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S P A G E 1 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 3

July, August, September - 2016

QUICK LINKS - Click on a link to jump directly to an article:

Buddy Walk Information (cont. pages 2-3) PDSSN Night at the Dash & Fireworks

Dana’s Note & PDSSN Scholarship Recipient Alyson’s and Jeremy’s Big News!

Guardianship and Its Alternatives Finding Our Own Villages

Playgroup Meet Up / Friendship Clubs Disability Advocacy Training in Action

Message from Laura PDSSN Family Day at Camp Hanes

Family Support Network Needs Your Help Events Calendar

Carolinas DS Conference All-Star Cheerleaders

LNO/D.A.D.S./Partners in Policy Making Autoimmune Disorders & Down Syndrome

The Arc of NC’s 2016 State Conference Social Animals - Adult Friendship Group

New Dance Class for Kids with DS Support Our Generous BW Sponsors (pages 22-25)

Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 15th at West Forsyth High School! Our Buddy Walk & Family Fun Day is 9am-12:30pm. You won’t want to miss it! You can look forward to all of your Buddy Walk favorites including inflatables, games, train rides, the talent show, and more! Your registration also includes a t-shirt, food & beverages! Here are the details:

Early Registration Discount Through August 31st: Buddy Walk & PDSSN membership - $25/adult Buddy Walk only - $15/adult (18+ years), $8/child (2-17 years) Individuals with Down syndrome and children under the age of 2 are FREE! Everyone who registers through August 31st can vote on the color of this year’s

t-shirts. The options are lavender and lime green.

See Your Team’s Name and Picture Up in Lights!

This year, top teams can have their buddies’ names and pictures projected on the West Forsyth High School’s Jumbotron for all to see! What a way to celebrate your special buddy! More details will follow in future emails.

Sponsorship Opportunities: Teams get ALL the credit for obtaining corporate sponsors and donations! Be sure to ask your employer about matching gifts!

This year we’re offering more sponsorship levels and benefits. Click here to learn about sponsorship packages. Don’t hesitate to contact

Dana with any questions at Dana.pdssn@gmail.com or at 336-480-8871.

Click Here to Register and Start Your Team Today! You could be this year's winner of the Most Money Raised award!

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Registration Starting on September 1st: Buddy Walk & PDSSN membership - $30/adult Buddy Walk only - $20/adult (18+ years), $10/child (2-17 years) Individuals with Down syndrome and children under the age of 2 are FREE!

Registration at the Buddy Walk on October 15th: Buddy Walk & PDSSN membership - $35/adult Buddy Walk only - $25/adult (18+ years), $10/child (2-17 years) Individuals with Down syndrome and children under the age of 2 are FREE!

PDSSN Half-Price Annual Membership Discount: You can choose to join PDSSN or renew your membership during the Buddy Walk registration process and save $10! Pay only $10 and your membership will remain current until next year’s Buddy Walk! (Membership is normally $20/year).

Team Awards: We'll also present 5 Team awards at the walk! There's a maximum of 1 award per

team. Results will be determined by registered walkers & racers and money raised through our fundraising website as of 11:59pm on October 12th. These are the award categories: ● Most registered members by a first time team ● Most $ raised by a first time ● Most registered members by a returning team ● Most $ raised by a returning team ● Most spirit demonstrated at the walk

Click Here to Register and Start Your Team Today!

If you have questions, please contact us at BuddyWalk.pdssn@gmail.com or call 336-480-8871.

All the best,

Melinda and Dana

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Make a Difference by Sponsoring our Buddy Walk! PDSSN relies exclusively on generous donations and grants to support our many social and educational events throughout the year. With the funds raised at last year’s event, we were able to launch our PDSSN Learning Program, which improves educational outcomes for children with Down syndrome, while also maintaining our many educational and social programs.

We look forward to expanding our programs in 2017. You can help us by asking your employer or the businesses you frequent to sponsor this year’s Buddy Walk! There are many levels and many benefits of sponsorship!

Click here to learn about sponsorship opportunities for the 2016 Buddy Walk.

All people who obtain corporate sponsorships and/or donations will get full

Buddy Walk Raffle Items

Our Buddy Walk raffle always adds an element of excitement to the day! This past year we had over 50 items from which to choose! Do you have any items you can donate or folks you can ask to donate to our raffle? Please let us know! Send us an email at BuddyWalk.pdssn@gmail.com.

