Cloudy skies and misty rain did not dampen the spirits or quell the excitement of the long-awaited grand opening of the Advanced Abilities Day Program (AADP). Located in Sewell, NJ, the new program will offer services to adults with developmental or physical disabilities transitioning from a school environment or those needing daily socialization, life skill development, job training, or one of the many services and activities offered.
Archway Programs held its annual Hands Around the Lake walk Thursday morning. Music set the pace as family, friends, and neighbors walked around the beautiful Archway Campus to promote awareness and raise funds for those on the autism spectrum. Bright ribbons and decorations marked the way for participants as they walked along the route surrounding the lake. The staff treated walkers to soft pretzels and bottled water at tables set up alongside a bake sale table, its proceeds benefiting students on the spectrum.
For the past twelve years, Archway Programs’ staff, students, family, and community members have gathered around the lake centered on our beautiful campus every October. We come together to walk and show our support for loved ones, friends, and neighbors with cancer diagnoses. We walk in solidarity and pledge to do what we can to ease their burden and let them know we are here for them.
Due to a number of COVID-19 exposures in the Archway Schools, we feel it is best for the health and safety of our students and staff to transition to a full remote status beginning tomorrow, November 24th, 2020 through Friday, December 11th, 2020. All students and staff will return to the current hybrid model on Monday, December 14th, 2020. Your child’s teacher should be reaching out to you to discuss their schedule.
If you have any questions, please email Susan Lafferty, Executive Director of the Archway Schools at susan.lafferty@archwayprograms.org. We wish you and your family a healthy, happy and safe Thanksgiving.
To see Archway’s official statement, please click here. To view Archway’s parent letter click here.
This year, staff from the Archway Schools have been doing everything they can to make the end of the school year special for graduates to celebrate the big milestone. Last week, the Archway Schools held drive-through graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 for both Upper and Lower School students on Archway’s main campus in Atco, New Jersey. The Archway Lower School event was held on Wednesday, June 3rd and the Archway Upper School event was held on Friday, June 5th. Graduates and their families were loaded into family vehicles, many of which were decorated in school colors and had photos, posters and banners of the graduates taped to the outside. Horns were blaring, balloons were flying from the top of cars, teachers, school administrators and administrative staff lined the procession line and the 2020 graduates were dressed in caps and gowns.
To help protect a more vulnerable population and support essential frontline workers during this time, John Cappelli, owner of Cappelli Tailors, has generously donated one hundred protective face masks to staff and individuals served throughout Archway’s Residential Community Homes and Supportive Living Program. The face masks will help ensure the health and safety of residents in addition to the Direct Support Professionals who care for them during this crisis. Ever since his business was deemed non-essential, John Cappelli and his team at Cappelli Tailors have been tirelessly donating their time and materials to provide reusable masks for those who need them. To pay it forward during the COVID-19 crisis, Archway Programs made a contribution to Cappelli Tailors to support what their business is doing to help the local community.
Staff, clients and students at Archway Programs celebrated Black History Month to honor the contributions made and highlight how the African American culture has profoundly shaped American culture in many ways. Programs throughout the organization held various Black History Month events and participated in a number of activities to remember important people and events in history while celebrating their achievements.
Youth from Archway Programs, a local nonprofit, filled the service bay at Honda of Turnersville on Wednesday, December 11th, 2019 as the South Jersey dealership hosted its seventh annual holiday party for nearly sixty kids from Archway’s HOPE and DISCOVER programs. This year youth from Legacy Treatment Services’ residential program joined Archway Programs. Staff and their families from Honda of Turnersville volunteered to host the highly anticipated event, which gives children the opportunity to take a break from the daily challenges they face and just be kids. In addition to coordinating vendors, caterers, balloons, photo booth, games, and music, generous volunteers from Honda of Turnersville made sure each child received presents this year. Prior to the event, children wrote down three wish list items on gift tags. Staff and families from Honda of Turnersville each took several tags and generously purchased each child all three presents for the kids to open at the holiday party.
This school year, Just Kids, a before and after school care program, has partnered with New Jersey Audubon to expand its curriculum. An environmental educator, Emily Wilmoth, from New Jersey Audubon has visited each of the twenty-one Just Kids’ locations to work with Just Kids staff, to provide exciting, engaging hands-on curriculum. Activities were designed specifically for the varied learning opportunities available in the environments around each school building. Some students learned about the diversity in nature through exploration, by getting to be detectives and discovering nature’s superpowers. They then saw how these same characteristics of nature are seen in superheroes. Children also observed birds outside of their schools and learned about migration, nesting and raising young birds. The kids then used things found in nature to build nests, just like birds do.
The Non Profit Development Center of Southern New Jersey (NPDC) honored Archway Programs’ Board Chair, Tim Titus, at their 2019 Annual Non Profit Organizations Awards Celebration on March 7th, 2019 which was held at Adelphia’s in Deptford, New Jersey. Titus was named ‘NPO Co-Trustee of the Year’ and was recognized for his outstanding contribution and impact on the community. Executives and members of both leadership teams from Archway Programs and Woods Services joined Titus and others throughout the community to celebrate this special honor.
