New Comcast X-Finity Store Donates

We just received $2,500 from Comcast for the opening of their X-Finity Store in the Willowbrook Plaza off Route 372 in Cromwell. Ädelbrook The Children's Home was selected as their charity after a visit by Kristin Roberts, their Regional Vice President of Public Relations and Community Investment. The money will be used to upgrade computer systems in our Learning Center for our 75 plus students! Comcast employees give back to the Children's home in many ways; a few years ago a young man at the Children's Home was able to join their production crew for a great learning experience. We're happy to have members of the X-Finity Team here in Cromwell. Thank you Comcast!

A Very Merry Christmas at Ädelbrook- The Children’s Home

UTC Climate Controls and Security held a party for the boys and girls in our residential and group homes on Saturday, December 10. UTC volunteers and others from American Eagle Credit Union arrived with an airbrush tattoo machine, a basketball hoop game, ping pong table, and photo booth. They had two six-foot long sandwiches from Subway, along with fried chicken, and a number of freshly made side dishes. After lunch and a dessert of cookies and brownies, Santa came and presented each young person with a special gift that they had requested. Additionally UTC Climate Controls and Security’s Director of Marketing Caren Kittredge, presented Ädelbrook’s President and CEO Garry Mullaney with a check for $5,000. A portion of that donation will be used to purchase iPads for youth on the autism spectrum. Formerly Carrier, UTC Climate Controls and Security has been coming to Ädelbrook- The Children’s Home at Christmastime, for over 10 years to bring joy and toys to the children. Thank you UTC Climate Controls and Security!

Unilever opened up a “store” in the hallways of Ädelbrook’s the Unity Center for the residential kids to shop for a special someone. For 11 years Unilever has purchased enough items for each child in the residential program to get one gift to give to a family member or friend. As many of these young people have no means to get a present for someone, this is an especially welcome treat. Volunteers help the kids wrap their gifts and then after everyone has had a chance to shop, they enjoy a pizza party, also sponsored by Unilever.  Santa makes another visit to Ädelbrook to deliver one gift to each youth. The gifts come from Unilever’s giving tree, where they put each youth’s name on the tree with some information about them and then that staff member goes out and purchases a gift and wraps it for Santa to deliver.

The generosity of great companies such as UTC Climate Controls and Security and Unilever, along with the overwhelming generosity of so many individuals and organizations, gives these young people a wonderful Christmas.  Thank you for keeping the spirit of Christmas alive at Ädelbrook.

Fashion Show for Ädelbrook

Laura Yandow, a long time friend of Ädelbrook hosted the third ‘Having Fun While Giving to the Children’ event on December 14. She and Claudette Fried planned another tremendous fashion show to benefit the youth and their families for the holidays. The event was held at the Wethersfield Country Club where guests enjoyed a buffet dinner and great outfits modeled by many of Laura’s and Claudette’s friends. 

Claudette chose outfits from Soft Surroundings and Chico’s, and chose models of all shapes and sizes, men and women. There were many different styles showcased, from casual entertaining to a glamorous black tie event.  The men who modeled were husbands of organizers and attendees, and the women enjoyed seeing what fashion looks are right for men depending on the season.

This event typically raises over $1,500 for our holiday wish list and offers lovely gifts or gift cards for each of our youth. Additionally, each guest was asked to bring a new unwrapped gift for the boys and girls of Ädelbrook, as part of their admission cost.

The CT Whale Foundation of the CT Whale hockey team granted $2,000

to provide summer shirts and water bottles to our youngsters for the Summer Program of The Children's Home. There were gold or blue shirts with the CT Whale logo given out to each youth, along with a water bottle with the logo on it as well. This was a wonderful gift for all of our youth, many of whom like hockey and have seen games or hope to see them in the upcoming
year.

The shirts are a silky material that is cool on hot days and the kids really love to wear them. We are grateful to the CT Whale Foundation for thinking of our kids and giving them great summer gifts that are both useful and fun to wear. Our youth have always had a special place in the hearts of the hockey players and their staff. Thank you CT Whale!

The Children’s Home dedicated their new shade structure...