Click here to see our growing list of raffle items!

You Vote on Our Buddy Walk T-Shirt Color Until 8/31!

Every person who registers for the Buddy Walk by August 31st gets to vote on our t-shirt color! The color will be determined by the greatest number of votes. Just follow these steps:

Click here to go to our fundraising website

Vote by completing the registration form, answering the registration questions and submitting your registration.

Buddy Walk Volunteers Needed

It takes several hundred volunteers to make the Buddy Walk a success. We’d be grateful for your help this year! Please click on the link below to let us know how you’d like to help. We thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer!

Click here to sign up to volunteer.

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I hope you’ve been enjoying your summer! I can’t believe it’s almost over! It feels like it’s flown by. This summer has been bitter sweet for me. I celebrated the graduation of both of my children - one from high school and the other from college. I’m so proud of both of them as they start the next exciting phases of their lives. My daughter is off studying sea turtles in Costa Rica - yes, I’m very jealous, and my son will be a freshman music performance major at UNCG. I’m thrilled

that he’ll be the first degree-seeking student at UNCG supported by the Beyond Academics program (BA). BA offered to start working with Josh over the summer to prepare him for college life, and I can’t say enough wonderful things about the BA team! I don’t have any doubt that they will be an integral part of my son’s success at UNCG. As more of our children pursue post-secondary education, we are fortunate to have the Beyond Academics program available to them. PDSSN is committed to supporting our community by helping individuals with Down syndrome achieve their dreams. To this end, I’m very pleased and proud that PDSSN has awarded our post-secondary school scholarship to Taryn Stinson (see article below). PDSSN will continue to seek out opportunities to support individuals and families in the Piedmont. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any suggestions on how PDSSN can achieve these goals. My summer newsletter message wouldn’t be complete without mentioning our 2016 Buddy Walk. We have a new, fun incentive for top teams which we’ll be announcing in the next couple of week, so start your team today!

Dana

Miss Taryn Stinson of Hickory, NC is the latest recipient of a PDSSN scholarship to UNCG’s Beyond Academics program for the 2016-17 college year.

Taryn is an accomplished young woman who has won awards and finds joy in many hobbies and helping activities. She was “Volunteer of the Year” in the Hickory community in 2015. She is known in her home town as the person who weaves scarves for needy people as well as for our deployed military.

She’s also quite an athlete, having won many Special Olympics med-als for swimming, bowling and tennis, and has an Advanced Gold Belt in Ka-rate. Taryn was a panel speaker at the NDSC Conference when it was held in Washington, DC, and again when it was held in Orlando this July.

We look forward to hearing more about Taryn as she progresses through her studies in the Integrative Community Studies program known to us as Beyond Academics.

Best of luck at UNCG, Taryn! Have a great year!!

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Social opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome at each age level. Information and skills for children, teens and adults to grow into self-

advocates who see PDSSN as a resource in their lives. Suzie Harvey has volunteered to head up the club for the younger kids.

You can read more about her group below.

Click here for more information and registration for our Friendship Clubs!

We’re excited to start this play group to provide opportunities for children to meet and play with friends while parents connect with other parents who understand the journey of raising a child with Down syndrome. Our goal is to meetup at least once a

month, or more during the summer, and find activities that all ages can enjoy -- from playground dates or SciWorks to Butterfly Farms or Goat Farms. Any ideas are welcome. We want you to come so we will try keep most events at low or no cost. We can also provide assistance with activity fees when needed.

To join this group, you can request to be added to the closed Facebook group called PDSSN Play Group Meetup. If you are not on Facebook, you can email Suzie at suzieharvey06@gmail.com.

GUARDIANSHIP & ITS ALTERNATIVES

(If you missed the meeting, here’s the video!) On April 1st, Corye Dunn, Director of Public Policy at Disability Rights North Carolina, gave a presentation about Guardianship and Alternatives to Guardianship. The video was produced with the support of PDSSN as well as the following Advisory Committees to CenterPoint Human Services: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) Advisory Committee; Con-sumer & Family Advisory Committee (CFAC); and the Mental Health/Substance Abuse (MH/SA) Advisory Committee. This video can be viewed on our website at Bit.ly/Guardianship-Alternatives.

