July 208 Enews - Jewish Child Care Association

July 25, 2008

FOCUS ON…
Cottage Schools Recreation

This issue introduces a new feature in which we “focus on” a programming-related topic, allowing us to share the ways in which we work to strengthen families and help youth develop the skills to lead independent, productive lives.

Inside the Edenwald Physical Fitness Center

The Cottage Schools (Pleasantville Cottage School, Edenwald Center, and Pleasantville Diagnostic Center) provide a highly supervised and protected therapeutic environment for 325 boys and girls. Most children come to our 150-acre Pleasantville campus because their families can't care for them or because they have been neglected or abused. After a string of difficulties, these children finally have a safe place to live and adults they can depend on.

Youth receive counseling, individualized special education, participate in job programs and independent living skill development training. The Recreation Department on Campus also plays a significant role in the lives our youth. The program includes an array of therapeutic arts and vocational programs, as well as sports and exercise. Youth learn from these programs, but also enjoy themselves while participating.

Inside the Jill Goodman Cosmetology Center

Plans are in place to significantly augment campus recreation for residents. Programs and facilities completed or in the works on the Westchester Campus include:

The Edenwald Physical Fitness Center was recently the recipient of a generous donation from Maya Levine (see story below), which enabled JCCA to purchase much-needed gym equipment.
UBS has donated funds to begin a computer graphic arts program for residents.
A generous donor has hired a choreographer for the Therapeutic Arts program.
The Jill Goodman Cosmetology Center was established in 2007 to train residents and develop life-long job skills.
An energetic crew of 33 Morgan Stanley volunteers cut a mountain bike path through the woods.
The Wilderness Adventure Program combines mental and physical challenges in small heterogeneous groups to help build self esteem. The program includes activities such as rock climbing, challenge course, swimming, hiking, camping/backpacking, fishing/ice fishing and an array of outdoor physical events.

Volunteers from Morgan Stanley worked hard to clear a bike path on Campus.

We hope to improve the programs we already have on campus and offer residents additional opportunities, including mountain biking, kayaking, and many more. Of course all of these require equipment or the funds to buy them. We are thrilled that donations have already been made toward the acquisition of a dance instructor, and exercise mats for our Therapeutic Arts Program, as well as a van to take youth to inter-school competitions and exercise machines for our Edenwald Recreation Department. We look to our generous donors for further help in this effort. To find out about specific needs of our Recreation Department or to make a contribution, please contact our Fund Development office at 212-558-9969 or visit jccany.org/recreation.

Grand Opening of the New Edenwald Physical Fitness Center

Maya Levine dedication On June 16th, thanks to the generous donation of 13-year-old Maya Levine, the Edenwald Physical Fitness Center was dedicated. Maya and her parents got involved with UJA-Federation’s Give a Mitzvah-Do a Mitzvah Project and donated the sum of the gifts she received on the occasion of her becoming a bat mitzvah on September 8, 2007 towards new equipment for the gym. As Ed Sperling, Director of the Edenwald Center, said in his remarks during the dedication, “I often talk about tikkun olam, the Jewish tradition of giving back, of making the world a better place than you found it. I am so pleased now to have a shining example of tikkun olam in the persons of Maya Levine and her family.”

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