By: Noelle Lambert
January’s Charity of the Month is:
PBS Community Foundation
Positive Behavior Support Community Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, which was established in 2011 to help people with autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities and other special needs.
Their mission is to empower people with disabilities to make their own life choices and to succeed in the communities where they work, live and play. This organization helps these individuals access the support and services they need to become active and productive members of the community, encourages long-term planning to aspire towards meaningful life goals and supports efforts to establish social connections and friendships in the community. Independence Without Isolation is what they aim for as a foundation.
For individuals with disabilities, the movement away from inadequate and segregated institutional congregate custodial care has been taking place for about 40 years. Now more than ever, individuals with disabilities are seeking the opportunity to stay in their own communities and are pursuing their personal goals while receiving the needed levels of support to make full community inclusion a sustainable reality. What is often missing is community-based, grass roots support networks…the inter-connected social fabric that will secure life-long inclusion for individuals with disabilities as the basic human right that it is!
This non-profit supports initiatives across Long Island. These initiatives are based in venues that are accessible to the community. They aim to create connections between individuals that need support, people that support them (paid staff), families and loved ones (circles of support), potential employers and businesses, integrated community resources that promote respect and dignity and service providers that support the philosophy of self direction. Some of their initiatives are Big Time GLEE, which is a grass roots singing group that meets every other week; Crafting Connection, which allows individuals to gather every other week to scrapbook, paint, draw and do more crafty projects and lastly, Mid-Week Meetups, which help people develop friendships based on shared interests and explore new social and recreational opportunities across Long Island! Some other initiatives this organization supports are Nassau Voice, Speed Friending, Yoga Without Boundaries, Emergency Preparedness Classes and the Nature Experience.
Please visit their website at: www.PBSCommunityFoundation.org and click on the Initiatives tab for more information, such as times and locations for these initiative meetings and a list of additional initiatives as well!
Looking to donate? This foundation is collecting donations of crafting supplies to help manage their expenses for the Crafting Connection. You can drop off crafting donations of any kind to their office at 410 Fort Salonga Road, Northport, NY 11768. Additionally, monetary donations are always welcomed and helpful because they allow this foundation to run more classes and events throughout Long Island. Lastly, they are looking for local venues that can donate some space to their foundation so they can offer more events!
Looking to volunteer? The PBS Community Foundation is currently looking for volunteers to assist in leading their Nassau Voice singing group once a month. Additionally, volunteers are also needed for various fundraising events throughout the year.
If you are interested in donating, volunteering or have any questions about this organization and their services, please contact Ruth-Ann Hartney at info@pbscommunityfoundation.org!
If you would like your organization to be featured in this column, please e-mail Noelle@SouthBaysNeighbor.com!
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