Interested in a dance class designed for boys and girls with Down syndrome, 12-years-old and under? All classes would be in Winston-Salem. Interest will determine class dates and times. Please contact Tori Westcott at toriburg@gmail.com with your child's name, age and parent/guardian contact information.

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Hello everyone! I wanted to start this letter with “Happy summer!” but we are on the downhill stretch of that. In just a few weeks, school will start again – how did that happen?? They just got out! (Since Stu is home during the summer with our two kids, I’m pretty sure it hasn’t passed *quite* as quickly for him…)

So in between late-summer trips to the beach or mountains, afternoons at the pool, taking in a movie or two, and all those other August activities, take a minute to remember what is just around the corner: The Buddy Walk! Yep, before you know it, October 15 will be here and West Forsyth High School will once again host a day of festivities that cele-brate people with Down syndrome. I can’t wait, even though I know I will end up sprint-ing across the football field after Malcolm at least once or twice. (I know many of you will be quite surprised, but my darling son with DS can be rather … single-minded, let’s say, and doesn’t always stop when I tell him to.) This means that the Buddy Walk committee is in full swing, and if you want to help, PLEASE let me, Dana or Melinda Gentry (our Buddy Walk chair) know. We definitely can use as much helps as we can get, both before and during the Walk! And if you can’t help during the Buddy Walk, the PDSSN has plenty of other op-portunities and needs. We have started the process of evaluating our programs and activi-ties (the better to provide what our families need and want) and really want to step up our outreach into the community at large, especially into the Hispanic and African-American communities. Many people in this area either aren’t aware of the PDSSN or don’t realize the full scope of what we do and offer. So if you have ideas on how to get the word out, I’d love to hear from you. In the meantime, try to stay cool and enjoy this last month of high summer! Take care,

Laura

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Our Graduate, Dana! A happy celebration brought these good folk together—the graduation celebration of the Leadership Winston-Salem 2016 class. Current and former PDSSN Board members John Fuller, Dr. Tamison Jewett, Ralph Peder-sen, and Bill Donohue were there to mark the special occa-sion with Dana on June 9th. In addition to learning a lot of useful information, Dana met like-minded people who are in-vested in bettering our commu-nity through work in non-profit organizations. Congratulations, Dana!

Imprints Cares has a Before & After School Program that nurtures all

children, including those with special needs!

Questions? Contact Janelle Gibbs, 336-722-6296 x223

Our friends at Imprints Cares also offer in-home developmental support,

for infants and toddlers.

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the

journey that matters, in the end.”

- Ursula K. LeGuin

Family Alert! FSN Needs You!! As part of the KBR Great Expectations Project, The Family Support Network is participating in an effort to hear from Forsyth county families of young children. We will be interviewing 25 families who have children with special needs birth-6 years old. This would require a face to face interview about your experiences parenting a young child with special needs and would take less than an hour. Families will be compensated for their time. We would love to have your input! If you would like to participate, please call the Family Support office at 336-703-4289 or email ChrisFSN@theCFEC.org.

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The Arc of North Carolina's 2016 State Conference

Thursday and Friday | September 8-9, 2016 Every year, The Arc of North Carolina invites people from all over the state to join to-gether for two days-- to celebrate victories, honor deserving individuals in the field, and con-nect families and professionals together. Whether you are a parent grappling with a new I/DD diagnosis for your child, a self-advocate who wants to be better informed about how you can make a difference, a family who has been a part of The Arc's journey for many years, or a provider who wants to better under-stand the complex world of intellectual/developmental disabilities: we want you to join us! We look forward to seeing you there!

University Place Hilton 8629 JM Keynes Drive Charlotte, NC 28260

(Room block is open; $119 single, double.)

PDSSN NIGHT AT THE DASH

Friday, August 26th. Fireworks night! $14/ticket.

To reserve tickets, contact Stu Egan stuart.egan@gmail.com

or 336.473.1545

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Join us for a relaxing dinner out with friends at Ladies’ Night Out at 7pm:

Monday, 8/22: Texas Roadhouse, Hanes Mall Tuesday, 9/20: Milner Brothers Restaurant,

Clemmons

RSVP to Kristin Douglass krisrobdouglass@gmail.com

or 336-813-9260

Visit Bit.ly/PDSSN-LNO for future dates and locations.

