae Burn Country Club in Newton.
Desiree’s job placement has been a resounding success
— culminating with her being named as “Employee of
the Month” over the summer. Desiree, whose duties
mostly involve cleaning, was nominated for the award
by members of the club and co-workers.
“She is loved by all,” said Facilities Manager Eddie
Huggins, Desiree’s supervisor. “She’s such a hard worker
and she’s never in a bad mood.”
In addition to the recognition, she also received a day
off with pay, a gold name badge, and her name on
the Employee of the Month plaque in the Employee
dining area.
Sarah Lemnios and Dorothy Gifford
Art instructor Sarah Lemnios figured that a creative
outlet would be good for the clients at the Newton
Day Habilitation program. But even she wasn’t
prepared for what she saw.
Lemnios and other staffers say the artwork that has
emerged from the Price Center’s Border Street facility
has been nothing less than remarkable. Works created
by clients have been used recently to create awards
for Price Center events and the Center’s holiday
card. “Even blind and deaf clients have been able to
participate,” she said, “working with materials that
have strong tactile properties and smells.”
“It’s amazing, each of them have their own unique
personal style,” she said. “They’re very engaged in
their own artistic choices, and they get very excited
about the possibilities.”
Hanney allows clients who are blind or deaf to feel
the vibrations of instruments including a guitar, drums
and tambourines. Other clients with more advanced
abilities regularly contribute to some impressive singalongs, she said.
“If she sings the Beatles, they really get into it,” Paige
said. “I’m always surprised by the amount of lyrics
they know.”
Which of course sets up Karaoke Day on Thursday.
John Denver, the Monkees, the Village People and
Nancy Sinatra are all favorites on Ruth Sullivan’s
karaoke machine. Border Street Director Tony
Concannon said music can brighten a group’s mood
like almost nothing else.
“We have a blast,” Concannon said. “It’s like when
you hear a good song on the radio and it just pulls
you out of whatever funk you’re in.”
Justin Sallaway, President
Lois E. Cohen, Editor
Rick Sheehy, Chair
E. Scott Laughlin, Vice Chair
Gil Manzon, Treasurer
Peter Mahler, Secretary
Lewis Bergins
Allen Davis
Mary Flynn
Michelle Fineberg
Marshall Hughes
Greg Schaffert
Mandy Sweeney
Board of Directors
www.thepricecenter.org
38 Border Street
West Newton, MA 02465
617-244-0065
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