Wednesday, July 27th at 9 a.m. at their 60 Hicksville Road, Cromwell location. This structure was funded mainly by the American Academy of Dermatology’s Shade Structure grant program with a gift of $8,000. Dr. Richard J. Antaya, Associate Professor, Dermatology and Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine, sponsored the grant application. He will was present at the dedication and gave a brief sun protection talk to the youngsters at The Children’s Home.
The Children’s Home President & CEO, Garry Mullaney, stated, “The shade structure has been placed over a courtyard where there is always lots of activity throughout the day. Our kids love to be outdoors but many have limitations due to medications or conditions that limit sun exposure. The structure will cover more than 6 picnic tables and will afford a cool and shady spot for them to eat, play games and do crafts outdoors. Victoria Pandolphe, RN, Director of the Home’s medical programs said, “We are very grateful to the American Academy of Dermatology and to Dr. Antaya for supporting our request on behalf of the young people who live at The Children’s Home.” For more information about sun protection or the sun shade program go to www.aad.org.

Unique in the Nation - The Learning Center Receives a

Green Schools Grant

In March 2001, we were informed that The Children's Home Learning Center will receive, as a result of a five day training seminar with both students and faculty, a $6,000 Green Initiative Schools grant to provide electricity, money saving equipment and classroom aids. These funds will help cut electricity costs and build greenhouse science programs through updated heating and cooling equipment, as well as electricity saving tools. We are the only school in the nation with special education facilities that is involved in the program. The Learning Center is licensed to teach grades K-12 for students with special needs from throughout Connecticut.

In 2009, The Children's Home Learning Center applied for the Green Schools project initiative out of Washington DC, which is administered through the CT Forest and Park Association in Middletown. Last year we were the only special needs school in the country to participate in the online course "Student Polar Research with IPY and International Teacher Training" using the smart board which led to a research paper on the efforts of Global warming on Indigenous people and animals.

Through the guidance of Doug Schaefer, Science Teacher and project leader, the Learning Center has accomplished many interesting and valuable scientific advances for The Children's Home. He was instrumental in continuing a weather station and Weatherbug.com to the school so that people throughout the country can set their Weather bug to zip code 06416 and find out what the weather is in Cromwell. For many years, Mr. Schaefer has had his classroom involved with the Connecticut River watershed project. The students help to repopulate the river system with Atlantic salmon that they grow from eggs in a special tank with a freezing unit on it. They later release the fry as part of a field trip activity, thus increasing the chances of Atlantic salmon survival and learning how species sometimes need help in order to thrive.

For more information about the Green Schools project please go to CT Forest and Park. If you would like more information about enrolling your child in The Learning Center please contact us at (806)635-6010 x310.

Garry Mullaney (President & CEO of The Children's Home) presents Peggy Giannakopoulos and Father George Zugravu, the David J. Carlson Humanitarian award at our annual volunteer appreciation event. Peggy and Father George are from St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Hartford. This honor, given annually, was named in honor of David who faithfully served Connecticut’s disadvantaged children and youth for more than 32 years. David began his work at The Children's Home as a child-care worker and eventually retired 32 years later as Executive Director of the agency.  The award recognizes the achievements of an individual or business or group of people that support The Children's Home ministry to provide the very best care for those children and families who are suffering. The Parishioners and Staff at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral located in Hartford have given to The Children's Home every Christmas since 2004, St. George’s has contacted us and asked for 3 to 5 of the neediest families that we work with.  Most of these families have no means to purchase basic clothing, bedding or sometimes even food.  That first year, we went to St. George’s to pick up the donations in one van.  We ended up going back twice and filling 3 vans.  All donations to each family is now color coordinated and wrapped!
Each year, these parishioners outdo themselves from the year before.  Everything from clothing to bedding; cleaning items and food, diapers, dishes, vacuum cleaners and microwaves, they donate it all. Their enthusiasm, dedication, and attention to detail are amazing.  But most of all the genuine kindness, compassion and caring for our youth is what comes across in all of our dealings with St. George’s.

Garry and our Volunteer of the Year, Mary Mrouse, with Berncie Jalbert, our Volunteer Coordinator.