Our D.A.D.S. group meets on the last Tuesday

of each month from 6:30pm–8:30 pm. For information about our D.A.D.S. group,

Visit Bit.ly/PDSSN-DADS or contact Quincy Harvey, D.A.D.S. Director, at:

qlharvey@tahotech.com or 336-403-0128

Remaining

Training Dates:

August 20 & 21 September 10 & 11

The Buddhist principle of “right speech” offers this wisdom:

A well-spoken statement is one that’s offered - 1. At the right time

2. Truthfully 3. Affectionately 4. Beneficially

5. From a mind-set of good-will

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Dreams in Motion is accepting new registrations for their male and female dance classes.

Contact Amiee Crepeau at Extravadance Kernersville if

interested.

Weekly dance classes and two annual recitals.

Best Wishes, Alyson & Jeremy!

Alyson Warren and Jeremy Donohue became engaged to be married on July 3, 2016. Jeremy asked for Alyson’s hand in the good old fashioned way: he got down on a knee and presented her with “the big question” and a lovely engagement ring.

Of course she said “Yes!” How could she resist a man who staged the setting, the dinner, and the ring on Alyson’s birthday? The couple met at their Next Chapter Book Club and have been dating for three years. They haven’t selected a wedding date yet, but the parents of the groom-to-be will honor this big step with a celebratory party in August. We wish them great happiness as they make plans to share their lives into a “happily ever after.”

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Finding Our Own Villages Dr. Julie M. Linton wrote this article for the Journal and it was posted on July 18, 2016.

Dr. Linton is a pediatrician at the Downtown Health Plaza and is Assistant Professor Pediatrics at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center .

In the wake of the widely publicized violence of Orlando, St. Paul, Baton Rouge and Dallas, newspaper headlines, radio interviews and television pundits continue to cover the aftermath of the shootings and the trauma, persecution and inequality that underpins them, sometimes in gruesome detail. These events and subsequent media eruption have sparked hard, but important, conversations about race and violence and discrimination and privilege.

As a white pediatrician who cares for primarily urban, poor and immigrant children and families, nearly all of whom are races other than white, I recognize the comfort, security and privilege my race provides while also recognizing the unique suffering of many of my patients. I care for children who have been discriminated against because of their neighbor-hood, their race, the stamps on their passport, their family’s income level and their immigra-tion status. I care for children who have experienced trauma, persecution and inequality, and who live with the daily con-sequences of it, whether from debilitating fear and anxiety, or from struggles to concentrate in school or connect socially to their peers.

As a pediatrician, I am sad, angry and frightened for the health and safety of my patients. So I turn to tools to help try to make sense of these realities to the children I care for who are experiencing them. Several brilliant children’s au-thors offer us the chance to discuss rather than ignore these topics by weaving them into a story: Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation by Edwidge Danticat takes on the unique challenges immigrant families face, Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell celebrates same-sex marriage that is especially relevant in the wake of North Carolina’s HB2 and The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson manages socially constructed racial barriers through the eyes of a child seeking friendship across a fence. These books can be a good way to introduce complex topics to fam-ilies, but they aren’t enough. When I am in the clinic caring for children, their stories bring these bedtime conversations to daylight.

Children hear the news, they watch footage of violence over and over again on YouTube, and they talk to each other using the rhetoric they hear from their parents at home. If we truly want to unearth the best our nation has to offer from beneath the layers of vitriol and violence washing over us now, we need to do it with true dialogue, policy change and community-based support.

When I talk to families of color in my clinic, I listen to their fears and wonder how we can create a future that keeps all families safe and allows all children to thrive.

And when I cuddle my own children over a bedtime story, I wish that they could grow up without the fear imposed on them by the world’s injustices.

Stories connect us all to our national and global village, help us to show our children what can be possible when we try to see each other as people first. I hope that all of us who care about children can begin to come together to create a village of hope for all children, regardless of skin color, language or country of origin. So I encourage you to help begin this process in your own village, wherever that may be. Read your children a new book, have a difficult conversation, edu-cate yourself about policy changes that can help address some of these issues, listen and learn from what you hear and read from all different perspectives. Talk to your legislators, get involved with efforts in your own community, and if you haven’t already done so, make friends with people who don’t look like you. While we certainly can’t fix all that’s broken in our country, we can start to build better villages one by one. All children will be better for it.

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4715 Yadkinville Road, #144

Winston-Salem, NC 27040

Dana Alley, Executive Director

dana.pdssn@gmail.com

336.480.8871

Website: PDSSN.org

PDSSN NEWS

Is published four times each year in: January—Winter Issue

April—Spring Issue July—Summer Issue October—Fall Issue

Please submit articles or photos the month prior to publication to:

cchriskelsey@gmail.com

In this world, you must be a bit too kind in order to be kind enough.

- Pierre Marivaux

PDSSN has four book clubs and each has readers from age 18 up who love to have a social time with one another while reading an interesting book. Do you know anyone who would benefit from a weekly time with friends, reading a book? If so, contact Deb-orah Woolard, NCBC Coordinator at dgwoolard@gmail.com for additional infor-mation. Our book clubs meet:

Sundays at 3 Mondays at 6:30 Tuesdays at 6:30 Wednesdays at 7

LET’S GET FIT!

Every Monday night at 5 pm the Let’s Get Fit class meets at the Robin-hood Road Family YMCA’s cross training center. Attendees do not have to be members of the Robinhood Y to participate, but there is a $5 fee for each session. The program was started to meet the needs of people who have intellec-tual and developmental disabilities. Participants meet with a trainer for a fun interactive fitness experi-ence. For more information: contact Lisa Marie Blutreich at 245-7203 or lm.blutreich@ymcanwnc.org, or check in at the desk prior to 5 pm on any Monday afternoon.

JOIN THE FUN!!!

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SOCIAL ANIMALS:

CELEBRATING ADULT NEURODIVERSITY

In September 2015, a group of like-minded parents got together and started a social group for adults 18 and older who are living with disabilities. Called the Social Animals Group: Celebrating Adult Neurodi-versity, it emphasizes having a fun time, practicing social skills and connecting with other adults. The group meets once a month on the 3rd Tuesday of the month and there is a craft project, board games, a video game and pizza and drinks. The group will soon start a monthly birthday celebration and have treats for those birthdays that fall in that month.

Genevieve Athens, a recent transplant from Portland, Oregon, mother of an adult with Autism Spec-trum Disorder and the former Executive Director of the Autism Society of Oregon, says “There are not enough social outlets and interactions in the Winston-Salem area for adults with Developmental Disabilities. Transition into adulthood following the structured school years is a difficult time. Adults can become social-ly isolated if more is not available to them. This can lead to increased depression and anxiety”. Genevieve met other parents who felt the same way and a grassroots effort started to launch a social group for people with IDD.

The Social Animals Group recently received a $500 grant from the I/DD Advisory Committee to Cen-terPoint Human Services. The Piedmont Down Syndrome Support Network (PDSSN) planned to form a friendship group and saw this as an opportunity to collaborate with another parent group. PDSSN allowed the group to use our non-profit status in order to write a grant. Cliff Campbell, PDSSN’s treasurer and CFO of Family Services, offered the group meeting space at Family Services at no charge. The grant award will help to hire a volunteer, purchase games and introduce the monthly birthday celebration.

The cost for attending is only $5 and the group meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Family Services building located 1200 S. Broad St. in Winston Salem. For more information, contact Genevieve Athens at athensgs@gmail.com, 503 803 8308.

If you are one

who does some online shopping from the comfort of your home, here is an opportunity

for you to support PDSSN at no cost to you! Go to www.amazonsmile.com and register PDSSN as the non-profit you wish to support. 0.5% of all purchases will go to PDSSN. The cost of the item will not go up; the quality will be the same, as will every aspect of the experience you’ve come to expect at Amazon! You can get started today! Visit Bit.ly/PDSSN-Amazon-Smile for information and to sign up.

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FUN TIMES!

FAMILY DAY AT

CAMP HANES July 23, 2016

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Weekly:

Next Chapter Book Clubs. Contact: Deborah Woolard Sunday, 3 p.m. (Meetings will resume September 11th.) Monday, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m. Lets Get Fit, Mondays, 5 p.m.

Monthly:

I/DD Advisory meets the first Thursday of each month (except for December) at CenterPoint conference room - 5:30 p.m.

Exceptional Families meets the fourth Thursday of each month. Contact: Chris Gentry Friday Socialites, 3rd Fridays, 6 p.m. D.A.D.S. meets the last Tuesday of each month, 6:30p.m.- 8:30p.m. Contact: Quincy Harvey . Social Animals for young adults meets the third Tuesday of each month, 6:30p.m.- 8:30p.m., Family

Services Contact Genevieve Athens (see p. 15)

Other Special Dates: August: 11 Local Collaboration Team 16 Social Animals Friendship Group (Adults 18+) 22 Ladies Night Out, 7 p.m., Texas Roadhouse, Hanes Mall 25 Exceptional Families - Update on Medicaid Funded IDD Services 26 PDSSN Family Night at the Dash Game & Fireworks

September: 8 Local Collaboration Team Meeting, 3:30p.m. - 5p.m. 20 Ladies Night Out, 7 p.m., Milner Brothers, Clemmons 20 Social Animals Friendship Group (Adults 18+) 29 Exceptional Families - Using iPad Apps for Education

October: 13 Local Collaboration Team Meeting, 3:30 15 ANNUAL BUDDY WALK!! West Forsyth High School, Clemmons 18 Social Animals Friendship Group (Adults 18+) 23 No Limits II Formal Dance. 4 p.m., Village Inn Conference Center, Clemmons 27 Exceptional Families - Aquatic Therapy

If you believe in our mission and want to support our programs,

click here to make a donation to PDSSN!

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Thanks to so many of you who have joined PDSSN! We hope you will renew your membership annually. Dues are $20 per household per year.

But remember: If your family is new to PDSSN, your first year of membership is free!!

Visit Bit.ly/PDSSN-Membership to join.

PDSSN 4715 Yadkinville Road, #144 Pfafftown, NC 27040

PDSSN is a non-profit organization

Facebook Fans: Pages to “Like”

PDSSN Members’ Discussion Group

Next Chapter Book Club W-S D.A.D.S.

PDSSN.org; 336-480-8871; Info.PDSSN@gmail.com

www.Facebook.com/PDSSN; www.Facebook.com/Groups/PDSSN/

www.Facebook.com/DADS.Piedmont

www.Facebook.com/nextchapterbookclubwinstonsalemnc

Twitter: @PDSSN; Instagram: PDSSN

“Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness.”

- Seneca

“It is in the shelter of each other

that the people live.”

This Irish proverb brings to mind the kind of support, fellowship, resource and feeling of family

that PDSSN has potential to be for all of its members. Please be sure to read Dr. Julie Linton’s contribution on page 11. She sets a tone for our

path—to become a village, together to care about what happens to each other, and to be prepared to step in and help where we can. And the other side as well: to let people know when we need support.

It does take a village—and we can be that!

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Photographer with a Heart Stephanie L. Smith is a photographer in Annapolis, Maryland. She heard about a photographer who refused to photograph a family with a special needs child and she was moved to offer her services—for free—to any family with a special needs child. The response, as you can imagine, was overwhelming! So far she has done 16 complimentary photo shoots and still offers three a month to families who are interested. You can read more about this and see some of her photos at “The Mighty” - go to: https://themighty.com/2016/07/photographer-steph-smith-gives-free-photo-shoots-to-special-needs-kids/

Parent Alert

As a point of information, parents should be aware of a potential threat to the current CDSA model. Go to this website to become informed: https://www.change.org/p/warren-daniel-ourkidsmatter?rcruier=576233831&utm_source=petitions_show_components_action_panel_wrapper&utm_medium=copylink

Meet Paul Kocher

Paul Kocher is the state’s first legislative intern with Down syndrome. In the photo to the right, he is meeting his new boss, John Bradford, House Majority Freshman Whip. They toured the building together as Paul was introduced to Bradford’s colleagues. Bradford hand-selected the Wake Tech student for the prestigious, paid position. "We believe people with special needs should have the same opportunities as everyone else. We're excited to have him here, and we're going to put him to work," Bradford said.

(See http://abc11.com/1323761/ for the full article and more photos.)

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” - Robert Byrne

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